Splendid Sampler 2 Progress

My big learning experience this summer has been starting the Splendid Sampler 2 sew along. It has pushed me to try things I would not have tackled on my own. Luckily there are tutorials and instructions from the block designers on how-to's and techniques. Lots of learning for me on this one! I think its safe to say I need to improve my turn-edge applique skills!

For this sampler I decided to use grays and yellows. I am using mostly fabrics from my Dandi Annie collection for Moda (ships to quilt shops Nov 2018) with the addition of some of the grays from my Blushing Peonies group. The block above is "Point Taken" designed by Susan Ache. 

In the "Clamshells" block designed by Helen Stubbings, there is a mix of embroidery and applique. Helen's flowers for embroidery were a different design from these but since I am using a number of my Dandi Annie dandelion fabrics I wanted my flowers to mimic that. I like doing the dandelions so much that I am doing some other needlework projects with those as well! For the clamshells I used my applique glue on the pieces to wrap them around the templates but I mistakenly glued the bottoms too so I had some ungluing and pressing to do. Oops. Like I said, lots of learning on this one. After sewing the clamshells down I was pretty excited to see this all together. 

It was the first time I've ever done English Paper Piecing when I attempted the "For the Love" block by Sharon Burgess. I'm sharing this because I think its interesting to document our learning and clearly I'm a beginner on this. Sometimes we are hard on ourselves when our work is not as perfectly matched up and sewn as what we are seeing online by other quilters. We all start somewhere! You can see my center square is really a trapezoid and my sewing is a bit stretched. But I got it done!! Time to say "good enough"!

Applique with circles is also an area that is new for me and I got the chance to do a little practice with some other blocks. But one thing I got to try with this sampler that I'm really liking is Foundation Paper Piecing! I absolutely love the "Flowering Tree" design by Amy Friend! I had my quilt bee friends come over and Greg Stewart kindly taught me how to do FPP for our bee block that month. After that I zipped through this block and I love the look of the tree and the branches. This would be so great as multiple trees through the seasons on a whole quilt!

These are my first 8 blocks and looking forward to doing more and seeing how this gray and gold quilt evolves! Join along by checking www.splendidsampler.com every Thursday when they release a new pattern up to the first 20 blocks. Then get the Splendid Sampler 2 book by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson to keep sewing along!