Our blocks for this week were #2 Aimee and #76 Nancy.

#2 Aimee

Aimee is made with the Kona Solids: Dahlia, Cabbage, and Heliotrope.

Aimee was quite a challenge because she had the smallest pieces yet. Those triangles were really tiny. I did find out though that I was able to baste them without pinning the fabric to the paper. I later tried this with the slightly larger triangles in Nancy and was successful basting them without pins as well.

I paid particular attention to the grain of the fabric in the central portion of Aimee. When I first started to cut pieces for blocks I used to align the right angles of triangles with the grain of the fabric. It was later that I realized that sometimes the hypotenuse needed to be aligned with the grain. Aimee presents an even greater challenge with the placement of the green triangles needing to be eyeballed to go along with the grain.

 

#76 Nancy

Nancy is made with the Kona Solids: Heliotrope and Dahlia.

Nancy is one of my favorite blocks so far.

This weekend I was in the unique position of attending a quilting retreat. I was at the Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild annual fall retreat, which I attended last year. It is three days of stitching with friends in a hotel. It is a great way to get to know other guild members.

I was lucky enough to be sitting right next to someone who had been following my blog posts about this quilt with interest. So I got a lot of positive feedback about my progress during the weekend. I felt as if I was being cheered on, which really helped because of how slow it is working on these blocks with the EPP technique.

Going into the weekend I had Aimee finished. I completed Nancy over the weekend and five other blocks that I chose from among those not yet assigned. So I am a full five blocks ahead. Those blocks are pictured below, but I will not bother to name them at this time. They will make their solo appearances when they are assigned, and will be named at that point as well.

I will admit to choosing the block in the middle so I would have a feeling of accomplishment completing an easy block. I’m not in love with that one, and it may not even make its way into the final quilt. I am also not in love with the block on the bottom, but that may be because I did not provide enough contrast in the color choices.

Edit: A couple hours after posting this I discovered that the bottom block in the photograph above is the first block for this week. I am hoping that one of the others is chosen as the second block. That would blow my mind. What are the odds of choosing even one of them with so many blocks yet to go.

Mid way through the retreat the guild Instagram photographer walked about and posted some pictures. I was surprised to see the one below. I’m glad I tidied up just shortly before it was taken.

Photo Credit: Laura Bennet

I am linking up with the Link Up Party over at Gnome Angel.