It's Almost Sampler Time!

The Sampler Sew Along begins on January 1 in my Facebook group. Some of you who are interested in making the quilt along with us but are not on Facebook have requested that I post the weekly blocks for the Schoolgirl Sampler Sew Along here on my blog or on my website. So, in an effort to please everyone, I created a Schoolgirl Sampler page at Country Lane Quilts (my website)  and will update it with files listing the blocks to make each week as we go along (beginning January 1). I can't upload the files here too but I'll try to post some photos every week or so.

I uploaded a Welcome to the Sew Along file explaining how the sew along will work and exactly what you'll need as far as supplies before we begin. If you decide to join in and make the quilt, please read it so you can know what to expect. If you're like me, I'm sure you're all getting anxious for January to arrive. 

For those of you who asked, the border print I used is from Moda - Susanna's Scraps by Betsy Chutchian. I made the quilt last year and the fabric was a few years old at that time so you may not be able to find it now. If you cannot find it and would like a similar print for your quilt, look for other reproduction floral prints in a cream color.  After I finished putting the blocks together in my quilt, I picked up a few different fabrics for the border - a brown floral print, a light blue print and a darker tan floral print. I couldn't decide which one to use. Finally chose this one. But any one of the other fabrics would have worked as well. Take your time to pick something you love and it will turn out great.

If you have a little time before January gets here (hah!), sort through some of your reproduction fabric pieces to find suitable fabrics to use. Organize your sewing space to get ready. Clear off that sewing table. Get a nice box to store your blocks as you make them. I love these plastic project cases for storing blocks for some of my in-progress quilts. I bought them at Michaels in the Scrapbooking department last year and I hope they're still available. 

We'll be taking it slowly and making six blocks each week. There are 72 blocks total so if you keep to the schedule I created it will take 12 weeks to complete all of them. This will still give you time to work on some of your other projects as well and not feel too overwhelmed. If the sampler quilt is not for you, there are six charming little quilts made from some of the 4" blocks that are also included in the book. 

And, if you're all set to go and have nothing to do - have you made any little trees yet this year? Too cute, huh? I had very good intentions to put them all together into a quilt this year but so far have only finished 18 little trees. I keep rolling them over to the next year . . . . The paper piecing pattern is on my website under free patterns.