Sophie putting the quilt together

We were chatting on finishing this quilt you had mentioned purple blocks and 16 patch. Is the 16 patch like the one that was done in April. If I understand correctly it would be a 16 block of purple and WOW in the corners?

heart blocks from Laura Randolph

I received Laura 3 beautiful blocks today. She is the first. Oh what fun.Thank you so much

Heart Blocks

I mailed out my blocks today. I sent some to all 3 winners. Congrats!!!

What are Jewel Tones?

For this month we're using color-saturated, rich colors based on gems like rubies, emeralds, and saphires. I think of jewel tones as having a little more richness and depth than "brights," another category that looks great with black and with which they can overlap. (But don't over think it as much as I obviously have . . . if you're thinking jewel tone, you're probably making great fabric choices and all of our blocks will play together wonderfully.)

Like I mentioned on the forum (or maybe it was in the sneek peek email), it seemed like a nice bit of synchronicity when I attended a trunk show by Patrick Lose a couple weeks ago and he brought along some of his Satinesque fabric line to sell in beautiful jewel tones . . . I couldn't resist.



Now that it's washed and dried, I just need to make some blocks to donate and boost our newbie luck this month ;-)

Kate's geese

Here are my nine for the month - I adore this colourway, thanks for choosing it, Sophie. In the photo, some of the purples and golds look similar - each of the "geese" is in a different fabric and although I have then used some of those fabrics for the strips down the sides, I haven't used them all - I've thrown in a few extras - and no fabric is used more than two places (once as geese, once as strips) - I've also managed to use 3 different BOBs - believe it or not, I had small pieces of about 5 or 6 in my stash, so this was a great way to use up some of those otherwise not very practical pieces. (I often find that's true of the block lotto - one of the reasons I like it.) Sometimes I donate my chances, but not this month - I want these!!

I also really like this setting - as you can see, I have actually made a small quilt top using a similar setting - and, looking back, I can see a (rather bad) photo of a quilt I made a long time ago - well, 2001 - for my daughter, which also uses this sort of setting. The quilt is much brighter in person, I have to say.

Sophie16 patch

You had mentioned to me that I could do a sixteen patch, would it be like
Aprils but with purple and wow? Thanks everyone for sending the squishies, I will be looking forward to them It will be for my DSIL for Christmas.

Blocks headed south

My two heart blocks are on their way to Rho as of this morning.

Jill

"Mom" and her "Eleventh"

Last week, I had the pleasure of having lunch with Michelle–known as mom of 11 on the quilting forums–and her youngest daughter Ginger, as they were passing through Dallas on their way south.

This seemed like the right place to share the photo, since Michelle has been making blocks for the lotto for as long as I have been holding the block lotto--almost every month of six of the last seven years.

The last time I saw Michelle and Ginger was about five years ago at the Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago.

She still doesn't look old enough to be the mother of eleven . . .

Sylvia's Geese

Sylvia from Redcar emailed me this photo ofher blocks . . . which suggests another interesting setting idea as a strippy quilt, doesn't it?



Her nine blocks bring our total so far this month to 33 blocks.

Blocks were mailed to all three yesterday. Congratulations.

Block Lotto at a Glance

I've created two new gadgets and added them to the left sidebar.

At the top, the Block Lotto at a Glance has common links that we use a lot, like the guidelines, FAQs, tips for mailing blocks and posting photos and also the links for finding the info for this month's blocks and all the posts with the block photos–those last two will be updated monthly.

Under that is the list with everyone's blocks that will be updated as they are posted . . . a little different than before, but pretty much the same.

blocks in the mail!

Congratulation to Rho, Michele, and Laura for winning the Feburary lotto!
Your packages are all ready and I'll drop them in the mail tomorrow morning. I hope you all enjoy and post your quilts when they are done. These hearts in a snowball are going to make fabulous quilts!
Gail

Mailing Heart blocks

I am away from home until late on March 8. I'll mail blocks ASAp after getting home.

Michelle L. (Momof11)

Bringing the Block Lotto to Blogland

If you've been curious about the monthly block lotto thing I do (and updated in the sidebar monthly, even when this blog is woefully neglected) . . . but not curious enough to wade through the heavy, clunky interface and hundreds and hundreds of daily messages on the quilting forum, I may have good news for you. I've decided to move the Block Lotto to blogland and invite my friends and readers here to come play along. Everyone is welcome–if you are mildly curious, please come check it out.

The rules are simple. Make a block or as many as 9 to enter, following the rules for fabric and color. Your name is entered in the drawing at the end of the month for each block you make. For complete rules, follow the links in the sidebar for more complete info.

In March, we're making a variation of a Flying Geese block in jewel tones and black, based on an 1865 pieced silk quilt I saw at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont some years ago. Here are 24 blocks that have been made so far by Béatrice, Jill and Michelle.





I'm hoping some of those who have appreciate my tips and patterns here will come play and some of my friends in Michigan that I'm missing will come play and all of the Block Lotto crowd will continue to come play . . . and that bringing the block lotto to blogland turns out to be the right thing to do.

Blocks from Sneek Peekers, Béatrice, Jill and Michelle

Three of the sneek peekers have already made these March blocks.

Six blocks from Béatrice.



9 blocks from Jill.



And 9 blocks from Michelle.



Our total blocks already this month is 24.