Asian Attic Windows in August

For the Beginner Block Lotto this month will be making 7.5 inch (finished size) Attic Windows blocks in Oriental fabrics. It's an easy block--only three seams--and will not take you away from your Summer fun for long.

If you'd like to practice fussy cutting, miters and inset seams, come join us. The discussion on the Quilting Forum begins here: message #51290

Congratulations Colene & Terri

The winners of the purple posy blocks are Colene and Terri. Congratulations, ladies.

The Rest of the Posies

Here are the blocks from Bonnie, Judy, Katie and Sue.





You can see all the blocks in the Flickr set Purple Posies.

More Posies

Kathi noticed her block was missing from those from the sneek peekers. It's here, along with five from Tracy which arrived today.

Block Lotto Sneek Peek

If you made one of these Posy blocks, then you should have received email last night with a sneek peek of the August Lotto block.










My flash washed out at a lot of the color--all the blocks are much more vibrant in person.

Ch-ch-changes to the Block Lotto

With the overwhelming success of the Beginner Block Lotto came the realization that my process for managing it did not scale to bigger numbers of blocks. I had to make some changes in how I did what I did. Here's how they'll look to you.

Acknowledgments for blocks received will be posted on the Forum discussion only. I can no longer take individual photos of the blocks, tag them with the block makers name and blog them as they arrive. Instead, I'll take "group shots" of the blocks at the end of the month before I split them up into sets and send them to the winners. The groups will not be artistically chosen and arranged--as much fun as that could be, I'm going to force myself to pull them off the top of a stack of pressed blocks (OK, I can't skip that step), put them on the wall and take photos.

I've reorganized the block photos on Flickr into individual sets for each month and created two collections of sets.

2007 Block Lotto

2005-2006 Block Lotto

The links to the photos in the sidebar now point to the individual block sets (the links labeled with years take you to the collection page).

The other process change is the requirement for labels on blocks. Because of the numbers often involved, if you do not label your blocks, you may not be included in the drawing. Those labels are necessary in the case that my spreadsheet total for the month doesn't match my physical cogeunt.

I've updated the two-page Block Lotto Guidelines document which contains the guidelines which apply every month and answers to FAQs. There is a link to this document in the sidebar, in the section labeled Block Lotto Links, along with a link to the current forum discussion and to the Fabric Shopping List. If you're wondering what fabric combinations we'll be using for the rest of the year, check it out. Everything that we've already used is crossed off the list.

Summer Posies

For the July Block Lotto, we're making these 8-inch (finished size) purple appliqué posies with yellow or gold centers.

Details can be found in the discussion on the quilting forum.

The blocks we are making this month will be machine appliqué with turned under edges. I've written up three methods which are beginner-friendly with one variation. You can find details in these three posts on my other blog, sophie junction:

Introduction - contains information about threads and stitches, describes how to prepare the background fabric for all three methods and has step-by-step directions for Faced Applique

Preparing Circles for Appliqué - describes an alturnative way to prepare the center for a faced applique flower (good information to tuck away for preparing appliqué for any circle, oval or almost circle shape).

Using Templates - describes too other methods, both using templates. In one, you use freezer paper and glue stick; in the other, starch, an iron, and templates made from a heat resistant material.

You can also go through the step-by-step photos and their descriptions by going directly to my Flickr photo set, Notes for Machine Appliqué Posies. I think it may be a new feature on Flickr ... if, after you click the link to view as slide show, you click the "i" that appears on the middle of the screen when you roll your mouse over it, you can see the descriptions superimposed on the photos.

Later Today

Later today, I'll be taking these to the post office.


I will--at long last--be making some very patient winners of the Beginner Block Lotto very happy ... as well as some winners from last week.

Nine-Patches, Country-Style

For the block lotto in June, we made pairs of 9-patches and put them "in a square" using muslin and country colors.

The directions are on the Quilting site on About.com - Country Nine-Patch in a Square.

We made these 54 pairs (108 blocks) which were won by Sandy, Laura R., Laura T-S and Nell.