Hi all! How was your weekend? I hope it was good! We had a deliciously mellow couple of days consisting primarily of coffee and cinnamon rolls, a couple of easy house projects, a matinee movie, and lots of jammies. Oh, glorious un-busyness! Feels great to slow down and just keep it simple.
Ready for another block? It’s Monday- let’s sew!
This block is chock full of all sorts of fun angles…triangles here and there, spinning. To me it has a bit of a compass look. There’s a little bit of paper piecing, but in truth this is really a very simple block to piece! I promise…it’s quicker and simpler than it looks!
BEFORE YOU START…just one quick correction- cut your navy and grey rectangles at 5 1/4” x 2 1/2” instead of the 5 1/4” x 2” that’s listed in the book.
Again, there’s a lot of room for interpretation here! You could do the center patch in the same fabrics as the surrounding to create a solid shape.
Or do what I did, and use the center as an opportunity to fussy cut something special. I’m using this large floral motif from the Meriwether line (shipping to stores in May)- this print is called “Bushel & A Peck” which is a song from the 1955 classic musical, Guys & Dolls. My grandmother used to sign all of her letters and cards to me “love you a bushel & a peck”, and on top of that, I actually met my husband doing Guys & Dolls in college! I played Miss Adelaide and sang this song (he was a gambler, and would watch me from off stage, never dreaming that 15 years later we’d be married with four kids!). So that’s the story behind that pretty bushel of flowers, and why I’m featuring it throughout this quilt along and in the fabric line. It makes me happy :)
Looks like some of you are already getting busy stitching this week- I saw quite a few True North blocks already up on Instagram over the weekend! Don’t forget to post yours with the hashtag #cookbookquiltalong
From top left: @penandthimble @sherrilynanne @lea.cheryl @datarhill @driftedindrive @kaiserkwilts @dakotacabinquilts @dakotacabinquilts @ewencknitter
Friends, if you’re just tuning in, you’ll need to pick up a copy of The Quilt Block Cookbook to join in and make these blocks along with us. And there’s some exciting but frustrating news I just found out last week- the book has officially sold out- ah! Not to worry- there are still copies floating around with some retailers, as well as a few new and used copies on Amazon, or you can pre-order a signed one from me….they are reprinting now and I’m expecting a new shipment next month sometime (hopefully).
Oh, one other thing! One of you reminded me recently that we should do a button that you bloggers can put on your blogs so be on the lookout for that sometime this week. I would have included it here but unfortunately my laptop is still in for repairs and I’m having to do without some of my software for the time being. Button will happen though!
Well, that’s this week’s block! Happy stitching everyone!
XO
Amy
My great grandmother still hums that song and now that she is in a nursing home and cant write anymore she has the nurses sign her cards and they still say “love you a bushel and a peck – love your great nanny”
And now im tearing up before my first coffee. Love the block Amy 💜
I am so glad you are doing this block along. I have the book and I love it! I can’t sew along right now as we are preparing to move from the east coast to the west coast, but after I get settled, I plan to sew like a maniac from the book and I will refer back to your posts for any times I get stuck! Thanks again!
Loving the blocks! I have your book but haven’t had a chance to sew lately. I can’t wait to get back to it. <3
My husband was in Guys & Dolls in HS- claims his Nathan Detroit brought down the house. I haven't seen video proof though. We named our daughter Adelaide and he completely forgot about the song. I need to play that for her!
I’ve been working on blocks from your book since October as part of a BOM with my LQS. I just found out about your quilt along and signed up for your posts. Is there a way I can find the first four posts? I haven’t seen links to them on your quilt a long homepage. Thank you.
Ha ha, funny story… my boss and I randomly chose this book to do our own little QAL from a library pull. We are only doing 1 block per mo so we have enough for a quilt top by Nov, we’re not prolific quilters and we’ve both got other projects on our tables. It’s been great so far and we are learning new techniques! Thanks!!