80's Geese Charity Block

 Hello everyone!!!

Last month I was presented with the amazing opportunity to test a new block called "80's Geese" by Diane from From Blank Pages fame. I've tested patterns by her in the past and they have all been marvelous. Seriously. Marvelous! If you've never worked from one of Diane's patterns, you need to! Okay, enough fangirl-ing.

The best part about this block is that Diane asked some of her testers to make the block for a charity quilt! I love that so much and here's why. I have never sewn or quilted for charity before but recently I have felt the call on my heart to do just that. I was looking for a way to give back when this opportunity came along. Of course, I jumped at it. The lovely Jill from Crafty Giraffe (@crafty_giraffe on IG) will be putting together all the blocks into a quilt top. Here is a sneak peak of the blocks so far (I totally swiped this picture from Jill's IG feed.)

This quilt is going to look so good and I can't wait to see it when it's finished!

Here are the details:

The block is a 12" finished, paper-pieced pattern by From Blank Pages called 80's Geese. The pattern comes in 4 different block sizes - 6", 9", 12", and 18". It is available as a PDF purchase from Diane's pattern shop. You can purchase each size separately or you can purchase the bundle with all four sizes. And if you sign up for Diane's newsletter you get a nifty 20% off discount code! The pattern is chock full of goodies. It comes with coloring sheets, design ideas, cutting templates (my personal favorite), and cheater templates.

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Here are some From Blank Pages patterns I've made in the past.

Simple Celestial Mini - blogged here and here

Rockstar Mini - blogged here and here

Star Gazing block - not blogged

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Linking up with:

Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts

Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts

Midweek Makers @ Quilt Fabrication

Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

and

Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts

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Until next time!

- Sarah

Simple Celestial - Pattern Testing

I really do enjoy testing patterns. I’ve tested a few patterns for Diane who blogs at FromBlankPages and I’m happy to announce that I’m waiting in the wings to test for some other people as well. Anyway, here is the latest.

This is Diane’s new pattern called Simple Celestial. It’s a simplified version of her Celestial Star pattern; so if you feel intimidated by the complexity of that pattern, you can easily get the same look with this pattern. Make sense? Good.

I love the versatility of Diane’s patterns and Simple Celestial didn’t disappoint. I spent many, many (way too many) hours creating different designs and coloring in the coloring pages. I think I came up with 14 different designs in total, and some of those had multiple color schemes! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the hardest part of Diane’s patterns is picking a design!

I really struggled with picking a design on this one. I liked all my options but I wasn’t happy with my fabric pulls or I didn’t have the right fabric for a particular design. Do you ever have that problem? Finally I spotted this fabric.

This ¼ yard of no name fabric had been sitting in my pile of ‘”uglies” for a few years. You know the “uglies,” the fabrics that you just don’t like and can’t for the life of you figure out why you ever bought them in the first place, but you don’t want to get rid of them because maybe one day they will be perfect for a project. I figured I’d give this one a chance because, hey, it had the right number of colors I was going for.

I wasn’t sure about my choice as I started fussy cutting and I was even less sure when I started sewing.

I think it was right about this point that I knew this fabric was perfect for this project. In the end it felt like fate, destiny …kismet?

As it turns out, I LOVE this block. I’m turning it into a mini wall hanging which is something I never do; that’s how much I love it, lol.

Until next time,

- Sarah

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Linking up with Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts Let's Bee Social!

Testing a Few Patterns

Thanks to my new Instagram addiction, which may require an intervention soon, I got the opportunity to test a new pattern by Diane who blogs at From Blank Pages. The pattern is called Rockstar and it is amazing!

This is actually the second pattern I've tested for her; about a month ago I tested her Star Gazing pattern… and then started writing a blog post about it, and then got distracted and never published it. Oops! More on that later. Here is my little Rockstar block.

I LOVE it! It’s the 6” pattern so it’s pretty small but totally doable. I believe the pattern will also be available in 9”, 12” and 18”. There are a couple different blocks in the pattern and they all mix and match so you really get a lot of design options! Consequently, I have added about six more quilts to my quilty bucket list. Oi!

Okay, seriously, be still me heart. This is how my block looks when repeated. It is so different from any of the design options Diane provides and I’m so happy about that. Not that Diane’s suggestions aren’t gorgeous (they are!) but I really wanted to challenge myself with this one. The last time I tested a block for Diane, the Star Gazing block, I made one of her design suggestions in the exact same color way she used. Here it is. I love this one too!

Like I said though, with the Rockstar block I really wanted to stretch my creativity. I think I pulled it off. :)

Until next time...