Mini Mania Challenge: Sampler Time!

For the Mini Mania Challenge group on Flickr, we combined December and January for a super challenge (and a break for the holidays...): a sampler! I loved this challenge because there were so many directions to go, and so many online resources right now. With the Moda Block Shuffle and the Janome modern block 100 blocks in 50 days thing, there were a lot of options to pick from that didn't need resizing. Wahoo! Resizing is not my thing...I also got EQ7 for Christmas, so between those and EQ7, I knew I'd be able to do something fun.

Picking fabric stumped me, though. Despite by scraps organization, I was flummoxed, and decided, instead, to stick with a few solids from my stash. I think this was largely inspired by the Janome blocks, which were done in conjunction with Michael Miller solids. They were so bold and graphic, I just loved them. So, I brought out a few of my favorite solids and got to work!

At first, I thought it'd be cool to stick with a theme--like, all plus/x block styles, or all churn dash variants, or something...but in the end, the blocks I wanted to make weren't all the same type, so there's a few themes. Which means there's no theme, really.

When it came time to quilt it, I tried to figure out a color for doing an all-over pattern, but, really, this demanded switching colors. So that took a while, but I think it was worth it. And I quilted it a ton. Which I like to look at even if I don't like to snuggle under it, so it's perfect for a wall quilt. :-) I really like what I thought of for this block, and I'm pleased it mostly turned out!

I don't always like how samplers look to be honest...they can often feel disjointed, which is why I wanted to stick with a theme. But I enjoy making them. Selecting fabric for each block is fun! And seeing each new block is like a surprise. And I do like the way this one turned out. I got Elizabeth Hartman's Patchwork City for Christmas, so I think more samplers are in my future!