all together now

All of my Summer Sampler blocks are finished and sewn together!

Here is block #9 Minnesota. This was one of the blocks that convinced me to join this quilt along in the first place. I'm a sucker for all of those flying geese in a circle blocks that you see on flickr, and even though this isn't made of flying geese, it reminds me of those blocks.

After this paper-pieced beauty (which took waayyyy longer than the patience I had allotted for the task) I sort of ran out of energy (and fabric) for paper piecing. So I bypassed blocks 10-12 and decided to make 3 more of the first block - Star of Virginia - to put in the four corners of my quilt top.

Less fabric + more symmetry = Happy Elsie's Girl. AND that way I could see a completed top in my very near future. AND I wouldn't have to mentally beat myself up over yet another project started and abandoned. Because, you see, I didn't really abandon anything. I just chose to make four of my blocks the same ;-)

I took a lot of time trying to ensure that there was a balance of colors and prints with these three stars and the nine finished blocks.

And now for the big reveal.... the completed top! It turned out much better than I had expected for something I just pulled together from leftovers :) I'm planning to quilt it as-is, no borders or sashing. Just a fun sampler quilt perfectly sized for a girly baby gift.

Are any of you quilting along with the Summer Sampler series?