More "And More" Fun with the QM 100 Blocks Mag!

I did it again...I sent Quiltmaker a block, somehow was accepted into the "And More!" fold, and then forgot entirely what the block looked like in the interim. I have three children. My brain is already compromised remembering their names. Don't ask me to remember names and details of EVERYTHING I create. Besides, just like someday my roommate in the nursing home will be my brand new friend every day, I get to have a nice surprise when I open my advance copy of the issue and see what exactly I made that was so cool. It's exciting stuff.

In this case, here's what I got to see.

Look at that!

Once I saw it, I did vaguely recall whipping it up one afternoon, enough so that I could with 95% surety claim to have made it.

I also was thrilled to see my block in a setting in the Block Tester Gallery, page 80. Megan Ferris decided to enlarge it and use it in the center of her sampler. Very cool!

I keep forgetting to thank her. If she's reading - Thanks, Megan!

 If you've followed me at all here, or on Facebook, or you know me in real life, you may say "Well, I like it (hopefully you like it, I'm just over here putting words in your mouth anyway so I might as well make them complimentary to me), but it doesn't really look like something YOU would design."

In answer to that, I maintain that it is boring to have just one style. I love trying new things, learning new techniques, and I step out of the box so often that the box is empty most of the time. But I will admit - this one has a lot of pieces for me. Sixty four pieces in the block. Definitely a new personal design record.

This has been the year of the mini for me. As I always like to show my block in a practical usage in these posts, I decided to shrink it down to 6" rather than 12" and make a mini quilt with nine blocks.

Are you starting to do the math? If so, you are way ahead of where I was, which was exactly in the middle of La La Land, certain this would be a project I would have finished by lunch time. Three hours in and I had maybe one little section done. However, once I start a project, I generally go all in, and this was no exception. So even though the first pieces of the block I made (the outside corners) were at 2 1/2" square dwarfed by my littlest scissors, I took deep breaths and soldiered on.

All was well (or as well as it gets around here when math is involved) until I got to the pointy sections. At that point (ha!) I just could not figure out how to cut the pieces properly as the templates as printed were the wrong size for my mini. Even with resizing it in EQ I still couldn't get my templates cut properly. (Disclaimer: this is clearly a PICNIC error - problem in chair, not in computer, or in this case pattern. With me it's always a PICNIC error and I've learned to deal with it.) So I decided to paper piece them. Paper piecing for me is generally a last resort, so you know I was starting to get shaky, but at this point I was what felt like millions of little pieces into this mini and I was not stopping now!

 Eventually, all 576 - five. hundred. seventy. six. Hold me - pieces were together, and in the words of Buddy the Elf: "I'm in love! I'm in love! I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!"

18" square of wow I can't believe I pulled it off.

As you may notice, I recolored the corners of the blocks which created a cool look to the whole thing. If I'd left them the same as the block is shown in the magazine, it would have looked like this:

Yes, it's just an EQ mock up. Did you REALLY think I'd make two of these?

 Check out some of the other ways you can make this block look just by recoloring. Honestly, sometimes I impress me because I really love these.

Recolor everything pointy and look at it sing!

I do love bringing a design out into the border.

On to the giveaways! By now you know the drill: I'm giving away a copy of the magazine, and so is Quiltmaker, enter to win below yada yada yada....BUT WAIT! There's More! "And more," if you will, to celebrate my "And More!" status once again. I'm also giving away a THIRD copy on my EvaPaige Quilt Designs facebook page. So how do you enter for all of this magazine-y fun?

To enter to win one of the copies of from either me or QM here at Quilting Hottie Haven, please leave me a comment telling me where you are from, and include the word "mini." This does not all have to be in one sentence, unless you live in a really teeny town, and then bully for you with your two birds. I know that is asking you to include two things, and possibly write more than one sentence, but I'm giving away two copies here on the blog. I know you can work with me! To make it easier, I'll put aside my grammar police hat for now, and any spelling or interpretation of "mini" will be acceptable.

To enter to win the copy from my Facebook page, head on over there and enter at the pinned post at the top. There I'll be asking you to tell me your favorite and least favorite holiday songs; my playlist for the studio this season will thank you. So check it out for some ideas of your own, too.

One final note: since submitting my block and paper work about a year ago, I have had a website change. The website listed in the magazine is incorrect, but please stop by my new, much improved, and way more user friendly site at www.evapaigequilts.com.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you again!