Lotto blocks from Barb, Jeni and Laurie

As Amy put it in a forum message, yesterday was a mailbox bonanza for me--I picked up 13 lotto blocks. Here they are ...

From Barb:




From Jeni:




And from Laurie:



My apologies to Barb, Jeni and Lauri for the quality of the photos--I took them before sunrise (and coffee!) this morning. I want to get everything updated before the September SNEEK PEEK email message tomorrow ... August really is flying by, isn't it?

Lotto blocks from Liz and Kate

Here are the photos of Liz and Kate's blocks, which arrived on Thursday and Friday.



You can see all 23 photos of the blocks received so far in Flickr. These are going to make a nice quilt for a lucky person or two ...

Colene's Lotto Block is Here

I picked up this lotto block from Colene today ... which makes 20 blocks received so far.



... and we've still got 2 weeks to go ;-)

Lotto blocks from Renae

Renae is a first timer for the lotto this month and she sent five beautiful blocks that arrived today, but ooops ... I'm afraid they'll need a little minor surgery to make them correct.




I should be able to make the changes before these beauties go to this month's winner(s).

Lotto blocks from Michelle & Vanessa

It was like a swappers' Christmas morning at the post office today. Among other squishie packages were lotto blocks from Michelle:



And Vanessa:

I'm ready

When I sent off 40 scrappy Buckeye blocks to swap, I knew that to make the bedsize quilt I wanted, I'd need 24 more blocks. When someone else in the swap posted a message about how they wished they'd swapped more blocks, I suggested to her that she use the time until the swapped blocks come back to make extra blocks. Last weekend and (mostly) this one, I followed my own advice and made those 24 blocks.



It seems the sooner I work on swap blocks, the more likely I am to finish the quilt. I wanted to be ready ... and now, I am ;-)

... 19, 20 (I'm done!)

I finished the Sawtooth Squares I'm making for Kate's HST Sampler swap today ... and it feels so good to have those 260 HST units behind me.

The last two blocks are for Judith and me. I was surprised at how easy it was to match those intersections (and not lose any points!). I guess those 260 HST units has been good for me.



Now I can really enjoy each new block as it arrives. Here's a peek at my design wall so far.

Lotto blocks from Anne

Anne's enclosed note said she was "back" ... with conviction, I'd say. Here are her five blocks.

Lee Ann's lotto block is here

... and after some minor surgery, it's perfect!

Second Chances

This is Lori's quilt, made from swap blocks from a swap on the Quilting forum the last time the swap was held.

When a new swap of book blocks, based on Christine Thresh's pattern, was announced, I was one of the first with their hand up to join.

We're swapping book blocks only and will be able to add our own knick-knacks and "book case." I plan to fill my shelves with souvenirs from my life.

Elsewhere on the Quilting Forum, Ann has assembled a quilt-along, Trail Mix: the Second Journey. The quilt is a great scrappy quilt that was featured in a magazine 2 years ago. Lots of quilters on the forum made the quilt then and, even as a lurker, it was fun to see watch all the different color-ways develope--all the quilts were terrific. You can see a lot of them in this WebShots album: Trail Mix Quilts

It's interesting how some of the swaps and projects and quilts make such an impression that when someone suggests another round, another swap ... there's usually lots of interest. I'm happy to be in on the "second chance" for both of these great quilts ;-)

The Last Blocks of July from Deb, Donna & Laurie

I picked up the last of the July blocks today--all from first-timers for the block lotto and all beautiful. Check them out:

From Deb



From Donna



From Laurie



These blocks, along with the rest are now on the way to their new home. Enjoy, Laura.

It's Nine O'Clock in August

The Lotto Block for August is called Nine O'Clock.

We'll be making this block in the summery color combination of bright yellow sunshine and clear blue skies on a crisp WOW background.

Referring to Marcia Hohn's original pattern on the Quilter's Cache site for color placement:

Color 1: tone-on-tone or print fabric that reads as yellow or is a yellow/white or yellow/blue/white print
Color 2: tone-on-tone or print fabric that reads as any shade of blue
Color 3 (background): is white-on-white (WOW)

This block really goes quite quickly and is easily made from any 10" squares you may have collected through swaps. When I was making the sample, before I knew it, I'd two more:

The yellow in the block on the left is my first attempt at shibori hand dye; the blue and yellow print in the block on the right is fussy cut from a mostly blue fabric with suns and moons and clouds. I used a range of blue prints in my blocks to add variety to the scrappy blocks this month's winner(s) will receive.

And the July winner is ...

LAURA!

Congrats Laura. I know you're going to make something wonderful.

Purple Progress

For a while, it looked like I wouldn't find the time to make all the blocks I wanted to swap in Colene's Penny Pincher Swap #2 ... but I did ;-)

Here are 16 of the 40 blocks I'll be mailing on the deadline tomorrow.

Lotto blocks from Jeni & Laura

Today I picked up blocks from Jeni and Laura ... bringing us to a grand total of 17 blocks this month.




It's a smallish set that will make a nice patriotic wall hanging or baby quilt or table topper ... or the start of great quilt. Winner to be announced later today ...

Colene's lotto block

It arrived last week and I went out of town and forgot to photo and post -- sorry, Colene. It's a great block, isn't it?

Lotto Blocks from Julie, Kate, Lee Ann, Sue & Vanessa

It was like Christmas in July at the post office yesterday. In addition to these blocks from Julie, Kate, Lee Ann, Sue and Vanessa, there were WWIT squares from Sally and a beautiful neutral HST sampler block from Kate.



I'm not normally a white background person and yesterday, as I had the blocks up on the wall taking photos, I realized these blocks could easily be tea-dyed (or over-dyed with tan dye) and would still look great.