Summer Sampler Catch-up

 I am SOOOO behind on my summer sampler blocks!!
 I went to the beach during week 2, and then it took a week to get back on track, so I missed week 3 as well. And then with my crazy notion of making 2 of each block (which I actually really like doing...it gives me a chance to refine my talents before I move on and forget each block!) I'm even more behind since it takes me twice as long. That said, I LOVE this sampler quilt-along! It's been so neat to see traditional blocks come together in modern fabrics. The flickr pool is awesome.  I'm telling you, between google reader, flickr and now Pinterest, it's no wonder my house is a mess!!

  But I have found a few minutes to sew up some blocks.  Since I last posted about the sampler, I finished another Mosaic block.  Here are my two versions of it:

  And I'm almost caught up with week 2.  Sad, I know.
Kate posted two versions of her block Flower Garden Path. Her's looked like this:

found here

  And here are my two.  I found I'm not a huge fan of piecing incredily small pieces.  I wasn't surprised to find it as I'm not the most accuracy-oriented person in life.  And I've never been drawn to quilts with tiny pieces.  I don't believe there will ever be a Dear Jane quilt made by me, and I'm okay with that.  I can find plenty of challenges involving larger pieces!  ;)

  Next up was Faith's tutorial for the Star block involving paper piecing.

found here

I had never tackled paper piecing that I can remember, but I had read about it before and seen quilting shows on it, so I was very familiar with the concept.  I will say, this was the first block I've run into that was a bit of an issue to make with a layer cake.  See, Faith's block along with all of the others I saw on flickr used just 2 colors for the star.  BUT...I didn't have enough of any one fabric from the layer cake to do that!  Faith said each piece should be roughly 4x10...I could only get 2 from each LC square.  So, I improvised and decided my stars would be a little scrappy.  I just used 2 shades of each color instead of one.  But, I'll tell you another secret about me...I'm incredibly cheap thrifty and I kept trying to make pieces fit that weren't quite big enough.  These 2 blocks took me FOREVER!  There was quite a bit of seam ripping involved.  Again--all me, though. Faith's instructions were spot-on!
  In the end, I really like them and the process of paper piecing.  My red and blue star somehow got a little short all the way around, so I will be considering some creative sashing ideas in the next few weeks...

  My next block is Lee's Arkansas Traveler and I love it!  It's so fun and lively...another block added to "Make a quilt out of this block" list!

found here

  I'm hoping to have my two done by tomorrow so I can keep on rolling.  It's not very often I make a quilt just because I wanted to.  And it's even less often that I finish it...so I'm keeping my eye on the prize and working till it's fresh-from-the-dryer cozy!