January Block Lottery

Happy holidays and may the new year bring you much joy! 

This will be my 1st post on ANY blog and hopefully I make sense!  The block lottery for 2015 has been handed over to a committee of 3 - Susan M, Yvonne C and myself, with me being in charge of the January block.

My name is Elaine and I started quilting about a year and a half ago.  Quilting has become my new obsession.  What I have loved about the block lottery is that I have learned so much and it has made me step outside what was comfortable for me at the time.  It strengthened my quilting skills, as well as made me laugh at the the mistakes I made.  It gave me ideas for new quilts I have in my "I want to make" list.

Welcome to the new year and the beginning of the next year of block lotteries!

The block I chose for January can be found at the Quilter's Cache and is called Castle in the Air.

The block was not terribly difficult but there were a few quirks I found along the way that I wanted to share that might help you in creating your block. 

It finishes to a 12.5” block. The final design is fun to play with.

First of all, make sure you read through all three pages of making/cutting the block.  If you are new to the Quilter’s Cache site, you will see links at the bottom of the 1st page that take you to page 2, page 3, etc., as well as, actual blocks or quilts that were made as examples.
  

In making the block, I found I had to use a scant ¼” seam throughout the ENTIRE block to make it come out the size and way I wanted.

I did have to refer back to their diagrams for the final piecing arrangement on several occasions. They took the guess work out of it for me.

Color #1  - will be a blue or green modern print  
Color #2  - will be a yellow modern print
(The one I used was a lighter print that gave a little texture to the yellow - almost low volume in design.)
Color #3  - Kona White (I used brighter colors, but any shade of white will work for this block.)

This block works well with scraps you might have.  Below are the color combos I used.

The next set of cuts prior to stitching:

The final blocks in all their glory!

Hopefully you find these as fun as I did and I can't wait to see what all of you come up with.

As a final note, my thanks to Kira and all of the blocks she gave us over the last year.

Happy quilting & contact me if I can help in any way,
Elaine

(Edited)
Natalie was our winner for January, and here are the blocks she won!

And the quilt top she created from her blocks!