Getting Ready for Our 2024 Block of the Month

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In amongst all the dog and fire drama, I have managed to get a bit of sewing done to get ready for our 2024 Block of the Month!

What is our New Block of the Month?

Well, I’m not going to tell you yet, but I will give you a little preview later in the post!

This year’s BOM is going to be a simple one. I feel like with everything that is going on in my life at the moment, and perhaps in yours too, I need simple this year. 

As usual, it will be a stitchery, but a simple one… in the center of a quilt block. 

I will be telling you more about this BOM next month, but like our past block of the month quilts, it will be another square quilt with 9 blocks… The stitchery itself will be perfect for beginners, but also for all skill levels – advanced stitchers can use more complicated embroidery stitches if they like. I haven’t decided yet if I will be charging a small fee for the blocks, but to start with they will be free as always.

Cutting the Blocks

I used my Go! Baby to start cutting the bits and pieces for the blocks. It’s a funny thing, when I first was given the Go! Baby by Accuquilt so many years ago, I thought I’d never really use it. But lately I have actually been using it a lot! I’m finding it handy to have inside in my kitchen sewing area – it’s so nice and small to use and then put away….​

Anyway, that’s what I have been using to cut the blocks, and it is making it super quick and easy. I am using the Fat Quarter Bundle of Calico from Lori Holt that I bought from the Fat Quarter Shop last year, and I am loving it!

I am using about half of each fat quarter, so any of my fat eighth bundles would have worked too, or just my scraps.

So far I’ve been cutting a bunch of triangles:

and I’ve sewn them to some squares…

Oh, I have actually finished one whole block… but before we start the BOM I want to get a few more done so that I am ahead and not chasing my tail all the time… Again, I need to go out to the studio to get more fabric to make the rest of the blocks… while I am loving my little sewing corner in the kitchen with the aircon keeping me cool, it is a hassle when most of my supplies are outside in the studio. However, I am thankful to have this little space, so I should not complain!! It’s good exercise.. except when it is this hot!!!

I also have a little cutting board and ironing station set up inside which is handy:

I am looking forward to some cooler weather so that I can go back out to the studio and sew there, but for now this is working.

Sneak Peak of the Block

I decided to try something different this year and piece the block before I do the embroidery. It worked very nicely on the first block I made. I was hopeful that this way of doing it would help me center the stitchery a bit better, and avoid mistakes in trimming the block. I think it worked ok on the first block,  … but knowing me I still won’t get it quite centered on all of the blocks!!! 

Because I am being lazy and avoiding the heat outside I have finished half the block on this next one and  it is the sneak peak I am giving you…

​It just fits in the hoop and I will see if the fabric ravels too much.. I can always trim it down a bit before I put the rest of the block together. So far though I think I like doing it this way.

In Other News

Sylvie

Sylvie is settling in… even sharing her outside water with Isa the Chook:

Isa is very brave, she wanders all over the garden and likes to follow Sylvie around. Sylvie doesn’t seem to mind and isn’t chasing any of the chooks so that is very good. 

Poor Sylvie doesn’t like being outside much. We take her out a few times a day to let her do her business and then it is straight back into the lounge room with her! Once back in the lounge she heads straight for her dog bed or tries to hop up on my lap! I think she is settling in quite well! 

Fire

Today was the day of the week our state was dreading. The fire from last week is still burning, and another one broke out east of us quite late in the day. Because of the strong winds, it didn’t take long after the “Leave Now” warning for it to change to “Shelter Indoors Now”:

Although it is a small fire, it is spreading quickly and as I am typing there are 62 vehicles and 8 aircraft fighting the fire:

Our local fire trucks are out there fighting, and some of our friends have evacuated. 

So we are all still keeping a good eye out in case we still need to leave… it’ll be a late night, but the cool change is coming and the wind is dying down… so hopefully that will help the firefighters. I do hope this will be the end of fire season, but we still have March to get through with some warmer weather. I will be soooo glad when summer ends!!! 

Ok, I am going to post this and then do some stitching so that we can get this BOM started next month!! Even though the stitcheries are going to be simple this year, I think it will still be a gorgeous quilt! I don’t know the exact dates when we will be starting yet, and by no means will I have a finished quilt before we start, but I at least want to get a little bit ahead!

I think it is going to be so much fun stitching this free BOM, and once again it will be a great way to use up scraps of fabric.