I received patterns for a modern quilt block of the month from our Sewing Saturday group.  They got permission to distribute this collection of patterns from the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild. The other women have already started, which leads me to think about what color palette I want to use.

bom sampleI decided on my fabric collection for this modern BOM.  I’m intrigued by Amish style quilts with the contrast of black and solid color, so I’ve taken that up a notch to become more modern.  Bright, saturated colors and a black/gray print background are going to pop!  Thanks again to Deb at the Quilter’s Corner Store in Beaverton for her advice about fabric selection.

The January Block created an illusion of woven strips.  Making the February Block was my first time making chevrons, using paper piecing for precision.  Then for the March Block, the center block wonky star is from another online tutorial.  I like how the colors I chose turned out looking like the sun.

(3/15) Last night at the Sewing Friday in North Plains, I cut up the fabric for a few more blocks, and today finished sewing three of them!  A paper piecing block is also started.  I decided to color on the paper pattern to make sure I get the colors in the position I want (so it doesn’t look like a rainbow but includes all 6 colorful fabrics).

(3/16) The flying geese around in a circle block is complete now.  I think this is my favorite block so far.  Hopefully I have enough fabric at the end to make another one like it for a table runner project.  I’ve started planning the next paper piecing block and asked Aaron to color in the pattern.  It’s a helpful way to see how the block will look and plan out where to put all the pieces.

The next block is made with 25 2″ squares, then I need to figure out how to cut out a circle and then set the circle on top of another circle (red fabric) and then both on top of black.  To make the grid, lining things up carefully and strip piecing made it a quicker easier process.

(5/25) The final few blocks are now complete!  Next step is to decide about how to connect them into a quilt top.  The challenge from the guild is to have it ready to show in September.

Now that all the blocks are finished, time to put it all together and create a back.  At the September Sewing Saturday, I finished placing the 12 blocks, 11 on the front and one on the back with some scrap pieces.  At the October Sewing Saturday, it all sandwiched together with black batting (purchased off the roll at Sharon’s Quilt Attic).  I used a technique my mom showed me on youtube that uses two boards to provide the tension to flatten it out and not need pins. Instead, it’s basted with black pearl cotton and ready to machine quilt, perhaps I’ll practice free motion quilting.