Little Letters

Alphabet samplers make me smile. A few years back, I got the idea to make one with free pieced letters. Sixteen letters into the project, I decided that I was in over my head and tucked it away. Looking back at that post, those blocks aren't as bad as I remember....maybe I should dig them out. 

I've got a whole bolt of this fabric, black flowers on dark grey that look solid from any distance at all. When I saw the posts for Little Letters over at Temecula Quilt Company, I knew I wanted to start it. There was a little bit of a wait before instructions for the first block were posted and I forgot. Then I remembered, made a few letters, got sidelined again. Then they posted X Y and Z all in one post and I got sewing. 

I wanted a pieced border for my quilt, something that would make it feel more like a stitched sampler... (And isn't it cool that this one is dated and I can tell when I made that project instead of trying to figure it out from old blog posts like I usually wind up doing?) 

Honestly, I think my favorite part of this tutorial series was the pictures of stencils and apples and rulers. The letters look nothing at all like those stencils, but I'm going to think of them every time I look at this quilt.

Maybe it's time to make some more of those itty bitty cake stands....or the 2" bowties....or Summer Spools.  There are a lot of really neat tutorials in the sidebar of  Temecula Quilt Copmany's blog.

For more finishes, check out  Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?,  , and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

R, S, U, V, W, X, Y, Z!

That's the whole alphabet, all pieced and assembled into a quilt top! 

And, because this whole project has had me thinking of needlework samplers, I'm playing around with a fancy border...

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

I, J...L, M, N, O, P, Q....T (and some flying geese and broken dishes and a pinwheel, too!)

This is one of those rare times that my design wall photo is actually of something on a wall. The directions for the last of the Little Letters blocks are up at  Temecula Quilt Company, which was just the little shove I needed to get back to work on my quilt. I'd set it aside after my letter "I" came out all wrong. Not sure what I did to the first one, but the second one is all nice and square. 

I want a pieced border to add to the antique sampler look, but I'm not sure if what I'm picturing in my head will work or not. 

The fabric I'm using is a black on dark grey that looks solid unless you're right on top of it. I'd bought a whole bolt when Joann's was closing one of their local stores to reopen in another location and it's been waiting for the right project. This isn't going to make a huge dent, but I'm glad I had it to use, and I don't mind having yards and yards left over. 

Sunday was a good day for piecing. A dozen or so Little Letters blocks and a bunch more of the red blocks for Chocolate Covered Cherries... Not what I'd planned on piecing, but that project derailed as soon as I took a good look at the pattern.

This post is linked to Patchwork Times. 

F, G, H....K

I was going to make my Little Letters blocks in order, but I jumped ahead because K is one of the ones I was fussing over. 

That gives me nine blocks out of twenty-six. I think that's farther than I got on the first incarnation of the alphabet sampler quilt! I used the postage stamp squares as leaders and enders, so I made some progress on that one too.

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times.

A B C D E

For a while now, I've been wanting to make an alphabet sampler quilt. My first attempt crashed and burned, but when I saw Little Letters from Temecula Quilt Company, I pulled my fabric back out and waited for them to start posting the instructions.

And then I forgot.

But, now that I've remembered again, I'm catching up!

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday.