Welcome to Month Four of the Fat Quarter Shop's Clementine QAL

I hope you are continuing to enjoy this worthwhile and fresh Quilt Along. By combining our love of quilts with a valuable fundraiser many dollars are going to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Donations are voluntary but every little bit helps and all donations add up.
Each month we are being treated to a newly designed block. We are getting lots of practice making various sized Half Square Triangles as well as Flying Geese. I will say that

I enjoy using my Bloc-Loc rulers for the tiniest bit of squaring up that I am doing. Once you use them for squaring up you will wonder where they were all your quilting life.
As month four starts the block we are making is titled Coconut Cross. If you are using the Fat Quarter shop kit with the beautiful Mama's Cottage fabric by April Rosenthal we have a couple of new prints and a couple of returning prints.
Take the time to visit the FatQuarterShop's blog (here) where they will have links to several other bloggers and a number of them are using different fabric combinations. And don't forget to make your donation. Every little bit counts. Piecefully, Joanne

30 Blocks in 30 Days, almost halfway there

I hope you are continuing to follow Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks (here) and her guest bloggers for her 30 blocks in 30 days adventure. We are almost halfway through April so a block called Median Strip is a good choice for the midway point.
Here are the block components.

Four rectangles that are 3" by 5 1/2" and one rectangle that measures 5 1/2" by 10 1/2"

The shorter rectangles are stitched together on their short ends and then added to either side of the median rectangle. Make certain your colour sections are at opposite ends.

Single block, note position of colour rectangles.

Once you have your sample block complete the decision making can really begin. Do you want to make one to continue the one a day theme? Do you want to make an entire quilt from this block? If you decide on one quilt the colour decisions come next. With a consistent background this could easily become a scrap quilt, or you could make a two colour quilt, or a rainbow of colours. I put four blocks together to see what they would look like as they are rotated.

Four blocks rotated clockwise

This is a very easy block to assemble and with no seams to match pressing direction is not an issue other than to make certain you do press each seam as you go.

I hope you continue to follow along and visit the other bloggers who are chiming in on this terrific project. the following is a list of who is participating.

Date

Project Designer

Block

April 1st	Creatin’ in the Sticks	Block 1- 4 Patch
April 2nd	Kwilty Pleasures Blog	Block 2 - Double Stuffed
April 3rd	Sew Incredibly Crazy	Block 3 - Baby in a Corner
April 4th	SBD Embroidery and Quilting	Block 4 - Dutch Door
April 5th	What About Rheema	Block 5 - Surrounded
April 6th	Quilted Delights	Block 6 - Tacked Up
April 7th	Joy Studio	Block 7 - Stripper
April 8th	Just Sew Quilter	Block 8 - Staggered
April 9th	Quiltscapes	Block 9 - Topsy Turvy
April 10th	beaquilter	Block 10 - Chunky Pinwheel
April 11th	Freemotion by the River	Block 11 - Painted WIndow
April 12th	krislovesfabric	Block 12 - Broken Cinder Block
April 13th	MooseStashQuilting	Block 13 - Reaction
April 14th	Quilts by Joanne	Block 14 - Median Strip
April 15th	Persimon Dreams	Block 15 - Center of Attention
April 16th	Needled Mom	Block 16 - Bounce
April 17th	Just Let Me Quilt	Block 17 - Sweet Sixteen
April 18th	Life in Scrapatch	Block 18 - Yeah Eights

April 19^th

Quarter Inch Crafter

Block 19 - Weave

April 20th	Seams To Be Sew	Block 20 - Classic
April 21st	Just Let Me Quilt	Block 21 - Spot
April 22nd	Something Rosemade	Block 22 - Cross Walk
April 23rd	Thimblemouse and Spouse	Block 23 - Opposites Attract
April 24th	Books, Hooks, Sticks, etc.	Block 24 - Possibility
April 25th	Words & Stitches	Block 25 - Camper Window
April 26th	Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats	Block 26 - Catching Z's
April 27th	Selinaquilts	Block 27 - Broken Stripes
April 28th	QuiltFabrication	Block 28 - Stockade
April 29th	Lakeshore Stitches	Block 29 - Dovetail
April 30th	Creatin’ in the Sticks	Block 30 - Slow Tee

Piecefully, Joanne

Orange for April

Jen is back again with some more blocks for April. This month the colour is orange. Often not a popular colour with some people. When my son was in grade 7 or 8 he came home from school one day very disgruntled because his class had been assigned orange for colour day. His comment was who wears orange? His teacher showed up for the assembly with orange fabric to tear into strips so anyone without orange to wear could have an orange tie. She was a gem.
For my block I found what looked like a light, medium and dark orange and constructed the block. In its photo above I am not certain the differences are that clear. Should I blame my camera and not my eye for colour?
There are other challenges and projects in the works for April. It is looking like a busy month. Make certain you stop by the other bloggers to see what they are offering in the way of challenge blocks for April. Piecefully, Joanne

It has been a month of challenges

Here is my Clementine Quilt Along block for this month. I have had a few too many sick days this month and have not taken those sneak peek photos that are to grab your interest before the big reveal. This block is titled Peaches and Plenty. Once again the steps are straightforward and clearly outlined on the instruction sheet. I hope you will consider joining in. Previous month's patterns are still available and all the Fat Quarter Shop(here) is requesting is a donation to St. Jude's Hospital. If you have ever spent time at a Children's Hospital you know just how important their work is. We spent time at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto with our son over 35 years ago. Happy those days are now behind us. Piecefully, Joanne

Modern Plus Sign Book Blog Hop Winding Down

Welcome to the final day of guest bloggers on the Modern Plus Sign Book Blog Hop. I had the absolute pleasure to be part of this hop. The first part of my quilt was what I called the dark block. A plus sign in the centre of a bear paw. I wanted my fabric choices to be somewhat masculine and thought of black bears and grizzly bears when I was scouting my stash for something suitable.

If you missed the first week of the blog hop and have time to visit the bloggers who highlighted the first patterns shown from the book here is a list that connects directly to their blog post.




Tuesday, March 13th

Signature Plus

Soma @ Whims and Fancies
Ann @ Brown Paws Quilting
Kitty @ Night Quilter

Tribal Plus

Sophie @ Luna Lovequilts
Afton @ Quilting Mod
Shelley @ The Carpenters Daughter Who Quilts

Wednesday, March 14th

Plus Surround
Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal
Jen @ A Dream and a Stitch
Abigail @ Cut & Alter

Kaleidoscope Plus
Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl
Sandra @ mmm! quilts
Karen @ Run Sew Fun

Thursday, March 15th

Postage Plus
Linda @ Flourishing Palms
Bernie @ Needle and Foot
Liz @ Savor Every Stitch
Stacey @ Stacey In Stitches

Rick Rack Runner
Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty
Patty @ Elm Street Quilts
Melanie @ A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog

Friday, March 16th

Row Addition
Myra @ Busy Hands Quilts
Izzy @ Dizzy Quilts

Transparency Chains
Ruth @ Charly and Ben's Crafty Corner
Christa @ Christa Quilts

 

The second component is one I call the light block. Again a straightforward, no issues quilt block. The book is well illustrated and the directions are very easy to follow.

The end result when the two blocks are combined is this lovely Bear's Paw Plus Quilt. It is so nice to say this quilt is finished and once the blog hop is over will reside on my hubby's easy chair. He has needed a new quilt for some time and this one is just the ticket. 

I used my walking foot to straight line quilt the grid on this quilt. Cheryl and Paige will wrap up the hop tomorrow. If you have been following you will know by now what a great book this is. You can obtain signed copies directly from them. Thank you Cheryl and Paige for letting me part of the blog hop for your fabulous book.  Piecefully, Joanne

Here are the links for this week's Blog Hop participants.

Monday, March 19th

Jessica @ Quilty Habit

Cindy @ Hyacinth Quilt Designs

Jennifer @ The Inquiring Quilter

Julie @ The Crafty Quilter

Tuesday, March 20th

Tish @ Tish N Wonderland

Judy @ Sew Some Sunshine

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

Wanda @ Wanda's Life Sampler

Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Katherine @ Sew Me Something Good

Wednesday, March 21st

Anja @ Anja Quilts

Kate @ Smiles from Kate

Sue @ Sevenoaks Street Quilts

Carole @ From My Carolina Home

Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts

Thursday, March 22nd

Debbie @ Esch House Quilts

Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts

Janice @ Color Creating and Quilting

Joanne @ Quilts by Joanne

Friday, March 23rd

Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs

Paige @ Quilted Blooms