Skill Builder Sampler - Blocks 1 & 2

Skill Builder Sampler Blocks

There's a lovely Skill Builder Sampler Sew A-long that started last year at Sewn by Leila.  I saw the awesome button for it on the Craft Nurse Quilt blog (where there happens to be a giveaway that ends tomorrow) and couldn't resist checking it out.  It's ongoing so you can join at any time.  It's a series of 36 blocks that starts off with simple ones and works it's way up to more  difficult ones.

I certainly DO need help with building the basic skills of quilting so I decided I should join in, and here are my first two blocks (with links to the tutorials).  I decided to do them in greys, greens and yellows, as  I have a good amount of those colors. I'm going to use prints I love, prints I hate, and everything in between.  I figure when I finish if I can't live with anything, I'll remake it.

There were optimistic dreams of finishing it before summer was over for a picnic blanket, but I think with the Handstitched class and the other projects I'm working on, it's going to be much longer than that.  This is OK, since I can do a block here and there in between other things.  I am happy that both blocks came out at 12" inches as they were supposed to, which was a bit of an amazement to me, let me tell you!   

 
Block 1 - Log Cabin  (Skills: Accurate cutting and sewing)

Block 2 - 9 Patch (Skills:  strip piecing, chain piecing, pressing and matching seams)