Now that I’ve confessed that the seams in my block are not perfectly matched … I know that some of you will be looking more closely than usual at these–so here’s a close look  🙂 (sorry about the loose threads … I really need to take a lint roller to my blocks and my design wall) I am donating the chances for...

A couple people have asked me about the acceptability of not-quite-matched seams in the center of the block. As always, I hope everyone STRIVES to make well-made lotto blocks, while appreciating that the intention of the Block Lotto is to remain–now and always–a beginner friendly activity. The violet block is a great example of how much pressing your seams will help you make better blocks. All the seams around the centers of my blocks...

If you made and posted Snail’s Trail blocks in February, you should have received email from me this morning with the information you need to send them to one or more of our winners. If you should have received the mailing info, but didn’t receive the email from me, please let me know ASAP.  If you received the mailing info and found an error, also please let me know ASAP. I get this info to you as quickly as I can in hopes that you...

The Violet quilt block is an original design, created for the Block Lotto in 2011, made popular through social media–thank you Pinterest–and updated in a different color way and size for this month. We will be making a 6-inch (finished size) block–like all the lotto blocks this year. The block is made from three fabrics: Background, Flower and Center. See guidelines below. You may make a maximum of 9 blocks for chances in the drawing at the end...

Our year of 6 inch (finished size) blocks continued in march with another traditional block, Snail’s Trail. Complete guidelines and links to the block pattern are in this post: Chocolate Covered Snails (Trails) in February   166 blocks were made by 39 quilters and won by Julianne, Jude and Kathleen. Tag for ALL blog posts about this month’s block: snails trail This post is an archive of the list of blocks made and who made...

A funny thing happened when I went to the random.org site to use it to pick our winners … the site was (temporarily?) unavailable. Fortunately, it was only a small hiccup because I still had the random app on my phone, installed when my computer died last year.   We ended the month with 166 blocks, 25 of which were donated with no chance in the drawing.  Our 3 winners are:   Julianne – 56 blocks Jude – 56 blocks...

While Gail’s friend, Mary B, is setting up her account and settling in, I am posting her first blocks for...

The deadline for the sneak peek is actually TODAY at noon (on the east coast). I guess I was so worried about being late that I was early and convinced myself that yesterday was the 22. I have forwarded the sneak peek email messages to Teresa and will do that for anyone how posts before the deadline TODAY. I had a rough and hectic weekend, can you...

If you are one of the 30 quilters who have made and posted some of the 123 blocks on the list so far this month, you should have just received sneak peek email from me with information about next month’s block and guidelines. If you should have received the mail but didn’t, be sure to check your spam folder (because that happens),then let me know and I’ll resend it. Also, EVERYONE, please be sure to check the list on the...

“Life” has been beating me about the head and shoulders lately … that’s no excuse, but it is my reality at the moment and at least part of the reason for the delay in getting my Birds in the Air blocks on their way to Andra, Kathy, Lori and...

What if you won a set of 48 blocks this month?  What if you’re not so motivated to make a “brown” quilt?  What if you really wanted to make a big quilt and don’t want to make a gazillion more 6 inch snails trails blocks? Here’s one idea.  Make some of the larger 12-inch snails trails in a completely different color-way and mix them up … in a organized, alternate block way or in a more random fashion like...

Earlier this month on his blog, Wayne Kollinger had some fun with the Snail’s Trail block, using a technique he called Old Block Plus. He starts with the traditional block and then adds a sort of pieced border around each one to create some wonderful patterns when they are put together.  Here is one example of the new block and a quilt made from it. There are several more interesting variations in this post: Old Block Plus: Snail’s...