The system used to auto-magically create excerpts of posts … but lately I notice it no longer is. I may be able to fix this when I apply a bunch of updates to Blocklotto.com next week … but there may be times when you want to create your own version of an excerpt for your posts rather than relying on the system to take the first X-number of words from your post.

Here is how to create it and where it will be displayed on the site.

This is my week 3/Row 3 check-in for my Sampler Row Quilt. I decided to make the row that’s under the Tulips in my sketch, which also happens to be this month’s Twinkle block.

Some quilters have a go-to quilt or block pattern. I have the set of got-to block patterns … ones I have chosen or created for the Block Lotto.

I had some good Block Lotto email this morning, from June, including this photo of her finished quilt, made from blocks won in 2011.

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I am just back from the post office.  Apparently “everyone” there has received “training” and my envelopes–which have mostly travelled as letters for the past 13 years, will now be classified as parcels no matter how flat or how light … because, as it was explained to me, “the post office has got to make money.” In the adding insult to injury category, I talked to my (Texas) bank this morning because...

Here are the list of the monthly posts with guidelines and links to the block patterns for 2015.

What would you do?  What should I do? It’s that time of year when I start thinking about the Block Lotto for next year.  But instead of being able to think about themes and blocks, I am distracted by the fact that visitors and downloads are up, but participation is the activity for which this site was created is down.  I hoped to create a community and make friends, but the only interactions I have had with members of this...

Remember my plan?   12 rows +     12 weeks   ________   1 Sampler Quilt   This is my week 2/Row 2 check-in. Did you notice last week in my coloring page sketch of the quilt that I didn’t resolve the gaps created by the fact that I decided on a 63 inch width and that those long 18-inch wide blocks didn’t fit in a nice multiple?  For my second row, I chose to make the Many Triangles strips and share how I dealt with it …...

When the first few rule-breaking tulip blocks showed up last month, someone suggested it might be time for the second Duds and Orphans lotto. I wasn’t sure I had any orphans to contribute, but found these 6 inch Thrifty Blocks, made in a different color way than the ones we made in March, 2009. Do you have Block Lotto Orphans or Duds and an interest in entering them in a lotto drawing?   Let me know in the comments and I’ll figure...

I was looking at a calendar recently and noticed that there are (almost) 12 weeks until Christmas.  I wondered if I could make a sampler quilt, organized in 12 rows (of our 12 monthly blocks) in those twelve weeks.  It seemed doable to me.  I started thinking:   12 rows +     12 weeks   ________   1 Sampler Quilt   I decided that I would post weekly and share some of my thought process as I worked through my sampler quilt. If you have been...

I can’t tell if you all don’t like the block, don’t like the color palette, think it’s too difficult … or something else.  So, while I am blissfully ignorant, suspending disbelief and thinking some of you will make blocks this month … I put together a quilt layout in EQ that shows the secondary pattern you can create with black sashing and non-black cornerstones.   I used black and white prints for the...