I have decided that for my June ’17 One Monthly Goal that I am going to make a total of six blocks for three different projects. First, I plan to get caught up on my Block of the Month blocks for the Chocolatier BOM designed by Annemarie Chany of Gen X Quilters. This BOM is hosted by my local quilt store, ThreadBear, and we did not start it until March. It is a 12-month BOM, so unless we combine months later in the year, we won’t finish our Chocolatier blocks until February 2018 which works for me because I don’t even want to think about finishing this quilt until after Christmas. We are using Moda weave fabrics, and ThreadBear is accommodating my request for a charcoal background rather than the tan background everyone else is getting. Below is a mosaic of the blocks for Months 1 and 2. For Month 1, we sewed four of the Corner Stars on the left, and the turquoise/purple Eccentric Star and Arrowhead blocks were the second month’s assignment. Month 3 has two blocks that I’ve already cut but not sewn, and I haven’t picked up Month 4 yet, but I’m assuming it will also have two blocks. (If it has more, I am only committing to sewing two Month 4 blocks!)

Here is ThreadBear’s Chocolatier quilt:

Chocolatier Quilt by ThreadBear 2017

Next I am planning to finish the Celestial Star block for the Summer Sampler 2017 hosted by Katie of Swim Bike Quilt, Lee of Freshly Pieced, and Faith of Fresh Lemons. I wrote a little bit about the fabric I am using in my May is for Makers 2017 post, and there is also a pic of the mockup of the Summer Sampler 2017. I feel a little like a cheater since I am using all the fabrics shown in the mockup except I swapped the white background for a charcoal background–seems to be a theme 🙂 But I absolutely love these colors. Katie, Lee, and Faith built on the Summer Sampler 2016 palette but then added in some fuchsia and light blue to add more depth, and I was totally sold. These talented women are the authors of the Vintage Quilt Revival book which I own, and I plan to use several of the gorgeous blocks in this book in another project later this year.

Below are my first two Summer Sampler 2017 blocks. Block 1 on the left is the Millcreek Star by Katie of Swim Bike Quilt. Block 2 is Tilted Star by Karen Lewis of Karen Lewis Textiles.

The tutorial for Block 3, Celestial Star by Holly DeGroot of Bijou Lovely, was sent to Summer Sampler 2017 subscribers on 5/29/17. This block is not for the paper-piecing faint of heart! I started sewing a few of the units and noticed one of my points was a little cut off. Then yesterday I read the paper-piecing tip tutorial for the Celestial Star by Lee of Freshly Pieced, and it was a game changer for me. I love the intricate angles that can be created through paper-piecing, but at the same time, they totally stress me out because it has been hit and miss whether or not the pieces I cut and paper piece will fully cover the designated area. Below are two Section B units for the Celestial Star block. In the bottom one, the point on the sage green section on the left is peaking out (but I will still be able to use it), and the top one, using Lee’s tutorial, is fully covered! Yay! For my June ’17 OMG, I plan to finish the Celestial Star. I may complete some of the June 2017 Summer Sampler blocks, but they will be bonus blocks and not part of my June ’17 OMG goal.

I am planning to use Lee’s paper-piecing tip to finally sew the Hidden Gems block by Diane of From Blank Pages. Linda chose this block as part of our swarm in April 2016 for The Bee Hive by Blossom Heart Quilts. I had just been diagnosed with severe shoulder problems and was sleeping terribly due to shoulder pain, so when Linda chose this complicated paper-piecing block, I emailed her and asked her if I pulled the fabric, cut the templates, and sent them to her, would she sew it together for me, and she very generously agreed to do so. My shoulders are doing much better, and I’ve been in touch with Linda (sew4sanity on Instagram), and she has not yet sewn her quilt together and can still use another block, so I am going to do my best to make this Hidden Gems block and send it off to her. Rather than cutting template pieces which I really did not like doing (though it saves quite a bit of fabric), I cut rectangles that I will use to paper piece this block. Below are some of the rectangles with the appropriate templates placed on top of them:

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts: June ’17 OMG Goal Setting.