Surprise Block

There I was just minding my own business, happily sorting through piles in the sewing room with occasional breaks to check on all the quilts in cyberspace. And then WHAM!! I saw a gorgeous block that some nameless quilter made for the Quilter's Planner Sew-along - I. Was. Hooked. This block just had to be made!

The little stack of Memoire A Paris from the last quilt I worked on was still out on the cutting table, just waiting there to be put away. Ha! As soon as I saw the block online and what it was for, I just pulled this fabric and proceeded to make this block.

So, to back up and give details...The Quilter's Planner is a splurge I made late last year in an effort to put some order into my life (don't laugh!). I wrote about it here, if you need to review. It came with lots of quilty treats, one of which was a magazine with patterns for each month and a resulting sampler by year's end. Another feature was that these blocks can be made in a sew-along in which you make a predetermined block or two each month. This Ohio Star block is the pattern for this month. Drool...

Also, after purchasing my planner I was encouraged to go online and register it with a website set up just for planner owners - it's sorta' like a club, I guess. This affords me access to additional goodies. I follow the same on Instagram, and that is likely where I saw the block that inspired me.

So, while I had absolutely no intention of doing this sew-along, the urge to make this block overcame me, and I like it so much that I will probably go ahead and make a few more to see if I am equally satisfied. I have a pretty bad track record with quilt-alongs, in that I have started many and finished only a few, and those were not finished on time.

Here are two finished examples: Wishes and Tell It to the Stars . As far as unfinished ones, I need only look at the Blockheads I and II to see good intentions skewered to bits. I am sure there are others, but I'm not going out of my way to dig them up at this time. Basically, what I am telling you is that I hold out very little hope that I will actually follow through on this quilt-along.

Well, today has been exhausting! I started back to OUC - two classes of freshman comp - I walked 2 miles on the gymnasium walking path, logged over 10,000 steps on the Fitbit, and it was my birthday so DH took me out to dinner at a cool little restaurant in Chillicothe called The Pour House. All in all, a very fun, albeit busy, day.

Hope you are getting things done!
Happy Quilting, Friends!