Layer Cake Block Two with Vickie Eapen

I am thrilled to see what you are all doing with block one!  Love it!  Let's see what you do with block two!

Bringing us Block Two is Vickie Eapen.  You may know her blog, Spun Sugar Quilts.  Yes, that Vickie!  I can't imagine that you haven't seen her blog, but if you haven't, it's worth your time to go check it out.  Right now she is part of a blog hop that is posting holiday cookie recipes among other things.  Her Andes Mint Cookies for Today sound so good I may have to break out my cookie sheets.  I will attempt cookies on occasion though that's sometimes as far as my cooking goes. 

Okay, I know you are anxious, so here's Vickie --

Hi I am Vickie Eapen. I live Ohio but born and raised in Iowa. I have 2 daughters and one fabulous husband who allows me to indulge in quilting and designing as often as possible. My career is dentistry. I have been practicing full time for over 10 years. I have never been very good with idle hands, sewing, quilting, knitting and crafting help satisfy the need to be doing something.

I started sewing when I was 8 years old. I made my first quilt/doll quilt when I was about 10. I still have that quilt. Over the years I have done cross stitch, crochet, knitting, scrapbooking, stamping, rug hooking and quilting.

I started blogging about 5 years ago to journal my knitting projects. Fast forward to January 2009, when I found Moda Bakeshop, I started designing simple projects. Now I have projects in Quilts n More, Quiltmaker and many others coming soon.

I am excited to design a block for the quilt along. I participated in the jelly roll quilt along and found it to be an excellent way for me to keep up with a block along.

I can’t wait to see the combinations everyone creates with this.

My blog: http://www.spunsugarquilt.com/

Thanks Vickie!

CLICK HERE for the instructions to Block Two.

Here's a picture of Vickie's block:

And here's the block I made:

I have been wondering if I should have switched the stripe print with the leaf print.  I think once it is joined with the other blocks it won't make much of a difference. 

NOTE:  Each of these blocks will be have a 1" frame (cut 1-1/2") in the accent fabric.  Then there will be a 2" (2-1/2" cut) sashing including a sashed border.  Then there will be a border from the accent fabric, then the large border.  The sashing will actually be cut from your layer cake.  I was noticing that I had a strip leftover from this block -- so I trimmed it to 2-1/2" and will be saving it for the sashing -- or to use in another block.  After we get a few more blocks finished, I will show you more of how this will work.

So what happens next? 

Well, any pictures posted in the flickr group by tonight will be entered into the first drawing.  About 10 ish tonight (Mountain Time) I will post my Block One.  All blocks BEFORE mine are those entered into the first drawing.  They will mostly be block one, but there will also be a few speedsters who will get block two posted.  It doesn't matter which block - just the one's posted before mine.  If you post your block AFTER mine, then it will be entered into the next drawing. 

What's up for grabs this time?

Well, you might be interested to know that Vickie is feeling pretty generous.  She is giving away a Layer Cake of Simple Abundance! 

And I have two patterns.  So there will be three prizes again this time!

Happy quilting!

Block 2 or Can't Make Just One!

This block was so fun that I couldn't make just one -- I made two!  BUT you will see them in a minute. 

First, meet our block designer for today, April Mazzoleni!  April is a friend of mine.  She is also a quiltmaker with a great eye for design.  Check out her blog, you will see what I mean.  Here's April. . . .

Once all of my kids were school aged, I had found myself at home with a lot of time on my hands. Too long to just sit around and wait for everyone to get home and not long enough to get a real job...plus I had already done the real job thing for 15 years and just couldn't go back. I dusted off the sewing machine that my parents gave me when I turned 18 and started sewing. With my mom two states away and no one around to help, I jumped right in. Sewing has changed my life in sew many ways. It's given me a creative outlet, provided me with an income and has helped me to make many friends along the way.

For me blogging, sewing and friends have gone hand in hand. I started blogging about 2 years ago now and love it. It's not about the number of visitors or the number of comments (although comments are always fun to read) it's more of being part of a community, keeping connected and sharing that part of myself with family and friends.

While I've made a lot of original quilts, I haven't published many patterns. With the encouragement of friends, I'm throwing my hat in the ring. My first pattern for a quilted version of a Quiet Book is now available for purchase at woodchesters.etsy.com.

Besides my love of quilts, my other passion in sewing is my cloth mama pads. While my initial reaction to cloth pads was - Yuck! - something about them kept tugging at me. I finally made up a few, fell in love with them and wanted to share them with the world :) Besides selling them at my etsy shop aprilmdesigns.etsy.com, I also want to help make people aware of the health benefits associated with them. You can find all of that info at my website http://www.clothmamapads.com/. I'm saving my scraps to make a cloth mama pad quilt one day. The best of both worlds!

Thanks,
  April

My blog. . .  http://april-makingendsmeet.blogspot.com/

Thanks April!  And CLICK HERE for the pdf of Block 2 designed by April!

Here are the two blocks I made using April's pattern.  First, I made the design in my Attitude Girls jelly roll.  It turned out, of course, very high contrast because Attitude Girls has, well, attitude. 

So I had to make one with low contrast.  I found over half a Swanky jelly roll sitting around with nothing to do.  I decided to let my Swanky jelly roll join in the fun.  We will see how far she makes it.  The center square is a pink with white dot print that is going to be my background fabric for this one. 

My apologies for these blocks.  They have not received their final pressing yet.  I know I shouldn't let them be seen this way.  Sorry.  Are the quilt police going to call me in for questioning? 

Okay, so a couple other items of business.  I type these up Saturday night so they will post before I can get to the computer Monday morning.  The link will be on the main page shortly. 

Second, the drawing.  Yeah!!!!  Here's the deal:
Sew, sew, sew, you have today to finish block 1! 

Late tonight (Mountain Daylight Savings Time -- I do not like daylight savings time by the way -- too much information -- oops!) I will post my two new blocks on Flickr.  When these two blocks are posted, every block before my blocks are entered into the random drawing for two fabulous prizes that will be announced tomorrow. 

Here's the Flickr link again: (http://www.flickr.com/groups/1343277@N20/)

Question:  What about the speed demons who finish Block 2 before I get my Block 2 posted?
Answer:  Speed Demons, you have a choice to make.  If you post your block, you will have two chances in tomorrows drawing because you will have two blocks posted.  Or you can wait until after I post mine to be entered into the next drawing.  I will leave the decision to each of you.