The Splendid Sampler II, Block 8: My Flock

Today, we started Week 8 of the Splendid Sampler 2 Block-of-the-Week quilt along.

Last week, we introduced you to the block, called: For the Love by Sharon Burgess. You can see my version of Sharon's block, here.

This week, meet American designer and shop owner, Brenda Ratliff of Just a Bit Frayed and Pink Castle Fabrics. Although I've never met Brenda, I have heard great things about her Glamp Stitchalot weekend sewing retreat AND I love the fabrics she sells in her shop!

Brenda's block is called My Flock. She says in her blog post how she loves flying geese. What I love most about this block design is how the row of flying geese are off-center. I feel this adds interest to her block and there are lots of things you can do to make this block interesting. Although I stuck with the 3-fabric version Brenda used, I could easily see this block using scrappy same-color prints for the small flying geese triangles and 4 different-color coordinating fabrics for the large triangles, then trim out the row of flying geese with a larger print that includes all the colors of the large triangles, therefore, lending a sense of cohesiveness.

Here is my version of My Flock:

I haven't yet used a lot of yellow in my Splendid Sampler II blocks, so I thought I would use my yellow dot print for my large flying geese triangles. If you haven't yet noticed, I love dots, so this space in the design allowed me to show off those dots well!

I wanted to keep the corner triangles interesting without having to use a solid or mottled fabric, so I decided upon the gray and cream "X" print. Finally, I decided to go with the all-over large print to bring in all the fabric colors into this block so that it will still coordinate well with some of the other blocks I've made, thus far.

Because I'm using two different, older Moda collections (that I've been hoarding for a special project, such as this!), and because I'm limited, due to the amount of fabric I'm working with (I'm using fat quarter bundles), I'm beginning to shop for coordinating fill-in fabrics.

I'm fortunate in that my local quilt shops are hosting a shop hop that started today, so I hit 3 shops who are participating in the hop, just this afternoon. My husband is going to join my on the hop one of the days, so that should make the traveling fun! This is what I picked up, today:

Because I started with Moda bundles, and because Moda is one of the sponsors of the Splendid Sampler II block-of-the-week, I've decided to stick with using strictly Moda prints (not a requirement, but something I want to do). Besides, I've found that many of Moda's fabric collections coordinate, so rest-assured, I know I have the best luck of finding coordinates if I stick with this plan. One of my favorites out of the above purchases is the multi-print fat quarter along the bottom by Jen Kingwell . . . I love every one of her fabrics! Her quilts are mighty amazing, too! 

The Splendid Sampler 2 book will be available October 2018. It is currently available for pre-sale so order your copy, now!