Happy New Year, Happy Lozagons and Happy QALs!

Happy New Year people and welcome to 2015! I had a lovely week off but still have more entertaining over the next few days and this is really cutting into my sewing time. There has been plenty of visiting and good food and I just had to squeeze in some time for hand sewing too!

I've been working away on Lozagons and it is staring to look like a quilt! When I last showed it to you I had stitched together the middle section with the rose medallion and I was working on stitching together the rest of the snowflake blocks into strips that could be attached to the centre.

Since then I've stitched all of the strips that will be sewn to the centre panel. In this picture everything is just pinned together on the design wall. I now have some long seams to sew.

I also shared the drawing of how I would assemble the quilt. It it you can see my first draft of the filler bits for the corners (H and I) and the top centre which isn't labelled.

I was struggling with colour and couldn't decide what to do. So I printed a copy of my drawing and coloured it in to get ideas. Yellow and orange always work well with blue so this is what I finally settled on.

The three large yellow motifs will be identical and then I think the four partial rosettes along the top will be made with four different fabrics. I'll use only one orange print for the centres of all seven. The bottom of the quilt will be identical. I do have one small problem - I'm almost out of the turquoise fabric. It was only $4/m so why I didn't buy more of it is beyond me. I've found something similar so I'll have to use it strategically to make sure it looks like it was part of the design rather that a solution to a fabric shortage!

So what have you got planned in the way of projects for 2015? It is always fun to start something new (at least that's what I think). If you are looking for an English paper piecing project for 2015 I've got a few suggestions for your consideration.

The New Hexagon Millefiori Quilt Along by Katja Marek
It's free and the first pattern was just released! You will find Rosette 1 here.  The designs are from Katja's book The New Hexagon. You will need the book in order to participate; it includes 52 interesting 3" block designs that will be used to make the quilt. Each of the hexagons shown on the cover is one 3" block. Fussy cutting your fabric will make these blocks really spectacular!

One very important point I would like to clarify is that Katja's QAL should not be confused with Willyne Hammerstein's gorgeous book Millefiori Quilts published by Quiltmania. This is a book that has been on my wishlist for some time. If you love English paper piecing and hexagons add this one to your wishlist ! It is difficult to find but I know you can order it from Quiltmania in France.

Elizabeth E's Circles English Paper Piecing Block of the Month
This is another free QAL and it comes from Elizabeth E of www.OccaisonalPiece-Quilt.com Elizabeth just published the pattern for Block 7 and you will find it here. Links the the previous 6 blocks are available on her blog. In the Block 7 post she provides great information about printing patterns from a pdf, cutting the patches and sewing them together.

2015 Hexie Block of the Month from The Hexie Blog by Julia Wood
I know that there are a few of you out there who love hexagons (really people, what's not to love?)!! This is a great QAL for beginners! Julia has just launch the first pattern and you will find it here. The pattern calls for 3/4" hexagons but really you can use any size you want. These will be geometric designs that are stitched together and then appliqued to a background.  Julia is using Kaffe fabrics but you can use whatever tickles your fancy! You can find the general information for this QAL here.

Also sometime this month Julia will be launching her new emagazine Hexie Love. It will be published six times a year and the first issue will come out in the second week of January. A single issue will be $5.99 and a one year subscription will be $26.99 so that's a pretty good savings!

That's it for me for today! Time to get dressed, get cooking and get entertaining. Maybe even get sewing a little! Until I post again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Karen H