Summer Sampler 2020 easy-piecing Summer

This is my quilt. In May of 2020, my friend suggested ths block of the week quilt--and it was just what was needed in those months. An easy, fully accomplshed task each week. Summer Sampler 2020 was hosted by Lee Henrich, Katie Blakesley and Faith Jones. I looked forward to Mondays. I pulled my fabrics, a slightly different palette than the suggsted one. And by pulled I mean, I WENT INTO A STORE (first time going into a quilting store was allowed since early March). And I gotta say, internet and window-front shopping is OK when necessary but nothing beats pulling the bolts and choosing the fabrics yourself.

And then the weekly emails started, and the easy-piecing Summer began. But it wasn't simple--paper piecing, precision piecing, curves...but the patterns are all well written, and it's only ONE block at a time.

And slowly, week by week, the "family" of blocks grew. I really enjoyed the facebook group--supportive and fun, and people would post their weekly block and then the "family photo" of all the blcoks together.

When it was time to quilt this one, I had already quilted Vicki's Summer Sampler 2020 (which is in the recommended fabrics, as that was a very easy way to online shop for fabrics), and I had really liked how the quilting looked on hers, so I just did the same on mine.

When I was done piecing my SS 2020, way back in early fall of 2020, I decided the patterns were well written and I loved the circle layout of the 2019 Summer Sampler Boot Camp, so I bought that pattern and made that quilt too--and quickly saw why 2020 was called easy-pieicng, becaue in comparison it was. But, really, the blocks were all manageable, and the facebook group wss still active and supportive. More photos can be seen here, but here's one to illustrate the difference between book camp and easy piecing. This one I finished custom quilting in early January 2021.

And, of course, I participated in Summer Sampler 2021 Vintage Restyle as well....it's a completed top, but still in the TBQ (to be quilted) pile. Hopefully it won't have to wait a year, as the SS2020 did.