bev2009 Yes please that would be so helpful :) I guess the thing I'm having trouble with is where to sew. Do the two 3 1/2" squares meet in the middle or do you overlap them? But yes pictures would help so much. Thank you! :)

This video explains the overlap issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KWFiqx5JrY

Hareball, hopefully the video helped. I took some pictures of the order you do it in. First sew along the white line. Trim off the top triangle and press the remaining triangle out.

Here are mine. Sent this morning. Yeah!

Got Patty/Florida's blocks today. Still expecting Bev's and Vasu's. We're up to 22 already so this will be a nice size and quite lovely. Thanks ladies.

Three in the mail this morning!

All the blocks are beautiful, one lucky lady will have a beautiful quilt to make!

Got three today from Beverly/Indiana. Lovely fabrics. Thanks Bev2009.

And Vasu's are now here as well. I think that's 28. Few days to go but what a haul!

Beth, yours will go well with mine. Everyone's are all so pretty.

Well, I'm a little late coming to the sewing table, but I manage to make two. Nothing like making 16 geese to get back in the swing of things.

Linda, They will be in Monday's mail to you.

Great news Val. I'll be watching.

And, they just keep rolling in. My mailman will probably be glad when this month is over. Today I got three from Beth/Florida, and Evelyn/Hareball's first block. You did very well Evelyn for a first block. It's just fine. I think we're up to 32 so far - Good sized quilt.

Thank you :) I'm going to keep practicing and hopefully start making a quilt of my own soon :)

Here are my blocks ...on my screen they are a lot brighter than they really are.

The weather is bad and my blocks are not very square, so I am going to skip going out to get them sent in and save them for practice.

I have another project I would like to do next month ( after more practice) and it also uses a black background with batiks. The sewing store person told me to use medium gray, however I think I probably should have used black thread.

What color thread did everyone use ?

I used black thread.

Black here.

Yep..I used black, as well.

Val's blocks arrived and that ends our month. I did the formal drawing of a numbered disk out of the usual tin can by my husband and a new name has popped up this time --- the winner is Vasudha/VasuTX from Houston. Congratulations, Vasu! Nice job.

congratulations, Vasu! I will be anxious to see this beauty put together.

Congratulations, Vasu! :-)

Good news for Vasu! Congratulations!!!

wooHooo...good news for you, Vasu!!!! Congrats!

OMG! I can't believe it! Thank you all very much!

I did some lotto so several years ago but had not participated for a long time. What a great welcome!

vasu.

Congratulations, Vasu. Have fun assembling your new quilt. It should be beautiful.

Congratulations Vasu! How exciting! Can't wait to see the beauty you create with all the gorgeous blocks!

Congratulations! :)

Congratulations, Vasu! Beautiful blocks.

You go girl. These will make a stunning quilt. Can't wait to see it.

I received the blocks from Linda today. Thank you very much, Linda.

I can't believe how lovely they are. The vibrant batiks against black will make a stunning quilt. I'm planning just a narrow black sashing and a black border. There are 34 blocks and will make a good sized quilt. Here they are...

Thanks to all of you that sent a block and to Linda and Sue for doing the lotto. This will be my first quilt with a black background.

Vasu

The pic didn't make it in the previous post.

WOW, Vasutx! That will be s.t.u.n.n.i.n.g!!!

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO singing AWWWWWESOME!

Beautiful! I love black backgrounds and so happy for your win. It is fun to see all the blocks together.

Sue

That is going to be a fabulous quilt. Great choice, Linda and Sue.

What a fantastic quilt that will be!! Lucky you!! And you have to make only one more block. Thanks for showing us a picture of them all together. It's like a family portrait. They come from all over and make a terrific whole.

And I like the way you have arranged them colourwise.

Theresa

That looks great.

black sashings will be perfect. It also makes it possible to adjust any differences in size with that sashing. It's going to be just lovely.

My, my, my, my, just astounding!

But may I pls disagree about sashing? I'd say black borders, yes, but no sashing.

Design-wise, I think it has almost movement & rhythym as is, w/out sashing & I feel the sashing would break that.

It has beautiful flow as is, I would hate to disturb that marvelous layout.

Pls everybody look at it again, note how wonderfully it flows & your eyes just move effortlessly over the whole expanse ...

Guess I feel strongly about this ;>)

I think Karen makes a good point, not sure you need the sashing with this design. Yet, I understand Toolgranny's point about squaring up the blocks....decisions ... Decisions....

In this one case, I disagree. If I had made all the blocks, I wouldn't use sashing. But these are lotto blocks. Some had hardly any seam allowance along the outside edge. Some were 1/4" smaller than the next and some larger. They are all nice but vary a great deal. A half inch black strip, sashing, can allow you to take a 1/8" seam where needed or be cut down to 1/4" where block was generous. It's a math problem easily solved with a sashing not intended to be a design feature. You forget -- I've seen all these blocks. They are not uniform. Vasu can make it all look great with black strips no matter how narrow. It's up to her. But I'd hate to see some cut down and lose those points just to make it come together.

Just my two cents!

I am with Linda on this. And it also depends on what size vasu wants her quilt to finish at. Sashings can help there.

Theresa

Thank you for this discussion on sashing vs. no sashing. That's exactly what I was mulling over last night. I ironed all the blocks and checked for size and it looks like I do need some sashing. Some blocks are off by over 1/2".

I've decided to sew a 1.5" strip on all sides and re-cut the blocks to 13.5". This makes the finished blocks 13", which is 1" larger. One good thing about everyone using the same background is that the sashing strips melt into the background and the batiks look like they float on the black.

Vasu

great solution, Vasu! That is the reason I specify Kona Black - they will all be the same then!

Sue

Sounds like the perfect fix, Vasu. Can't wait to see the finished quilt.

Thanks for receiving my comments as they were meant, design wise, interesting situation.

Good solution, it's going to be breathtaking -- really!!!!!