The Joy of Piecing

I signed up to do a Saturday Sampler at one of my local quilt shops (Cotton and Chocolate Quilt Shop) this year.  It is all pieced out of batiks.  The original quilt looks like this:

I'm not crazy about the border, but the pattern doesn't include the border fabric anyway, so I'll use my own when the time comes.

We got our first blocks on Jan 4th, and I decided I didn't like the off-white background, so I am using up some black batik I had in my stash as my background fabric.  So my first block looks like this:

I discovered... maybe re-discovered?... how much I enjoy piecing while I worked on this.  There is something magical about taking bits of fabric and making them into something.  I can't really explain it, but it makes me happy nonetheless.

I have spent the past year and a half doing mostly applique and the bits of piecing I did do, like on my Alaska quilt, were just to put appliqued blocks together or put borders on a quilt, or make backs.  Actually piecing a block again was a really pleasant experience.

I am signed up for a block-of-the-month this year - it's mostly applique - and this Saturday sampler.  And I foolishly bought another McKenna Ryan kit yesterday (bringing me up to 3 that I have of hers now, though one is MIA).  McKenna Ryan quilts are all applique.  So having this sampler to work on will be a joyous experience...

And it's not that I don't take pleasure in applique, too.  It just isn't the same magic as piecing.

There will be another Saturday Sampler starting in February at another local quilt shop (Quilty Pleasures).  I wasn't going to do that one, but I think after enjoying this one so much, I might do that one, too.  Something to think about anyway.  But I don't want to overload myself..

I signed up for the UFO Challenge at Stashbusters too, so I have to work on my UFOs this year as well.  I have a lot on my plate and lots of travel plans for the year too.  I hope I can keep up.  2014 is shaping up to be a very busy year.

How is your 2014 looking?