riley blake mystery block quilt-a-long, part 1

It turns out, having some kind of external force motivate me is good for my sewing.  I felt so good about making a pouch for the sweet pouch swap I decided I wanted to continue to be motivated!  Through Quilting Mumma, I learned about the Riley Blake Designs mystery block of the month quilt-a-long going on right now!  Yep, diving straight into this one!  I was already leaning towards, yes, I'd like to do this...but then I saw the first video!

Chevron!

Yes please!

I got straight to work...which meant sitting in my comfy IKEA sewing chair, swiveling around looking at all the fabric in my sewing room, and debating what I should use to 'try' this technique before actually committing to a fabric.  I saw peeking out from under a pile of baby fabrics some fantastic bubbles of blues/teals/greens and instantly said 'yep, that's the one!'  I know chevron seems to be done in solids...but I like the idea of mixing it up with a patterned fabric!  I found perfect reclaimed fabric(a pillowcase/sham set that was given to me a few years ago to be used as fabric) to coordinate.  Creamy white with a pale aqua paisley design.  PERFECT!

cutting.  gosh, I love having a rotary cutter and self-healing mat...

 I cut my squares.  I then set out on the difficult task of making myself follow directions and NOT cut corners.  My biggest fear when it comes to quilting is the accuracy and detail that is involved!  I don't want to trim each of these squares into perfect 2.5" squares.  I want to leave them slightly askew at 2.6" or 2. 3"...but I forced myself to be good.  To take the time.  To focus.

squares marked and ready for stitching

 And it was worth it!  I felt good.  (well, my back hurt a wee bit after all that ironing and cutting...)

detail of the 'light' fabric...before ironing the right way(towards the dark fabric)

Now my block is sitting on my cutting mat, waiting to be sewn together!  I love the way it looks so far and hope that I can have the patience to make sure I don't lose any of my points and it doesn't look too wonky in the end!

I really like it!!  (and please ignore that bottom right square...need to replace that one...)

A few days later I finished my block!  I replaced the bottom square, realised I needed more and got straight to work.

I'm very pleased with the results for my first time actually trying something like this...

Not all of my seams match perfectly, but I love it so much!!!  I love it so much in fact, I purchased a 2.5" template so I can do this better when I make more!

Can't wait for the 2nd block to be revealed!