31 days of stitching... 6" blocks by hand and machine

For 2020, I've been tracking daily stitching activities with this fabulous project management calendar for makers. I'm happy to report that July had a full month of stitching! 

Project management Success Tracker for Makers and Creatives.

What's been the projects in July?

Curiously enough, the month of July was filled with making 6-inch blocks—some by machine and others by hand.

• 100 Days 100 Blocks Challenge—This sew-along started July 1. I've kept up with the daily postings and have pieced 40 six-inch patchwork blocks to date.
• English paper piecing [EPP] hexagons—this is a UFO from 2016 called Glorious Hexagons that re-emerged during the pandemic lock down this Spring. It now includes block patterns from both of Katja Marek's The New Hexagon books... and a few I've designed myself with leftover EPP bits.

40 blocks from #100days100blocks project and 12 EPP Glorious Hexagons.

I was surprised to discover 12 EPP hexagons were completed this past month. It just proves that if you do a little stitching each day—even 5 or 10 minutes—it adds up! This project is also very portable. I have paper templates, fabric bits, pins, needles and threads parcelled into sandwich size baggies that can be taken outside, or thrown into a purse or suitcase.

July's success on 6" English paper pieced hexagons.

My hexie collection has amassed to over 100 hexagons so far! I embrace the accomplishment of each small composition and find it very satisfying to give purpose to an accumulation of fabric swatches. 

The need for blenders

I enjoy the challenge of pulling together prints from various fabric collections for each block, but occasionally I realize a "calm coordinate" is needed to complement them or unify the palette. A quick trip to a local quilt shop [YLQS], Chattanooga Sewing Machines, filled this blender gap with a few Canvas and Shimmer Radiance fat quarters. 

Blenders and prints for 100 Days and EPP Glorious Hexagons projects.

Yeah, I picked up two other prints because they were from Paintbrush Studio (Over the Rainbow—for my 100 Days blocks) and Lewis & Irene (the bunnies—that I thought would be fun for EPP fussy cutting). Diversity is good, right?

In the hunt for something in my studio, I also uncovered some fat quarter Suede blenders [P&B Textiles] from a previous project. Aha! Another welcome addition to my EPP blender stash.

Suede blenders from P&B Textiles. 

So now I'm stocked up and ready for a stitching-filled August! What's been satisfying your stitch cravings?