100 Days 100 Blocks challenge 2017

Alright, so not so much blogging happened in the last little (okay long) while.  Because Instagram is so... instant! I can get on Instagram anywhere and blogging requires me sitting with my laptop. 

But - there was craploads of sewing!  And there's no better time than the time you're in thumb jail to catch up.  I bring you the first instalment of my 100 Days 100 Blocks Challenge!  So Gnome Angel hosted an Instagram challenge under the hashtag #100days100blocks2017 which you can read about here. It was the second time she ran the challenge and as I had seen all the goodness from the previous year, I decided to take the plunge in 2017.  If you are up for a project, she is doing it again in 2018 -- you can check out her blog for more information.  Anyhoo, since I already had the book and since I have more fabric than sense, this seemed like the perfect idea. 

The sew-a-long required you to have Tula's book

There was some lead up to the kick-off so there was plenty of time to choose the right fabric and map out times to sew to get ahead so I could compensate for the busier times.  Step one was to decide what fabric to use.  I have amassed a ridiculous collection of Alison Glass fabrics so I pulled out the stash and decided to dive in. 

Sadly (or not), this stack represents only half of my Alison Glass collection - there is another big plastic bin which I also pulled from.

I kept the colour scheme as consistent as I could with the original blocks in the book because I liked one of the rainbow colour order layouts that is included at the back of the book and wanted to get a similar effect in my finished quilt.  I even threw in a piece or two of my very valuable Tula stash along the way as an homage to the original quilt designer. 

Block one done -- see?  Similar colours, but different fabric designer.

This quilt was captivating to make and I was able to get a lot of blocks off the ground quickly.  Each block is different and the sections of books are broken into block types or "themes."  Because each block is different, each daily finish felt like a real accomplishment.  Also, the super saturated Alison Glass colours made me super happy to look at on the daily.  Adding them to the design wall in my sewing room made me happy.  I may have zoned out a time or two just staring at the rainbowy goodness.

These block made my design wall so happy and bright.

So, before I could bat an eyelash, the first ten blocks were done -- I created my own hasthtag #crissas100blocks, so I could keep easy track of my blocks in the sea of thousands of others that were being posted from all over.  The sew-a-long had prizes for each set of ten blocks that got finished so there was lots of extrinsic motivation to keep up as well.  I also created a separate album in my phone so I could see all the rainbowy goodness whenever I wanted.

My first ten blocks!

Next time I will show you my progress and where I ended up.  Do you think I was able to keep pace with the challenge?