I'm a slashing and stripping

Hello folks,

When I say BOM, what comes to mind? If you think Park Bom, the Korean singer from 2NE1, you've come to the wrong blog. BOM is Block of the month and I'll confess. I did not know that till a while ago! I've seen the word BOM before in blogs and I've always thought it's some secret cult language.

Ah, now the mystery is solved.

At the end of 2011, I decided that in 2012 I would make myself join some sew-along. When you work alone, there are times when you are not motivated to do anything. Very soon you find weeks fly by and you literally can't produce anything. I felt the best way to overcome this rut that I find myself in from time to time is to make something someone else's had planned out. The idea is to get yourself to make something, anything. I believe once I get going, I'll get inspired and start to make more bags.

So I signed up with Craftsy because they have a FREE BOM for the whole of 2012. Okay, let me repeat. It's FREE.

Have you heard of Craftsy? Click here if you haven't. It's a online community for sharing of craft projects. It also has online craft video classes you can sign up for. Most of them you have to pay for but for Block of the month with Amy Gibson, it's FREE. Click here for the free class.

What's really great about Craftsy online classes is this. You can view the class over and over again anytime. I made January's blocks in February. And I'll probably make February's blocks in March.

If you are only into freebies, click here for Craftsy's free patterns. Don't be surprised to find my patterns there as well. Like I said, it's a community and I've linked up a few of my tutes. I think Craftsy will get bigger and that's why I've opened a Craftsy online ePattern store. Click here. It's still in beta.

And....

I've already made my first sale on Craftsy!!!!!!! That was Sunday. I went to bed with a smile.

Back to my January BOMs. 

The asterisk BOM.

The wonky pound BOM.

The asterisk block looks harder to make but it's really easier, in my opinion. As long as you cut accurately, it will line up perfectly. I don't own a 12.5" square ruler and my rotary cutter is all rusty. So I mark with a ruler and cut using a pair of scissors. Yet I could achieve a good enough piecing. Amy Gibson makes it look really easy but if you're new to piecing, you need to use pins and check twice before you sew.

The wonky pound block looked like a piece of cake because it's "freeform". So by that association, it should be easier. But I found that it's near impossible to make the slashing match up perfectly. If one matches, another will not. So finally, I made them all not match perfectly in order to achieve a tolerable imperfection. But the imperfection will surely eat at me for a while.

I have another 18 more blocks to go before they are supposed to be quilted and binded. Will this be my first quilt?

This is something I made using blocks in 2003 for my girl. It's lap size and I made it without having any idea of blocks or binding. All I wanted was to make something which had embroidery and applique. You can tell from the current state of the blanket my girl used it to bits.

Here you can see the embroidery and applique.  My aesthetic was different in 2003. Well, the sew-along worked because I feel so alive now. I think I'll go make a couple of bags.

Linked to these parties:
Skip to my lou
Ninth street notions
The gunny sack
Get outta my head please
So very creative
Ask Anna
Family Ever After