This year, I made myself a goal to improve my piecing skills. To achieve that goal, I’m participating in various online BOMs as well as working on the Reach for the Stars quilt. You can read about my start on this quilt as well as all my fabric selections here.

I’m using the delicious Sunnyside line by Kate Spain for Moda, along with several solids thrown into the mix.

I finished up part 2 of 7 this weekend, which included blocks 1-3. I really wanted to get an outdoors photo to show off the fabrics better, but couldn’t squeeze it in before work on Monday.

Here are close-up photos of blocks 1-3. You can click each picture to zoom in on the block.

Reach for the Stars, Block 1

Reach for the Stars, Block 2

Reach for the Stars, Block 3

These blocks will be placed on the top of the quilt, above the center medallion:

Reach for the Stars, Blocks 1-3 with Center Medallion

It was challenging to find a floor space big enough for a photo. I stood on a little chair to get high enough, and I’m really surprised that one of my quilt inspectors didn’t come to “rearrange” the blocks, lol!

Since this project stretches over a year or so, I decided to create a little fabric swatch card/cheat sheet.

Fabric Swatch Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet really helped me keep all my fabric placements correct for each block. In the past, I just had my chicken scratches on a piece of paper. I could just see myself confusing dark 2 with dark 3 or light tan with medium 1 if I didn’t have the little fabric swatches.

I cut out all the pieces for blocks 1-3 at the same time and kept them in individual groups with labels:

Cut Fabric Groups

Now, if only I could be this organized with all my quilty projects!

I hope you enjoyed seeing photos of this evolving quilt. I still need to “catch up” on parts 3 and 4, which are already published in the magazine.

Happy quilting,
Jen