Just when I think I can’t make myself seem any older, I go and take up another old lady hobby.

Kim over at NewlyWoodwards recently posted about a quilt block a month series over at In Color Order. The series looks fun. Each month in 2012, a quick tutorial for a traditional quilt block using half-square triangles will be presented!

Once a month. That’s pretty low pressure. Finish a quilt top in a year. That’s about right on schedule for my normal projects. Let’s do this!

Look at me getting all confident in my barely existent sewing skills!

Ladies (and maybe gentlemen? Dad? Nate?)….here is January’s half-square triangle block of the month…

Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself. It resembles a quilt block. It’s not perfect but I’m going to call it perfect enough for my first attempt. Most of my corners match up-ish.

The finished block should be 12.5” square. Mine is a hair over 12.25” What’s a quarter of an inch? Right? Right. I might be able to press out a little more. And kick myself later for not following directions.

It was recommended to use your fabric stash. I don’t really have a stash yet so I purchased 2 charm packs of Moda's Flora.

I wanted something shabby chic to go with my shabby chic way of quilting. Shabby chic is a good term to cover up laziness/lack of patience.

Was this attempt hard? Yes and no. The instructions are fairly easy to follow. The cutting and aligning were very testing for my overall lack of patience in life. I think this block took me about 3 hours. (I did it in bits and pieces. Ripped out some seams.) I think/hope the next one will go faster. This project will be good for me though. I’m pretty excited about it. Bring it February square.

Would you like to join along? There is still time to complete the January block…or you can catch up at anytime! You can also check out the flickr group.