January Blocks and February Goals

I had a somewhat productive January. Here are the blocks I made:

 

These are for We Bee Learning. We were asked to make two Rocky Road to Kansas blocks in shades of blue and green with a gray background. When I saw that this was the block for January, I was a little bit nervous… I hadn't done any paper piecing before this! But these blocks looked a lot easier than the Lucky Stars practice block, so I jumped right in. Unfortunately, my first attempt looked something like this:

Actually, this is more like my 9th or 10th attempt. After I sewed the background in the wrong place, I ripped it out, tried again, set it aside, and made 7 more quarter-blocks successfully. When I came back to this piece I realized that there were no pieces of my background fabric remaining that were big enough. Oops. To the fabric store I  went, and successfully finished both blocks. They are on their way to their owner!

Here's my practice block for Lucky Stars BOM.. I did this AFTER I successfully completed a Rocky Road to Kansas. Unfortunately, I did not note the seam allowance on the paper piecing templates, and thus this happened:

Fortunately, it is a practice block, which means it doesn't have to be part of the final quilt if I don't want it to be. (I really don't feel like remaking it.)

January's block turned out pretty well, except I think that when I piece the blocks together, the tips of the stars will be cut off. Oh well--it's a learning experience.

Here are my flying goose blocks for the Starburst Quilt-Along. I've made the goose in the corner blocks too, and started the HSTs, but do you know how long it takes to make 64 half-square triangles? Freaking FOREVER. 

I also have made 4 or 5 blocks for the Scrappy Trip Along (not pictured), about 7 scrappy string blocks, and a bunch more bow ties (I think I'm up to 71 for the next round of the swap, and about 60 for me to keep, the goal is around 224 total). 

So, goals for February, so I can link up with A Lovely Year of Finishes:

1. Bind Giant Granny Square quilt--I quilted it right at the beginning of January.

2. Bind my friend's rail fence quilt--in exchange, she's knitting the second sock of a pair of Jaywalkers I started several years ago.

3. February bee blocks--two wonky house blocks and a wonky log cabin block.

4. Modern Scrappy Bits Swap--I should get my partner assignment next week!

5. Triple-Zip Pouch-Along

Linking up to: