Today I'm starting a different kind of quilt along and you might want to play along too.

Here's how this idea came about.....a couple of months ago my friend Katie of Karma Willow Designs posted how she was trying to make some progress on making her Tula Pink City Sampler blocks and was sort of stalled in the process. I've seen so many versions of this around the quilting blogisphere when the book came out and when Sara of Sew Sweetness hosted her quilt along that I got sort of interested in eventually making one too.

I don't know about you but over the past 8+ months I've had a hard time actually making into my studio to do even just a little sewing.  That doesn't make me happy and I desperately need to change that.  

So....when I read Katie's post, I proposed to her that we cheer each other on in our quest to make a City Sampler and in the process we will be each others' cheerleader to applaud our accomplishments.  She loved this idea and I was lucky enough to quickly find this copy of the book on one of the Facebook destash sites that I belong to for $8.  Whoo hoo for bargains!

Then....we thought why not invite others to join us....to motivate and cheer each other on to complete individual blocks and eventually an entire quilt, whether it be all 100 blocks or some lesser quantity. 

This is what we've decided to do:

This will be a no time commitment quilt along...

no deadlines, no expectations, no pressure.

If you make any progress during the month Great!  If not there is always the next month.

I'll do a linky party on the 15th of each month where we can share our accomplishments and cheer each other on.

I don't know what Katie's plans are as far as when she wants to finish her quilt but I'm hoping to complete mine within a year, hopefully less.  Since most of these blocks can be sewn together in 15-30 minutes it will at least give me a few minutes of play on more days and slowly but surely work my way towards finishing the project.

This 1st linky party is for whomever wants to join us and will be open until August 14th.  If you want to sew with us, just post a link to anything related to the City Sampler....a fabric pull, blocks started but not finished, completed blocks.  Hopefully this will interest those of you that started a sampler and then put it aside to take it out again and work on it.  Then on August 15th and each following month on the 15th I'll have a new linky party to show off what you've accomplished so we can motivate each other to keep going.  

To get this party started I'm going to show you my fabric pull now....perhaps to help you think outside the box for this project if you don't already have a plan.  While I love so many of the City Samplers that I've seen pictures of, I'm going in a totally different direction for my version.  These are the fabrics that I'm going to use.

Yes I'm going to make a Halloween version of Tula Pink's City Sampler.  I looked around and didn't see where anyone else has done this so it should look really great when it is done.  Plus I want a big Halloween quilt and this will kill 2 birds with one stone. I'm really excited to see how this is going to come together.

Here is my White, Yellow and Orange pile.  I desperately need to find more White and Yellow background prints to use for this.

Here are the Green and Purple bits I'll be using.  I definitely need more Green too to add to this stack and a few other Purple ones wouldn't hurt either.

These are the Black prints I will be incorporating into my blocks.

I just might also include some pieces from my Ghastlies stash if the mood strikes me.  When I said that I'm addicted to this line, I wasn't kidding.  For each block I'm just going to wing it and pick my fabrics based on my mood at that moment.

So who wants to join us?

You can make your blocks with any theme that strikes you fancy...Rainbow, completely scrappy, 1930s prints, Christmas prints, Civil War fabrics, Asian fabrics (that would personally be my other choice), modern fabrics, geometric prints.....it's totally up to you.

Sew when you can.  Show off whatever you've accomplished.

There are no quilt police with this. Maybe at some point we'll have a finish linky party to celebrate completed projects but that will be a bit off in the future depending on how everyone does.  

If you want to spend just a few minutes each day (or at least every few days if your life is busy like mine) sewing for fun, come be a City sampler cheerleader with us. Oh and there is a button over on my sidebar if you want to use it on your blog and spread the news.

I hope you enjoy today's showcase and please remember to click through the links to each quilter's blog and show them how much you appreciate all that they share with the quilting world.

1. Quilting is My Bliss, 2. Confessions of a Fabric Addict, 3. Piece N Quilt, 4. Dreamworthy Quilts, 5. Quilting is My Bliss, 6. Piece N Quilt, 7. Tamarack Shack, 8. Treadlemusic, 9. Dreamworthy Quilts, 10. Amy's Free Motion Quilting Adventures, 11. Green Fairy Quilts, 12. Creative Longarm Quilting by Karen Marchetti, 13. Ms. Midge, 14. Happy Quilting, 15. Alicia Quilts, 16. Quilting is My Bliss

Last but not least, I'm going to make another plug for the Kate Spain Christmas Charm Swap. There are still a few spots available so if you've been waiting to join in the fun, stop waiting and join now.

The packages of charms have started to arrive and very soon this bin will be overflowing with quilty goodness.  Then the fun part of opening each stack and sorting through the gorgeous charms can commence.

Enjoy your Sunday.  Another work weeks starts all too soon.

This is how it looks today, not even 1/4 full.  To be honest I didn't remember it much throughout the year, just when the change in my wallet got too heavy would I think to dump it all in the jar.

Here is what I managed to save.  After counting it up, it comes to a whopping $30.85.  Not great but not totally shabby either.

So what am I going to spend it on? Nothing.  All of the change went right back into the jar and the jar went back onto the shelf.

I'm going to keep adding to it until it is filled and then I'll spend it.  I'm going to try and remember to add to it more regularly but I'm not going to formally join the challenge this year.  Hopefully I'll be able to fill it in less than 3 or 4 years. :)