City Sampler Quilt Along :: Unlocked

Nearly 8 months after starting my City Sampler blocks, I have a finished quilt top! I began with some trepidation, but amazingly was able to keep up every step of the way. I began using stash fabrics following the colorways in the book, but it wasn't long before I began collecting more Tula Pink fabrics. A few charm packs, my proceeds from the Tula Pink charm swap, and a fat-eighth bundle of Acacia made up the bulk of my fabric. I added stash solids and other miscellaneous fabrics as inspired, all along planning on using the Gridlock layout. But the more blocks I added to my block grid, the more I liked the blocks nestled together edge to edge. So in the end, I sewed them together just like that and came up with my own Gridlock variation: "Unlocked."

There was one block that just was not 'right' in its original placement - a very purple block in the middle of some reds - so I swapped it with another. Otherwise, for better or worse, the blocks were placed according to the placement for the Gridlock layout. 

As I pieced each block, I placed it in my book for safe-keeping. Then all these months later as I sewed rows together, I pulled blocks from the book as they were called for. And happily, my book is in great shape, surviving to inspire another day.

All blocks are from Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks, part of the City Sampler Quilt Along. Linking up with Sew Sweetness and W.i.P. Wednesday.