#8 Merry & Bright

This block is called 'Waiting For Santa'. Because my scraps for setting blocks let me make all 18 in 2 shades of blue with a red/white candy stripe, I need to include blues in the regular blocks. The only Santa fabric I had in the scraps was this surfing Santa in the Mighty Blue Pacific. That print had to be fussy cut. Now to use more reds and greens.

I put this block on the other edge of the row to have him looking into the center of the quilt. Originally, I didn't want to make a holiday-themed quilt, but when I saw fabric requirements, I realized the only stretch would be for the 18 setting blocks. 

Once I had them constructed, the rest of the blocks would be easy. It is tempting to buy fabric, so this was a huge step in conservation for me. The other draw for me is how many people said the blocks were so easy to make. Easy is good for me these days. The biggest challenge is finding fabrics that work. Most of the blocks are squares or rectangles rather than HST and points. 

What surprises me is how much fabric I have! I could have made 2 quilts from it all. However, doing more than one of any quilt is a challenge even with enough fabric!