Welcome, OP Challenge Blog Hoppers!

Good morning! Welcome all of you OP Challenge Virtual Reality blog hoppers. It's early. The kettle just boiled so the tea is steeping and I'm ready to show you how I improvisationally piece one of Pat's blocks. Above you can see the prize for one of you hoppers who leaves a comment on this post today. There's lots of lovely floss and decorative threads, beads, buttons, ribbon, fabric, some little cards, and some tags I stamped for you, and a festive nail file. Naturally, in keeping with the challenge, everything is ORANGE! Now, back to the sewing. This block divides down the middle quite nicely, so first, I free cut the fabric for the center block.

Next comes the fabric for the outside block.

These can be chained pieced together. (While I'm not showing photos of it, I always press after I've sewn a seam.)

Next, I free cut the sides of the outside square.

Now I'm ready to sew my second seam.

To make the cross in the middle, I first sew two side sections together with a strip of the cross fabric.

After those are sewn and pressed, I cut the final strip for the cross.

After pressing, here's the new block.

I'll be working on the back of my "Mérida Remix" piece today, taking lots of pictures, and updating progress this evening. Thanks for your comments!