Well, I know for a fact that you don’t need instruction on making a decision to start a new project.  You may have started three just today, for example.  I have an extremely easy time coming up with new project ideas.  In fact, I think that I should start another one right now.  What do you think?  Oh, look!  Here’s one…and I already have the book.  It is by an amazing Japanese quilter by the name of Chuck Nohara.  She (yes, she!) is one of Japan’s first quilt instructors.  She has a few other publications as well; but this one, called 2001 Nouveaux Blocs de Patchwork, is chock full of beautiful quilt blocks that will truly keep you stitching for years.  It is printed in French, but has an English translation; regardless, words are not needed, as all of the blocks are there for your drafting pleasure. It is not unlike the Dear Jane book by Brenda Papadakis.  To order your very own, you can go to Quilt Mania.

Now that I have decided to take the plunge and do this, let me begin by telling you how I came to find this project.  Lorena Uriarte is a beautiful, smart, talented, and sassy quilter that I have been following on Flickr, Instagram, blog, and real life. She has made more than one of Chuck’s quilts, and has ribbons to prove it.  She also teaches a class on making these blocks, at Material Obsession in Australia. A few months back, Lorena was posting pictures to her Instagram feed, of blocks that she was making.  I got uber jealous, and being a little antsy as well, began to draft what she was making, without having had the book (at the time).  They were so addicting to make…and fun!  I made three of them in a matter of days before my schedule consumed me.

Last month, I had the pleasure of meeting Lorena in person, so I gave her the few blocks that I was able to finish.  Isn’t she lovely?  I am the weirdo on the right holding a fabulous basket that she made for me. (I am still freaking about it!)

Alright, so I ordered the book. A few months go by, then a few friends (that I will soon introduce) started posting that they were going to start a Chuck Nohara Quilt Along via Instagram, so naturally, I was in. I didn’t even have to think about it. The plan is, that every two weeks or so, there will be a new block assigned.  We have the full two weeks to get it done, and we can do more if we like, or we can do alternates, but the point is that we will have a small (?) group of people working on these at one time, together.  If we need help, or inspiration, or cheer-leading, it can be found at the hash-tag #ChuckNoharaQAL on Instagram (and possibly Flickr soon!).  So, if you want to learn a little more about it come find us there, we would love to have you and your friends join us.

Tomorrow, I will do a blog post here, showing the first block, along with a few versions already made up.  I will also include step by step visuals and explanations of how I tackled it.  Don’t forget to come check it out.

Finally, I would like to share what my color theme will be for the blocks.  I started by throwing a few of my favorite fabrics and colors together.  Then I pulled colors from what was pictured in my inspiration group.  It is going to be a little bit of a challenge to work within these color parameters, but obviously, I love a good challenge.