S is for the Splendid Sampler and Side Plank

Every once in awhile I enjoy participating in a block-of-the-month quilt-along. That’s when a block is posted on a regular basis, and at the end of the year, you have enough blocks to make a quilt.

Pam’s wedding quilt was made this way. So was the Trifle Dish quilt that I made for Dee.

These little blocks I’m showing here all belong to The Splendid Sampler quilt-along. The instructions for these tiny 6″ blocks come out twice per week. Yes…twice!

How big is six inches? Not very big, let me tell ya!

Every Sunday and Thursday you can find me in my sewing room, tossing around scraps and assembling the little block du jour.

Except for the backgrounds, I’m mostly using Kaffe Fassett prints. Mostly. If you’re a Kaffe fan, you’ll notice a few non-Kaffe prints in there, like Sis-Boom. Can you spot the block with the Sis-Boom prints?

At first I wasn’t going to participate. My first reaction to the idea of making over one hundred 6-inch blocks was that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Not a good enough sewer. Blah blah blah. Screw that attitude! If I don’t try, how will I ever get better?

Already – after only 22 blocks – I am better. It’s a wonderful world. 🙂

And last but certainly not least: the A-Z in April challenge:

Side Plank Pose is one I’ve recently mastered. It’s one of those poses I was talking about yesterday, when I said I can tell I’m getting stronger because I can get into poses I couldn’t do before.

 

Getting into and holding Side Plank was HUGE for me, because I have very little upper body strength.

I have the ab strength to hold the pose, it’s my lack of shoulder strength that has been the problem. Even here, you can see that my supporting arm is still a bit too far forward. But I’m up! I’m up and sticking it!

 

The next progression of Side Plank is to lift that top leg.

 

 

 

I keep trying to lift that top leg…

I gave it a try for the sake of this post. Here I am, falling out of it. At least I’m giving it a try! Eventually I will do it.

 

Do you want to work up to doing a full side plank, too? Because you can, you know.

Here are some short videos to get you started:

You can do it!!!! You can be strong!!!!!