Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge 2026: April Check-In

I had the goal to get caught on this in the month of April and I’m happy to report that I did just that! Here’s the blocks that I sewed up in the last month:

Block 4: “Ribbon Star,” by Fran Gulick

I think this is my favorite block of the entire sew along, and just about everyone else agrees with me. My daughters comment on how pretty it is whenever they wander through the craft room. So pretty! Might make an entire quilt from it someday.

Block #5: “Ombré Dash,” by Beverly McCullough

I was surprised that I was able to get this ombré look to work with my limited color palette!

Block #6: “Square Knot,” by Jennifer Long

Bit of a heart attack-inducing block due to the “backwards is forwards” nature of construction. It all turned out fine, but I had many a moment of “Wait…OH NO!…wait…no, it’s fine…wait…no it’s not…yes it is…I think?”

Block #7: “Tulip Toss,” by Christopher Thomas

Bit of a devil block. Matching those cornflower edges to the snowball edges was torture. I managed it fine enough, eventually, but eek. Not a fun experience.

Block #9: “Center Pieces,” by Vicki McCarty

Ugh. I did such a good with matching up my HST points, only to botch the strips. And I suspected that that was going to happen and still didn’t adjust my seam allowance during construction. I might go back in and fix them at some point, but I got to the point where I was just so sick of this block that I don’t want to look at it anymore.

Block #11: “Pinwheel Pop,” by Amanda Neiderhauser

This is another darling block that everyone loves. The blue frame behind the pinwheel is delightful!

Block #12: “Cactus Blooms,” by ME

The schedule block for Week 12 is “Majestic View,” by Casey Cometti, but it just didn’t have the look I wanted in my quilt. So I poked around in the Electric Quilt Block Library until I found a block I wanted and then tweaked it to make it fit. I cannot remember the actual name of the original block, but I’ve been calling it “Cactus Blossoms.”

Block #13: “Patchwork Star,” by Liza Taylor

What a cute and easy block to make! I enjoyed this one.

Block #14: “Flower Show,” by J. Wecker Frisch

In the rush to get all the blocks finished and caught up, I lost track of this one and literally do not remember making it. Must have been an easy one?

The block patterns are free and available on the Riley Blake website. If you want to download specific patterns, here’s the links: