Today’s the DAY… it’s my turn as designer for The Splendid Sampler™. Welcome to all of the participants. I’m thrilled to be included in this epic sampler journey we are all creating.

My block is called Inspector Sidekick and honours all of my furry family members. Animals, both dogs and cats, have been a part of my family since I was a young child.

In my early twenties, I enrolled in dressmaking classes at the local community college. At this time, Pal lived with me, and I was spending a lot of my spare time completing the homework assignments. This meant spending a lot of time at the sewing and serging machines.

Pal was not at all impressed that he couldn’t be on my lap while I was stitching. Being a mischievous kitty, he found his revenge, by biting through all of my serger threads when I was sleeping or at work. This was 25 years ago, and let me tell you, those old sergers were a bear to thread.

My second baby was Daniel. He spent many hours with his head hanging over the back of the couch watching what I was working on at the cutting/sewing machine.

Now my best buddy and quilting inspector is Milo. He’s 4 1/2 years old now, and hangs out with me in my office/sewing studio all day long. He drags his bed around the room, depending on where I’m working.

I’d love to hear about your own quilting inspectors. Leave a comment below or jump over to my Facebook Community to share a picture.

My Block – Inspector Sidekick

Download my free Splendid Sampler block here: Inspector Sidekick.

My block has lots of little pieces, so take some extra time to cut as accurate as you can. I found it helpful to label the pieces after I cut them, so I didn’t get mixed up.

I used Aurifil 2325 in 50 weight for piecing. This is a great neutral thread colour and worked perfectly with my fabrics.

Bonus tip: Don’t forget to square-up and trim your half-square triangles before assembling them into blocks. This trimming step will really help with the overall accuracy of your block.

Finally, thank you for visiting! I hope you have fun making my block and I’ll be watching for the photos in The Splendid Sampler™ Facebook group.

Bonus Blocks

Head over to my pattern site, Aiming for Accuracy to download my free Block Library tutorials.