fabric fun and quilt block swap!

I'm really excited! I've signed up to take part in Kathleen's No-Sew block swap! I am in the pink/green/white group and picked a pattern called Calico Puzzle. I will pick fabrics in those colors (three different fabrics, one of each color) and cut the pieces for this pattern and repeat this nine times, so there are ten sets of pieces for this pattern. Then I will put them into baggies and send them all to Kathleen, who will then divide them all up and send one of each back to each person! They are not sewn; they are just the pieces to sew, so I will then sew each square and put them all together myself! From there, I could make it into a quilt, or pillows, or a table runner, or place mats or whatever!

The Calico Puzzle is a beginners pattern, since I am a beginner, but I assume that not every square that comes my way will be a beginners pattern. This is a good thing, because I can do each piece at my leisure, and can practice my way up!

I think that the swap is full, but go check it out if you are interested, because there could maybe be a few spots left (don't hate me if I am wrong!). I found the pattern on a site that lists so many beautiful patterns, all 12". Some look very complicated, but I found myself marking several that I'd like to go back and try later!

I am really looking forward to this, and will be sure to post photos as I go along!

Also, last night I attempted to bind for the first time. I wouldn't exactly call this successful....you can see that there is no binding at all on the right side! Well, there is binding, you just can't see it on the front, because it is all on the back side! Also, you can see the stitches across some of the squares and it isn't supposed to look like that! I followed a few tutorials that I found online, but I think it will be easier when someone shows me in person, when I take a class or two. This is a 5' square, so it isn't too big. Maybe it would be slightly easier if I was binding something a bit bigger, as there would be more area to work with?

I have potential, right? :)