Welcome back everyone for the last post in the Facet+Plus Quilt Along. Did you happen to finish your quilt? No…well me either. That is why I titled this post the ‘Real Life Edition.’ I had big plans to reveal this quilt all quilted and bound, but that did not happen and that is okay! But hey, lets have a giveaway anyway, because progress is progress!
Before I reveal my F+P QAL WIP, lets have a little bit of a blog hop. I am completely honored that these ladies (and a few more that aren’t’ listed) decided to quilt along with me. And each quilter put her own spin on the pattern which is so lovely. Take a few moments, if you would like, to check out their progress and comment on their wonderful work. *I will update the following list on Monday, September 19th 2016 if anyone happens to write a post that day.* **Post links have been updated!**
I have my quilt sandwiched and spray basted with about 1/5th of the quilting finished. I used Chasing Butterflies by Lizzy House in grape fizz (lighter purple) and it is gorgeous for the backing.I chose to section the quilt into unequal quadrants on the diagonal and then echo each section using lines 1/2″ apart. I was going great guns and then my quilting-jo disappeared along with my free-time.I plan to bind the quilt using Mini-Pearl Bracelets by Lizzy House in grape and am quilting the top using Wonderfil Konfetti Col. KT614 (light purple). Wonderfil Konfetti is my favorite thread to machine quilt quilts on my domestic machine.
And here it is, the giveaway as promised. You can see that I am a little obsessed with low-volume backgrounds so I wanted to pass on the love. I have also included a few other lovelies as well. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post. If you happen to be a no-reply blogger, please leave some way that I can reach you (either email address, Instagram handle or your blog URL). The winner will be chosen Wednesday, September 21st 2016 and announced here!
Well here we are, ready to assemble your quilt top? Confident sewists can proceed how ever they would like, if you want a bit more direction then read-on!
Step 1: Block Layout
Layout your blocks according to your diagram. Match up the seams as best you can while laying out your quilt top. Check out this tutorial for a refresher on matching (butting-up) seams. Most of the seams do butt-up, although some do not and I will show you further down how I handled mismatched seams. If you happened to press all of your seams open, then no seam-matching is required.
Step 2: Sew Blocks Together into Rows
Pin (if that is your jam) and start sewing your blocks together in rows.
Step 3: Press Seams
Press seams according to the illustration below. The seam at this particular intersection (shown inside the dashed-circle and occurs between each block) can become quite bulky when that one little horizontal seam is folded back on itself (if the seam just sewn was pressed towards the 2″ dark square). My suggestion is to press this seam towards the half square triangle unit with the rectangle parallel to the seam (indicated by the large black arrows) as opposed to the HST/rectangle unit perpendicular to the seam. If you press each row in this manner, the intersecting block seams will butt-up.
Step 4: Sew Rows Together
Sew your rows together. All of the intersecting block seams should butt-up as well as the HST seams. Most of the other seams will butt-up as well, but if they don’t you can fudge things a bit. See that business inside the dashed-circle, I just folded the seam over so that things would butt-up and kept on a-sewing. I pressed the seam afterwards and things worked out just fine!
Step 5: Press Horizontal Seams
Press the horizontal seams open. You can check out this tutorial on how to press seams open without burning your fingers. The problem with bulky seams resurfaces in this step and unfortunately cannot be avoided by pressing like we did in Step 3. My best defense is to press the horizontal seams open to reduce that bulk. You could take a hammer to the really bulky seams (if you didn’t want to press them open) and hammer out the bulk. Its a real thing, google it if you want.
And look at that, a flimsy is born! Often this is where my quilt progress stalls out, but I have big plans for this little top and better get crackin’ (well, when the backing and binding shows up).
Is anyone interested in doing a bit of a quilt reveal/blog hop on September 12th? Oh my gosh, that is the Cloud9 New Block Hop, maybe I will extend things to the week after (September 19th, 2016). Leave me a comment and I will link to your blog on the 19th. If there are no takers then join me on the 19th for my ‘hopefully’ finished quilt reveal and giveaway goodies! I mean, there WILL be a giveaway either way!
Welcome back to the next installment of QAL instructions. How are things coming along? The progress shots I have seen thus far are fantastic!
This week’s sewing instructions are the same as last week but we will be sewing the light color fabric blocks this time around. Click here to review the sewing instructions if you would like. If you are making the Baby Size Quilt, you will piece the same amount of blocks as you did for the dark color fabric. If you are making the Lap Size Quilt you will piece less blocks.
Click on the quilt size below for a handy-dandy cheat sheet with required amounts of units and blocks to make for each quilt size.
*The colors in the handy-dandy cheat sheet do not represent the color of fabric used to piece each unit. But rather groups the pieces together that are needed to make up each unit.
Below is an illustration of the light color fabric block we will be piecing.
Here is a quick progress shot of the blocks I made. Not all of the blocks are included because I didn’t follow the instructions for the rest ;p.
Welcome back! Wow, wow, wow is all I can say!!! Y’all picked the most gorgeous fabric for your projects.
This week we will piece together a portion of the blocks using what you have chosen as the dark color fabric. For the Baby Size quilt, you will piece 10 blocks and for the Lap Size quilt you will piece 18 blocks. Click on the quilt size below for a handy-dandy cheat sheet with required amounts of units and blocks to make for each quilt size.
*The colors in the handy-dandy cheat sheet do not represent the color of fabric used to piece each unit. But rather groups the pieces together that are needed to make up each unit.
Below is the block we will be piecing today.
You may use a chain-piecing method to speed up piecing the blocks. Here is a tutorial on how to chain-piece if you have not done so before. You can also search chain-piecing in YouTube to watch a video tutorial. Also, use a 1/4″ seam allowance to piece the blocks and the blocks will measure 10.5″ unfinished (10″ finished).
Step 1: Piece the 3″ Square Units
Using the chain-piecing method, piece the 3″ square dark color fabric squares to the 3″ background fabric squares. Refer to the handy-dandy cheat sheet for total amount of 3″ Square Units to make for the quilt size you have chosen. Press seam towards the darker fabric.
Step 2: Piece the Half-Square Triangle (HST) Units
Mark the required number of 3″ light color fabric squares corner-to-corner to prepare them for chain-piecing. Pin the 3″ light color fabric squares to the 3″x5.5″ dark color fabric rectangles; keep in mind that all of the diagonal sew-lines must run the same way to make the facet in the middle of the plus.
Next, sew right on top of the line you have marked on the 3″ light color fabric square. Trim the seam allowance to 1/4″. Use those extra triangle ‘ears’ as a leader-ender project if you desire (reduce waste!).
Press your seams as I have done below. Press half of the HST Units you just created so that the seam points towards the dark color rectangle and the other half of the HST Units so that the seam points towards the light color triangle.
Step 3: Piece the Corner Units
*The Corner Units are not detailed in the handy-dandy cheat sheet.
Piece the 3″ square units to the HST Units. Press the seam towards the HST Unit.
Layout each block, one on top of another, with the HST seams following the arrows in the diagram.
Step 4: Piece the Block Together
Piece the Corner Units to the 5.5″ background fabric squares. Press the seam towards the 5.5″ background fabric.
Piece the top half of the block to the bottom half of the block. Press the seam towards the bottom half of the block. It really doesn’t matter if you press this seam towards the top half or bottom half of the block, as long as you press this seam the same way for all of these blocks.
Tah dah, all done for the first half of block piecing. And you may have guessed it, the piecing for the other portion of the blocks is exactly the same except for swapping out the dark and light fabrics and making a few less blocks for the Lap Size quilt.
Welcome to the first week of my Facet+Plus Quilt Along (F+P QAL). I am so glad you are here, quilting along or just reading along.
‘Just another spin on the plus block’. This quilt pattern features a chunky plus with a facet cut out of the middle alternated with a 4-patch or solid background block. A modified 4-patch block is used to achieve the quilt design and once turned clockwise or counter-clockwise, the plus motifs are revealed. No boarders were harmed in the designing of this quilt, but you may certainly add boarders if that is what you prefer. I envisioned the background to be scrappy to both add interest to the quilt and to use up smaller fabric scraps. You may certainly use a single fabric for the background (I think a large and bold print would look smashing), whatever your heart desires!
So here we are! This round of instructions will include fabric yardage requirements along with a bit of a discussion about fabric selection. I always tell myself to try different fabrics or colorways on the next quilt I make but generally never do. And the fabric I have selected for this project is no different.
I have designed this quilt in a Baby Size that finishes at 40″x50″ and Lap Size that finishes at 50″x60″. Please be aware that I have calculated the yardage in a way to reduce waste and therefor is not much wiggle room when it comes to cutting. Each measurement has been rounded up to the nearest 0.1 yard so if you would like some extra insurance, buy more fabric than is stated.
Baby Size Quilt Layout (finishes at 40″x50″)
Lap Size Quilt Layout (finishes at 50″x60″)
Fabric Requirements
Click here to view a PDF of the fabric yardage requirements. Save or print off yourself a copy. The dark color fabric corresponds to the dark side of the pluses on the color diagrams above, the light color corresponds to the light side of the pluses. Please keep that in mind as more dark color fabric than light color fabric is required for the lap size quilt.
There are also some Pattern Notes on this page such as using a 0.25″ seam allowance for block and quilt top construction, the Width of Fabric (WOF) equals 40″ and the finished quilt blocks are 10″ (10.5″ unfinished).
Now onto the fun stuff…fabric selection.
Fabric Selection
Fabric selection is almost my favorite part of quilt-making. Pulling out my pithy stash and scraps and arranging and remembering when I got this or that and what bits were used in which previous quilt is just good ole’ fun. Okay, so lets talk about this quilt.
I gravitate towards cool tones and monochromatic color schemes, and have envisioned this quilt in exactly that way. I have recently borrowed Heather Jones’ book Quilt Local from my library. She has an extensive section on color selection with lots of illustrations for inspiration. Although I did not get adventurous picking colors for this quilt, I will certainly consult the book when I am stuck for color inspiration next time.
I think the key to making the faceted pluses come alive is to have some sort of difference in value, saturation or color between the two halves of the pluses.Whether that difference is bold and loud or subtle and quiet, it is up to you! Everyone has a unique eye for color and for putting prints and solids together; I am curious to see what amazing things other quilters come up with. Coloring sheets have been included in this post if you want to try out different things before committing to fabric. Click here for Baby Size, click here for Lap Size.
I tried a few different color versions of the quilt, one rendered in the dark/light scheme and one with a few accent blocks scattered wabi-sabi (which will be achievable with a little bit of planning)! Feel free to do a scrappy background, or a background in one fabric.
So what fabric did I choose?
I chose (from top to bottom) Kona Snow, Blueberry Park in Pond, Kona Silver, Kona Cypress and Kona Bone. I will use the Kona Snow, Silver and Bone for the background (which will create secondary blocks of background color) and the other two colors will make up monochromatic pluses.
We will piece these modified 4-patch blocks in the third and forth installments of bi-weekly instructions.
September 12th, 2016 – Wrap-up and Giveaway (and Blog Hop if there are any interested quilters)
Leave all the comments you want here or if you are an Instagram user, tag me @thismomquilts or use #fandpQAL; I would be over the moon thrilled to see your progress.
thismomquilts.wordpress.com 
