Quilt-As-You-Go Quilt Along!

{Please kindly note that this quilt along took place in 2014 and is no longer happening. However, you can easily do your own quilt-along by following the goals outlined below. Thank you!}

4 weeks with 5 blocks per week. By week 4, we will all assemble our quilts (which will already be quilted!). Are you in? 🙂

A couple days ago I announced a Quilt As-You-Go (QAYG) Quilt Along on Facebook and Instagram and got a pretty good show of interest (yippee!). I also got a handful of questions, so here is a quick post with what you need to know.

How it works: We will QAYG together for 4 weeks. We will all quilt 5 blocks per week, for a total of 20 blocks. By the end of week 4, we will assemble our quilts! This quilt-along will start on Monday (October 13). I will do weekly updates on my blog with some helpful tips along the way (feel free to comment with questions as well, as I will be checking as best I can).

Follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram for a live feed of this quilt along! Hashtag #QuiltAsYouGoMadeModern. I will also be making weekly blog updates.

Supplies to Get Started:

• You will need the book, Quilt As-You-Go Made Modern. Don’t have it? You can quickly download it for your iPad/Kindle/nook HERE, or order a paperback copy HERE (if it’s not at your local bookstore!).

• 20 batting squares (13.5″ squares) – Batting details on the ‘Getting Started’ chapter of my book.

• About 14 fat quarters (or quarter yard cuts). Sizable scraps will be okay too!

• Thread – I like using a neutral colored thread. With QAYG, it’s easy to do a lot of intricate quilting since you’re quilting on small batting blocks. Neutral colored thread won’t compete with your fabrics.

We will be working on my ‘Red Square’ quilt which is on page 48 of the paperback book. On the nook/kindle, just navigate via the table of contents. 

Please note that although the name is called Red Square, this does not mean your fabric has to be red. I got a few questions about this so I wanted to clarify.

A fun tidbit: I named this quilt after Red Square (depicted in the water color below), which is the heart of the University of Washington where I went to college. In fact, all of the quilts in my book have Seattle-themed names. 🙂

photo from www.seattlewatercolors.com

photo by C&T Publishing

photo by C&T Publishing

Have fun with the fabrics you choose! If you have fabrics with detailed images, you can do some fussy cutting to frame the prints. (Fussy Cut:  To cut pieces of fabric so that a particular part of the printed design is centered or featured).

Above and below are a couple examples of fussy-cutting.

Before you start, I encourage you to read the ‘Quilt As-You-Go Techniques’ chapter. As stated in my book, you really will “find lots of helpful tidbits that will allow you to use this technique at its best.” 🙂

Finally, remember that this is all for fun so enjoy yourself! Don’t feel bad if you can’t keep up with the 5 blocks per week. Life get’s busy (in fact I will be out of town for 2 weeks of it! but will find a way around it). You can always catch up at your own pace. QAYG is great for anyone with a busy schedule because it’s easy to start and stop. Anything left half done will already be quilted, making it easy to quickly pick up where you left off. 

This quilt along is a great way to get you started, and if you stay with it, you will see how practical it is to finish a quilt (from start to finish) on your own, even with a busy schedule!

Have fun! I’ll be back next week with a blog update. In the meantime, follow me on Facebook and Instagram for a live feed of my progress, and I hope to share photos of other people’s progress as well.

Hashtag #QuiltAsYouGoMadeModern or @quiltingintherain on instagram!

Happy Quilting-As-You-Go!

{Please kindly note that this quilt along took place in 2014 and is no longer happening. Thank you!}