A little more on the progress update of my quilt as you go Sewcial Bee Sampler Quilt. I have some tips for the Quilt As You Go method as well in this post, so if you are into trying this method, it is worth reading through the lessons I have learned from making this quilt.
Quilt As You Go (QAYG) Sampler quilt
For those who have not seen the progress of this quilt before, here is a little summary of the quilt.
I decided to make mine using the quilt as you go method as I wanted to practice more free motion quilting and try different quilting designs.
I made two quilts. One is done and quilted. And has a totally different look to this one. You can see that finished quilt HERE>
The two are made differently in terms of the free motion quilting design and the use of fabrics. One is made with yardage of background fabrics (I use Kona Snow) and the other (the one I will talk about today) with scraps.
I quilted each block with a feather design motif. Mainly because I wanted to practice the feathers. You can check out the archive for each quilted blocks HERE>
Today, I’ll be talking specifically about the second one, the scrappy version.
In this post, I am going to do a short Sew Sampler Box review. In general what I think about the subscription and some of my favourite items in the past several months.
I love watching haul videos, chatty fabric and stash talk. Something that we can share among quilters: a similar interest towards fabrics and sewing notions right?
There are affiliate links within this post. Check out my full disclosure page here.
Fabrics: Ranging from Fat Quarter Bundles to Charm packs, there’s a lot of fun in getting fabrics from the box. They’re usually one of the latest line that would either be released soon or have just recently been released.
Notions: Small sewing notions, sewing gadgets or useful quilting templates. Something fun, useful and often times will accompany the patterns that come with the box
Patterns: With each box, there’s a pattern to match what has been given in the box too. Not all the things you need will be in the box, but you’ll have somewhere to start with. They’re not limited to quilt patterns. Sometimes you get patterns for bags and others.
Block of the Month recipe Card: These are like block of the month instructions on a card. They’re printed in colour on a cardstock which I find easy to store and refer back to when needed. You can always get a recipe box like this to keep them all nice and organized. You can buy the quilt block recipe card separately at retail price too.
Discount Code: Every single month, you get a discount code to shop at Fat Quarter Shop. Usually they offer 20% off deals for something in particular like Jelly Roll or Layer Cake which I find very generous. I love that it is not specific to one single item as it gives some room for choices.
Quilting Subscription Box
I think a quilting subscription box like this is a great opportunity for quilters to be introduced to new items, to something a little bit out of our normal purchase.
It is a great monthly surprise and I find that they kick the spirit to get quilting! Just something fun in the mailbox every single month that I look forward to.
Not only that, if you get boxes that are curated in such a way that the total retail cost is higher than the price that you paid for, it is a win for sure.
Companies can offer subscription boxes like this at lower price because they basically can mass order the items in advance knowing that they’ll sell off.
I have certainly gotten a few notions and fabrics that I may not necessarily select myself but they are now my favourite!
Is the Sew Sampler Box worth it?
I definitely think that the Sew Sampler Box is worth it! The price point is also great for monthly subscriptions, just the notions and the fabrics alone make the boxes worth the price.
I love the fact that we get the latest fabric line and not ONLY just fabrics! I definitely think that the notions added to the boxes are great and surprisingly useful.
Check out what I have made with the recent Jelly Roll and Triangle on a Roll I have received in this post.These boxes just fire up all the inspiration to just get to the cutting table too.
What are my favourite items from the Sew Sampler Box?
This video will sum it up for the Sew Sampler Box Review from June 2020- November 2020.
Let me know, do you subscribe to any quilting subscription box or fabric bundle?
I am always attracted to making patchwork hearts. My quilt patterns have been based on hearts ! You can check out my patterns linked at the end of this post for more hearty inspirations 😉
The heart shape has always been my favourite shape. I love the little curve elements of the heart shape and something about what it represents as well, I guess.
And just for the fun of it, I recorded a fun video from start to finish. If you like this kind of video, make sure you subscribe to my channel. I appreciate your support so much.
The mini quilt comes together pretty quickly. But the pattern also come with an instruction for a larger quilt size which can easily be a lap quilt or a baby quilt.
A little tutorial today on how to blind stitch by hand.
I am in the process of piecing together the quilt-as-you-go blocks for the second version of my Sewcial Bee Sampler quilt as mentioned earlier and now I am at the stage of hand stitching the tiny sashing on the back of the quilt.
Before I piece the sashing together, I took a photo of the layout so I can refer to the blocks as I sew them in rows.
After piecing them in rows. The front is ready, the back still needs to be finished. And this is where I need to sit down and hand stitch the blind stitch.
Another quilt-as-you-go finished. It’s the same quilt pattern with the version 1 I posted in 2019. But with totally a different look.
Here is the first version which I blogged about HERE>:
There are affiliate links within this post in which I may earn commission which helps me run the blog.
This one was put off for much longer than the first one. Quilt blocks were all readily quilted at the same time with the first version, but it was so hard to pick the right sashing.
This version is made from my scraps including the frames of the blocks. Hence the wide range of greys.
And because it was so scrappy, it was hard to pick a fabric for the sashing.
I was also resistant to buying any new fabrics to complete it. But I didn’t have much stash of large yardage. Either I was going for scrappy sashing too or I will eventually need to buy enough yardage for it.
Hence the progress was stalled. For quite a while. I finally decided to buy enough yardage for the sashing. But it was difficult to choose which kind of fabrics to get.
Picking the right fabric for the sashing
I finally made the purchase late last year (2020), and picked the fabric that has most of the colours from the blocks. It is also one of Art Gallery Fabrics, and since the blocks were made from all Art Gallery Fabrics, the colours were a good match.
The fabric is from the same designer I have from my stash – Katarina Roccella which is why most of the colours were similar.
I have been a quilter for about 9 years now. However, it is not until a few years back that I started investing in more rulers. Quilting can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be.
You can start quilting with the very basics and work your way as you stash up slowly according to your budget.
I think in my first 2 years of quilting, I only had ONE ruler. The 6 x 12″ ruler. That one for everything. And it was fine. You can still make quilts with just one ruler to start with.
I have a post before this about the top rulers that one should have – covering the very basic rulers that are required. You can check that out HERE>
However, today I am going to talk about a ruler I recently bought and fell in love with instantly. It is an extra ruler that helps make things a little faster and easier.
Creative Grid Rulers
Creative Grids has come out with lots of different types of rulers. And one thing I noticed is that the markings are a little different than other rulers. They also have special gripping strips on the back of the ruler.
These two features make it a whole lot better. I love the clear markings making it easier and faster for your eyes to cut. And the gripping strips really do hold onto the fabric and allow the ruler to stay in place while you do the trimming or cutting.
I am definitely in love with their rulers.
I have talked about the Stripology Ruler before.I love the big size for easy trimming large pieces of fabrics. You can now opt for the large squared ruler too. The sqaured ruler has the same slots but with more markings. It is a little busier but you can use it in two ways. However, I do feel like squaring is way easier with the smaller sized Squared Ruler I talked about in this post.
My recent purchase was this Mini Stripology Squared Ruler. It is not so mini as the name suggests, but it is the smaller version. It can cut up to 7″ strips and 6.5″ square units.
Perfect for making patchwork units.
Just with all Creative Grid Rulers, the markings and the grip on this one is amazing.
I love the square markings for the 3,4,5,6 inches squares (in black) and the 2.5″,3.5″,4.5″,5,5″ and 6.5″ squares (in white). They make it easy to trim down your blocks fast and accurately knowing exactly where to slot in your rotary cutter.
Overall, I am really happy with this purchase and definitely seeing myself use this on a regular basis. I just love the crispy cut of freshly trimmed units.
Let me know in the comment if you have any other suggestions of rulers that I should add to my stash!
It has been a while since I last updated my work in progress. But I am doing it today. Not much has been progressing in my sewing room due to the little one and a lot that is going on around at home.
School and work from home seem to be taking over everything these days.
20% OFF SITEWIDE with CODE : CM20 – all kinds of fabrics. I recommend getting minky, knits and home decor fabrics here. but, there’s also quilting fabrics! So just grab them while you’re there too…
(I’ll update the list as I come across more deals, thank you for dropping by – let us know if you find some great deals to share in the comment too!)
Did you know that I have an archive of free motion quilting designs ideas on the blog already?
Well, it was from my Sewcial Bee Sampler quilt where I made the quilt intentionally with the quilt as you go method to practice all the different motifs.
In this post, I’ll gather those all up and put them in one place so that it’ll be easy for you to refer to and hopefully get inspiration from.
Make sure you pin this post so that you can come back to this post anytime you want to try out the designs.
Free Motion Quilting Design Ideas
You can click on the title or the image of these designs and it will bring you to the post where I share the “how-to” to make these designs. I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Among my favourite free motion quilting design is the loopy loop. I never get sick of this simple free motion quilting design. You can easily finish a quilt with this design. Loopy Loops free motion quilting motif is definitely one you must master to quickly finish a quilt!
If you are new to free motion quilting, check out Free Motion Quilting Bootcamp where I take you from zero to mastering Free Motion Quilting Confidently all the quilts you are going to make!
Don’t forget to pin this page! So that next time you’ll need ideas for what to quilt, you have these free motion quilting design ideas to come to
A little more update on the progress of my blue and white Patchwork Barn quilt.
I have posted the previous progress HERE> and HERE>
From the last post, I have made 12 more blocks and I am happy to say that I only have 9 more blocks to go to complete 72 blocks required for the quilt.
There are affiliate links within this post in which I may earn a small commission from the links.
Free Pattern Patchwork Heart Quilt and Mini Quilt
