Here is my last post for the About A Quilt Sampler! This quilt uses the ‘Quilt-As-You-Go’ technique.Thank you for keeping up with me, it was a lovely journey of documenting this QAL.
If you happen to land here first, I have archived all of the posts HERE so you can go through all the tutorials for each block and quilting tutorials included in this quilt-along.
We are now at a stage where we can piece all the blocks together and finally bind the quilt!
Woohoo!! This the last block for our quilt along “About A quilt Sampler” .
If you happen to land here first, I have archived all of the posts HERE so you can go through all the tutorials for each block and quilting tutorials included in this quilt along.
For this final block, we are making a star block.
It seems simple, but a bit tricky when piecing those sharp points. Last time we made this similar block here, I find that it is easy to make error and get a smaller block at the end. However, this time round, I figured out a better way to limit those errors. Follow the instruction below and hopefully, you will be able to get good 12.5″ unfinished block!
From background fabrics,
cut 4 pieces of 4 7/8″ x 4.3/4″ squares and cut 4 pieces of 4 1/2″ squares (not shown in photo)
From printed fabric for the star points,
cut 4 pieces of 5 1/4″ x 2 5/8″ rectangles
From the printed fabric for the center;
cut 1 piece of 4 1/2″ square
For the star points, cut 2 pieces of the rectangular piece in half through the diagonal. Do the same with another 2 pieces, except this time, diagonally in opposite direction.
For the almost equilateral triangle, take the 4 7/8″ x 4 3/4″ block and fold in half. Keep in mind that the 4 7/8″ side is the base of the triangle.
Now, you want to cut this triangle as so that the tip is not as sharp. It should be about 1/4″ blunt.
Now, piece the star points by joining the printed triangles with the equilateral triangle. I press my seams toward the equilateral triangles. Once you have all 8 points ready, arrange the pieces in 9 patch as below.
Start sewing in rows then sew the rows together minding the seams so that they would either nestle or opened.
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Well, that’s it. I love how pointy the star look. Trim your block to 12.5″ square
Now, let’s get quilting!
This time round, I will show you how to create more points for the star through quilting. This will be a secondary pattern that will give the block a little more feature.
Firstly, measure 1/4″ from the side, and mark all around with an erasable pen. Then, mark 1″ and 2″ from the valley on each sides of the points.
From these points, draw a line towards the center of each valley.
I started quilting by quilting on the lines and then fills in the spaces between the lines with a filler of back and forth quilting lines. The denser you do these back and forth lines, the more of those unquilted parts will pop out.
Finish off by adding any features in the middle and that’s it for this block! I hope you enjoyed making this block and quilting it!
Here is where we are at now! You can arrange your blocks as you like and we will be attaching them together soon and binding it off.
I love the fun coloured backing I chose for this Quilt As you Go! Are you as excited to put the quilt together?
Let me know how you go!
Hugs,
Amira
This post is a part of a quilt along series which I have archived HERE.
In this post, I share how I quilt block #7 of the About A Quilt Sampler.
This time, I tried quilting on grid marking. I marked mine 1/4″ apart, but I think it is a bit too small. You can try 1/2″ apart instead. Mark grids using washable pen in areas that you would like to try some grid quilting.
First quilt the middle square as you prefer. I highlighted the octopus and did a simple swirly around it.
Then I quilt a bead shape trail along vertical lines of the grids till it fills up the whole area then turn and do the horizontal lines with the same bead shape trail.
As you can see, from one area to another area of the grid quilting, I also fill up other areas with radiates and curves pattern. I do this in order to travel from one place to another without having to cut off the threads and starting again. Though if you feel like filling up all the grid area you can too, just stop and do a couple of static end stitches to ensure no stitches will come off later. Then you can start again at another corner of the grid quilting area.
Here is how my block looked liked in the end. Trim to 12.5″ block
Here is the back.
Here is a close up of the grid quilting.
Have a go at grid quilting and some radiates!
Quilty hugs,
Amira
2) Make use of simple stippling or any simple technique that you are used to in a different way ( I am going to show you one way today)
3) Enjoy free motion, and don’t stress out. Find your liking and try and venture out from there. I personally like to try a lot of different designs, and I mostly change without a real plan, I love thinking as I go and just go for it!
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| I drew out shells, seahorse, ropes and a starfish. I picked this out just from the fabric I used. You can also do that, pick something from the fabric and try to implement it in your quilting. |
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| I used scribble for the pinwheel and stipple for the outer triangles. Scribble is more dense and more forgiving as you can just cross lines and does not really have a rule! |
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| Press towards darker side of fabrics or press open |
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| Arrange your half square triangle blocks to match the block layout and sew them row by row taking notes where to press the seam to allow it to nestle well. |
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You can find how to piece this block here.
In this post, I will be sharing with you I quilted mine.
I had envisioned feathers wrapping inside the leaf so I went ahead and go with it.
You can practice doodling the quilting with this practice sheet as I did here. If you are still not confident with feathers, you can trace the vines instead as I did in the second block below.
I filled the background with swirls and pebbles. Of course you can fill it with whatever filler you wish to do. You can get tons of inspiration and tutorial by Leah Day here.
If you want to practice feathers, I find Carla Barret’s practice sheet very useful. Get use to doodling it with paper on pen first and you will get there. Mine still need practice, but I am pretty happy so far.
Here is how I do my feathers:
And here is how I do Swirls and Pebbles.
Well, I hope to see some block made and posted to flickr group!
Till then,
XOXO
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