I am joining Sewcial Bee Sampler, a sampler sew-along hosted and designed by the talented Sharon Holland and Maureen Cracknell, which is already running beginning of February and will be finishing in August. You can find out more about the schedule here or here.
We are already onto our 4th block out of 25 blocks all together. So far, I really enjoyed making the block and the sew-along. The instructions were clear and the design of the finished quilt really looks amazing. I even have mine planned with their free colouring page. Well, the final might look a little different than my plan but I pretty much will have the colours scheme like planned.
While taking photos of the blocks I already made together, the idea to quilt it as I go struck me. I was also refreshing my old blogpost which had me revisiting my old quilt-along back in 2013 here. In that quilt along, I have included tutorials for blocks and free-motion quilting each block. At the end of that quilt-along, I ended up with a beautiful quilt that I cherish till now – although it was a little small, it made a perfect wall hanging. I totally love the idea of having different backing which made the quilt reversible too!
Now, for this Sewcial Bee Sampler, I planned to do something similar! And I thought, why not I include a tutorial as well along as I quilt-along my blocks! So, if you want to join along, make sure you follow along Sewcial Bee Sampler Sew-along and come here to quilt each block together!This is only optional – Sharon and Maureen will have a how to piece and quilt them at the end of the sew-along. I just feel like quilting as I go because I want to custom quilt it and have the quilt done quicker and on the spot ready to use at the end of the sew-along.
Quilting As You Go the Sewcial Bee Sampler
I am going to give a tutorial on how to custom quilt them and also include a simple quilting instruction for those who are beginners, who may want to try out Quilt As You Go (QAYG) technique but not so ready to do custom quilting. So basically, I will be doing two quilts – one with simple quilting and another with custom quilting on it. You can follow either one, depending on your confidence level and your commitment.
I am a big fan of custom quilting but realise that it is not easy to do custom quilting on large quilt with a domestic machine!
So, I find that quilt as you go (QAYG) technique is perfect for that matter.
If you have been wanting to learn free-motion quilting with your own domestic machine, this IS definitely the time. We are going to work with small blocks (12.5″ square) which make the whole thing more manageable but still gives you that experience you need to improve your free-motion quilting skills!
So what do you think?? Are you up for it?
[bctt tweet=”Custom quilting on domestic machine is made easy, using a Quilt As You Go technique” username=”amira_lilmushroomcap”]
If you are already in the Sewcial Bee Sampler Sew-along, you can get ready basting your quilt blocks in three layers as we are going to start quilting in a couple more days. You can also go to this post to have an idea how we are going to join the blocks together.
You can baste as following : (I prefer 
for this small block)
Quilt block on a 13.5″ square 
on a 14″ square backing. I am planning to do mine with different print backings (so I will be using 25 Fat quarters to do so).
If you haven’t jumped on the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew-along bandwagon – make sure you drop by here or here and download all the patterns and get sewing! We still have about 20 Weeks to go, so don’t worry, you are not yet late to the party. Even if you are late, I think Sharon and Maureen will still have those pattern up for sometime later to the sew-along and my post here will remain, so you still can sew and quilt at your own pace.
I will update in a few days with the first instruction on how to quilt the first 2 blocks! In the meantime, get basting and keep updated. Drop a comment down below or on my Instagram if you are interested to follow along or if you have any questions! I am all excited to start and hopefully, you are too!
Quilty Hugs,
Amira
