Tips for Quilt As You Go

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.

• This was a Sew Along I joined in 2019 hosted by two of my favorite Art Gallery Fabric Designers, Sharon and Maureen. 
• 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.

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Why some quilts become unfinished objects (UFOs).

I learned that with each quilting project, you learn some new things. You learn what you like and what you don’t. You also learn a lot when there are challenges. And assessing why some quilt projects become UFOs is a great way to gain more clarity about your creative process. 

So, here is mine for this quilt.

To be honest, I had a lot of resistance trying to put these blocks together in the first place. And that is the main reason why the quilt took so long to be fully completed. 

• First, it was so scrappy especially with the various grey frames and I wasn’t really fond of the final look when all of them were put together. 
• Second, the blocks ended up not being the same size (which often happens with sampler quilts) 
• Third, I resisted buying fabrics for the sashing.

Long story short, I ended up buying the stripy fabric as I mentioned in my previous post here. I feel like the fabric I chose matches perfectly with the colors of the quilt and since it was already scrappy, I might as well go maximalist with the quilt.

Here is the link to the fabric I used for the sashing. I love stripy fabrics, they make great bindings and sashing. 

The final look of the quilt may not necessarily be my taste, but getting it to the finish line was important.

I feel like getting it done and accepting it ‘as is’ has made me feel that the quilt has accomplished its purpose. I can learn from my mistakes and make better quilts rather than dwelling on them and resenting some of my previous choices. 

With more practice and getting into action, we learn much faster. Would you agree?

Grateful for the lessons and the fun times

Despite all the negatives I have mentioned above, I am truly grateful for this quilt. I truly enjoyed practicing the feather quiltings and I think I will end up loving this quilt in its own way. 

Oftentimes, I have a love-and-hate relationship with my large projects. I believe that this is very common in a creative or an artist world.

Through the challenges that I had with this quilt, I learned things I can improve on in order to make a better quilt-as-you-go quilt. That is definitely a win for me.

I even had more practice with video recording for my Youtube channel when I shared how to blind stitch here>

Aside from that, I even get to post tips for the quilt as you go method for you, which is another win. 

So, let’s get onto the tips for the quilt as you go method now

Since I had some difficulties at the end of this project,

I would highly recommend these tips for the quilt as you go method:

• If it is a sampler quilt, try and have frames for each block so that it is easier to trim it down all to the same size without having to sacrifice some of the points on the block
• Keep the quilting density roughly about the same for each block. I had better success with my first version of the quilt which you can see here.
• Use lots of pins when putting the blocks together with sashing. I used this tutorial for joining the quilt blocks together. 
• Use a walking foot for sewing the sashing when joining the blocks together. Don’t skip this! (I had a problem with my walking foot. Currently, I am waiting for one to arrive but I was too impatient to get the quilt done. I bought mine here, therefore I have to wait for it to come from the other side of the world just as with many of my supplies.)
• Decide on the sashing before making the quilt – I think this is definitely a great time saver and saves you a lot of thinking time later.  I learned it the hard way :P.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I’ll be adding more tips if I can think of more. I love sharing these experiences and learning points with you.

Let me know if you have had the same experience too, or have more tips for the quilt as you go method that you would like to share. I would love to hear from you.