Westward Journey Quilt Along (Click link to see all posts.)

I hope you’ve been enjoying sewing your blocks. Here are a few more of mine:

Over the weekend, I’ve almost finished all the blocks…just 4 more to go. When I have those last blocks sewn,  I’ll spread all 25 blocks out on my design wall and floor, and arrange them until I’m pleased with the combination. Next, I’ll stitch 5 rows of 5 blocks each, rotating them as shown in the Assembly Diagram below.

I haven’t yet decided how I’ll quilt mine, but Beth’s version (shown below) is machine quilted with a continuous stars & loops design in navy thread.

Remember those 15 2½″ strips we set aside in Part 3 of this Quilt Along? When you’re ready to bind your quilt, you’ll sew those assorted strips end to end using diagonal seams, like shown in the diagram below, to create your binding. For great step-by-step photos, instructions and videos, please refer to our Binding Lessons page.

We’re so excited…America Makes Fast Quilts has been printed and is on its way to your local quilt shops and newsstands! It will soon be available to order from our online Quilt & Sew Shop, as well.

How about a few more previews of fast quilt patterns featured in this special issue?

Big Print Bounty: sophisticated use of modern large prints

Gelato: speedy strip-piecing construction and a clever all-machine-stitched binding technique

Cafeteria Line: a simple, stylized design using 5 feature prints + a background fabric

Westward Journey Quilt Along (Click link to see all posts.)

As I finish each block, I give it a final press from the front with a little bit of Mary Ellen’s Best Press.

If you have some scraps of fabric that aren’t long enough for a strip, or accidentally cut some strips too short, just piece them together and press the seams open, then cut to the needed length.

After I made my sample block, I finished cutting all the rest of my fat quarters. Then I had a “fabric play session”, mixing & matching my groups A, B & C (please refer to previous posts for explanation of groups). This actually took me a little while, but I’m glad I took the time to match them all up before stitching all the blocks. I found that when I got down to the last few groups, the remaining combinations didn’t really appeal to me.

Switching out this piece here, that piece there, it began to feel like one of those little sliding-tile puzzle games…do you know what I mean?! When I was happy with the combinations, I neatly stacked them up with the starting square on top.

Next, I grabbed 4 of the stacks, and set them up next to my sewing machine.

Starting with a center square, I stitched its first small rectangle to one side. Then, without snipping the thread, I picked up the next center square and stitched its first small rectangle to one side, continuing like this until I had four center squares each with one small rectangle stitched to its side.

Then, I snipped the threads holding the “chain” of pieces together, and proceeded to stitch the other small rectangle to each small square’s opposite side. I snipped the threads holding the “chain” of pieces together like before, pressed each seam flat, then away from the center, like shown in the last blog post. I repeated the same chain-piecing steps until all the rounds were finished for the four blocks, then pressed each finished block with a little Mary Ellen’s Best Press.

I’m setting a goal for myself to piece at least 4 blocks a night. With all of the block pieces neatly stacked and ready to go, the sewing goes pretty fast at this point. Here are a couple more of my finished blocks:

Check back soon for our next Westward Journey Quilt Along post!

Here’s a sneak peek at Cat Show, featured in our upcoming special issue, America Makes Fast Quilts. This pattern is great for using some of your favorite novelty prints!

America Makes Fast Quilts…coming soon to a quilt shop or newsstand near you!

Westward Journey Quilt Along (Click link to see all posts.)

Let’s make sure we’re sewing with an accurate scant ¼″ seam allowance. It will make our carefully cut block pieces go together so very smoothly. Kathy Patterson, our senior editor, has a great FREE video tutorial for accurate ¼″ quilting seam allowances on our website. I recently discovered the nifty Perfect Piecing Seam Guide by Perkins Dry Goods at my local quilt shop, and thought it was very helpful. It actually has a hole to lower your needle into, then you attach your tape or short stack of sticky notes onto your machine bed, butted up against the ruler edge.

As you stitch your strips, keep them butted up against your tape or short stack of sticky notes.

Referring to Diagram I below, use 1 each of groups A, B, and C patches to make White House Steps Block. We’ll be making 25 blocks in this quilt along.

I pulled fabrics from my groups A (3½″ squares), B (2 rectangles 3½″, 2 strips 6½″, 2 strips 9½″, and 2 strips 12½″)  and C (2 strips 6½″ and 2 strips 9½″) together for a block…

and stitched ‘em up, using my little stack of sticky notes as a seam guide.

After stitching each pair of strips to opposite sides, press the seams flat to set them, then press the seams away from the center of the block. I usually press the seams to the side from the top of the block so I can make sure there aren’t any little pleats along the seam line.I find my Steady Betty pressing board (reviewed in watcha-McCall’s-it, McCall’s Quick Quilts June/July 2012) especially helpful for this step because it keeps my pieces from distorting as I press. Taking the time to press the seams really helps these blocks go together smoothly. Beth Hayes, our editor-in-chief, has a very helpful FREE video tutorial on pressing basics for quilters.

For pressing your seams as you sew, I highly recommend using a travel-size iron (lighter weight & size is easier on wrists for repeated lifting and setting down), and a small tray table set up next to your sewing machine. Here’s my first sample block:

In the next Westward Journey Quilt Along post, I’ll talk about using pieced strips from scraps, show you how I set up my workspace for piecing several blocks at a time, and share pictures of some finished blocks. If you’d like to share pictures of  your finished blocks, please email photos to mcq@creativecraftsgroup.com, with Attn: Valerie, Quilt Along in the subject line.

Here’s another sneak peek at one of the 21 fast quilt patterns featured in our upcoming special issue publication:

Cottage Whispers

Make this soft, lovely throw from assorted fabric scraps, yardage, or precut 10″ squares.

America Makes Fast Quilts…coming soon to a quilt shop or newsstand near you!

Westward Journey Quilt Along (Click link to see all posts.)

White House Steps Quilt Block

Planning and Cutting
Today, we’ll get started on cutting up our Fat Quarters. Please read through this entire blog post before cutting. Each of the 25 fabrics appears in up to 3 different blocks. As you cut the fat quarters, first cut a 2½˝ x 20-22˝ strip from each of 15 fabrics, and set aside for the pieced binding. Then, cut patches listed from each of the 25 fabrics, and organize as follows:

A
1 square 3½˝ x 3½˝

B
2 rectangles 2˝ x 3½˝
2 strips 2˝ x 6½˝
2 strips 2˝ x 9½˝
2 strips 2˝ x 12½˝

C
2 strips 2˝ x 6½˝
2 strips 2˝ x 9½˝

Each block is made using 1 each of A, B, and C sets, in whatever fabric combinations you find pleasing. We suggest you select these groups for each block before starting construction.

Cutting Instructions (cut in order listed)
25 assorted prints
cut a total of:
15 strips 2½˝ x 20-22˝ (pieced binding)
cut from each:
1 square 3½˝ x 3½˝
2 strips 2˝ x 12½˝
4 strips 2˝ x 9½˝
4 strips 2˝ x 6½˝
2 rectangles 2˝ x 3½˝

To start, I decided to make a sample block, since I’ve learned from experience that I tend to rush and make mistakes! I chose 3 fat quarters for my sample block, and pressed them all together so they wouldn’t slip while I cut my strips.

First, I trimmed up the left edge of my layers. Then, I cut the 2½″ strip to set aside for the binding. Remember, we’ll only need 15 binding strips, so we won’t need to continue to make this first 2½″ cut after we have our 15. Next, from left to right in photo above, I cut five 2″ strips, then cut each of those down to the lengths needed. Lastly, I cut the 3½″ square from the width of remaining fabric. If you’re new to using a rotary cutter, or could use a quick refresher, check out our FREE online quilting lesson: Rotary Cutting Basics, Safety, & Maintenance.

Have fun choosing and cutting your three fabrics for your first block! Check back here on our McCall’s Quilting Editors’ Blog for the next step in our Westward Journey Quilt Along.

Here are the complete fabric requirements for this finished quilt:

Fabric Requirements
25 assorted prints (blocks, pieced binding): 1 fat quarter* each
Backing: 4 yards
Batting size: 70˝ x 70˝
*A fat quarter is an 18˝ x 20-22˝ cut of fabric.

By the time we’ve finished this quilt along, our special issue publication of America Makes Fast Quilts will be hot off the press! Here’s a sneak peek at one of the fast quilts patterned in the issue:

It’s titled Little Princess, and the pattern enables you to use a pre-cut jelly roll of fabric for a head start, if you choose. We’ll even tell you how to enter a contest to win a Moda jelly roll of fabric that is shown in the quilt!

America Makes Fast Quilts…coming soon to a quilt shop or newsstand near you!

Westward Journey Quilt Along (Click link to see all posts.)

On Friday, we announced our Westward Journey Quilt Along, and provided the fabric requirements. Do you have your fabrics selected? I looked around the shelves and corners of my quilting cottage over the weekend, and found a box of pretty aqua, green, blue and purple fat quarters I had forgotten about.

The box only had 20 fat quarters, but I decided to go ahead and use them for this Quilt Along. When I opened them up, however, I realized there were a few duplicate fat quarters.

So I took out the duplicates and returned them to my stash, since I’d like a lot of variety like Beth’s original Westward Journey quilt design. That left me with these:

Left with only 13 fat quarters from that collection, I turned to my stash. Here are some I came up with that might work…we’ll see as I begin to piece the blocks. Please bear with me…I snapped these quick photos with my phone in a variety of different settings, and they are not exactly color accurate:

And since some of those fabrics weren’t full fat quarters, and still not quite enough fabric to equal 25 fat quarters for this pattern, it was off to my local quilt shop! I took along the focal print (shown on the bottom below) from my initial collection, and here’s what I found there:Irene B. was kind enough to share a snapshot of her fabric selections today (thanks, Irene!):

Stop by our Editors’ Blog again tomorrow for the next step in our Westward Journey Quilt Along.

Westward Journey Quilt Along (Click link to see all posts.)

We are so excited about our upcoming special issue, America Makes FAST Quilts, that we decided to share a pattern with you ahead of time as a Quilt Along! The issue will be  available exclusively on newsstands or by purchasing online, and is absolutely packed with fast quilt patterns you’ll turn to again and again…but more about that later; let’s get this quilt along started.

We’ll be making a 60½″ x 60½″ lap quilt with the White House Steps block. Today, we’re giving you the fabric requirements so you’ll have time to rummage around in your stash or visit your local quilt shop over the weekend.

Fabric shopping list:
25 assorted prints, 1 fat quarter (18″ x 20-22″) each
Backing: 4 yards
Batting size: 70″ x 70″

This will be enough fabric to complete the quilt top and binding. You’ll want to make sure you’ve got a good variety of values (lights, mediums, darks) for best effect in this quilt. Remember, you don’t have to use fabrics anything like the picture; that’s the whole fun of it. Over the weekend, I’ll be looking around my fabric stash to see what fabrics I might like to use for this Westward Journey Quilt Along. I’ll post my fabric choices here on our McCall’s Quilting Editors’ Blog on Monday.

If you email a photo of your fabric choices over the weekend, I’ll share a few random pictures on Monday, April 23. Send low resolution (1 MB or smaller) photos to mcq@creativecraftsgroup.com, with Attn: Valerie, Quilt Along in the subject. Be sure to check back on Monday to see if your photo is one of those posted!