It’s Week 3! And it’s finally time to start crafting our quilt top FOR REAL.

If you’re just stumbling across the quilt along, circle back to the main page HERE to brush up on the schedule and any weeks that you’ve missed. 

This week we’re going to make half of our blocks. If you’re making the throw size quilt (like I am), that means 24 blocks. That might sound like a lot until you try a few and realize that each block is only 3 pieces of fabric and 2 seams. Trust me… you’re going to fly through these!

I know some of you are new to paper piecing and some of you are working ahead so last week I did a NyQuil-fueled video on how to piece this block. 

Here are a few of my key tips for this week:

• I’d recommend glue basting your center strips so they stay in place while you’re lining everything else up. Use a washable glue stick and a lukewarm iron. The back side of your fabric should touch the back side of your paper block and your center strip fabric (an “E” strip) should completely cover your Section 1 of your block.
• Remember that in paper-piecing, your paper block is going to be the REVERSE of your finished block. When you’re pairing up your fabric with your blocks, the right side of your fabric pieces should look like they don’t fit on the right side of your block (because they’ll end up on the back). So don’t accidentally pair up all your C/D templates with your A/B block and vice versa.

• Use the dashed red line to help you line up your trapezoids as you add then. Touch the wide angle of your trapezoid to the corner of your paper and let the narrow angle (the “point”) hang off the other end.

• Trim you blocks down so that any extra paper and fabric isn’t hanging off beyond the solid black outline of the block.
• Leave your paper on the back of your blocks right now to hold everything nice and square until we’ve assembled our top!

This Week’s Instagram Post & Prize

Our Week 2 winner of the CAD 65 gift certificate from Kendra @ Piece Fabric Company is: Victoria @victoriacaldwellcreative! Congratulations! I’ll let Kendra know you won and she’ll reach out!

Week 3 Prompt: What is your favorite fall tradition? If it’s harder to do this year because of COVID, what can you do to recreate the things you love about it? Post a photo on the hashtag and tell us about it! Fall here in Minnesota can be unpredictable. We had 80 degree and 30 degree days this past week. One day the tree across the street from us was a vibrant, fiery red, and the next it had zero leaves left on it. So we have to grab the slices of fall color and weather that we can. I’m excited to rake leaves into piles and watch my son either jump into them or decide that he wants nothing to do them and gets mad when we make him get in for a quick (and inevitably terrible) photo. Could go either way…

Week 3 Prize Sponsor: Nido Goods. These guys are SO nice and make great wool pressing mats. This week’s winner will get the exact same 13.5″ x 13.5″ wool pressing mat that I use (and love) when I’m paper piecing. If you don’t end up winning this one but have been in the market for a wool mat and want to support a small business, you need to check them out! I love that these are so affordable but feel luxurious.

Longarm Quilting

Don’t forget that Katie @ ModernTextiles in the US and Kerry @ That’s Sew Kerry in the UK are both offering a 15% discount on quilting for your finished tops! You’d still pay the normal (very reasonable) amounts for batting or anything else you buy from them and any shipping. ⁠You’d need to have your quilt top to them by the end of February 2021, so finish those quilts 😉

When your quilt is ready, you can reach out to either of these ladies (depending on your location) and they’d be happy to answer any questions or walk you through the process of getting your quilt to them.

That’s it! Happy quilting! 

-Kate