Be My eighbor: BLock 2

SLXLM​​It’s week 2 of our Be My Neighbor Quilt Along. All of the Block 1 houses that I seen looked great, and all of them were so very different. I love that so many of you are striving to use up your stash with this quilt along. 

Today we will be doing Block 2. This block is a lot of fun but the center of the house can be a little tricky so I have a few different tips for you. 

SXLLM​​

SXLLM​​

First off I cut my squares for the triangles at 4” and 2.5” rather than the 8th measurements the patterns gives. I always do this as it’s easier to cut and gives me a little extra room to trim later on. Also instead of cutting them in half on the diagonal I left mine as squares, drew a line down the center and stitched a quarter inch away on each side than cut in half. This decreases a little how much stretching goes on. This combined with some starch provided me with some perfect points. 

For the center of the house I pressed all my seams open. This helped a lot to get the block to lay nice and flat without bunchy seams.  

MLXLS​​

This next tip is something I like to do whenever I make the stitch and flip flying geese like we do in this block. After trimming off the extra triangles I will stitch them together to get a half square triangle rather than more scraps. Than when I have enough I will put them together in a quilt or in this case I will keep them together and have them ready for another block in the quilt that uses HSTs. 

I cannot wait to see this weeks blocks, be sure to join our Facebook Group, or send me an email with photos of your blocks. My email is kayla@chickenfeedquilts.com

MXLLS​​

For a video tutorial that Esther did on half square triangles check out our Facebook Page. I will try to get the video posted on the gallery page for our Be My Neighbor QAL.

We will be closed this week Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31 for Easter, and will reopen again on Monday, April 2. There will be no blog post on Friday either. 

Have a fantastic week. 

Kayla

 You can find the pattern for Block 2 by clicking here. 

 

Be My Neighbor: Block 1

MLXLS​​First off thank you to everyone that came out to our big sale this weekend! we had a lot of fun and it was great to see so many of you all in the space of a few days.

SXLLM​​Today is the start of our first ever Quilt Along. I am super excited to see how this goes and to see everyone’s blocks as we all work on the same quilt together! 

MLXLS​​

Esther and I are working a week ahead in order to share our blocks with you and any useful tips or tricks that we discovered during our making of the block. After each making our first block from Art Gallery Fabric we both just had to make a second. Esther is going to do a second quilt out of her Kansas Trouble Fabrics and there is quite a contrast between the two of hers! Both look so good. My collection of Sheri and Chelsi fabrics has beeen steadily growing and so I have decided to use some of it to make my second quilt. I will be using fabric from Creekside, Desert Bloom and Front Porch.

Remember your blocks can be as scrappy or as coordinated as you like. We did our trees all in one print but you can do each aegment a different color if you like, same goes for the frame, roof and chimney of your house. The pattern has a picture of where each cut piece goes so it is easy to see what pieces go where in the block and choose your fabrics accordingly. 

MLXLS​​

Esther noticed that she needed to use a scant quarter inch seam for the block to ensure it all fit well. I normally sew with a very scant seam and so I actually had to make my seam allowance a little larger than normal. If your are unsure if your 1/4" seam measures scant or not I suggest making the Chimney section first, it should measure 12.5" when the 5 sections are sewn together, you can adjust your seam allowance if needed.

MXLLS​​

I love my Frixion pens and my Creatuve Grids Ruler to Mark my sewing lines for the angles. Esther prefers the Sewline pencils. Both work great. As for trimming these angles after sewing the Creative Grids Rulers come equipped with a 1/4” dotted line, if you line this up on your seen line and trim you will have a perfect 1/4” seam allowance that is neat and tidy. 

Because it is going to be some time before these blocks are sewn together and put into a quilt Esther recommends spraying your finished block with some starch or sizing spray to keep it from stretching while you sew the others. 

I cannot wait to see all your blocks. I have created a Gallery page on the websites I share our progress and if you would like me to put your blocks up just email me a picture at kayla@chickenfeedquilts.com. These pictures can be anonymous if you don’t want your name listed. We also have a Facebook group that you can post your pictures to. The link is on our Facebook page. Use the tag @chickenfeedquilts on Instagram. Esther has decided that after the last block has been completed we will have a time period in which you can finish your quilts and than we would love to have the quilts hang at the store or have pictures of them and have a people’s choice vote. The grand prize will be a $100 gift card to Chicken Feed Quilts. There will be more prizes throughout the Quilt Along so get out your fabrics and join in on the fun!

To find this week's block click on this link.

Kayla