Quarantine Quilt Challenge Week 11

We’re almost there! SEVEN more days left in the Quarantine Quilt Challenge! I can’t begin to express how thrilled and grateful I am that so many participated in this challenge. Your creativity never ceases to amaze me.

For those of you just joining in, the instructions and cutting directions for the rest of the quilt can be found at the following links:

This week’s Quarantine Quilt Challenge block is super simple, as I suspect the fatigue of the challenge and wanting to be done is weighing on everyone. Say hello to Next Door Neighbor from Quilter’s Cache. Given the public health crisis, have any of you had the chance to meet or check up on your neighbors?  Anyway, as you can see the entire block is made from half-square triangles.

REMEMBER:

Keep the line of your ruler ON the fabric when cutting. Over-size your units just a bit to give you a bit of breathing room for trimming and be aware of your layout are the only tips I have for you this week.

The cutting directions at Quilter’s Cache call for pieces 3 7/8″ x 7 3/4″ so I just upsized to 4×8. That way I knew I was going to have units that weren’t wonky. Mark your lines and stitch a scant 1/4″ on either side of them. Using your rotary cutter and ruler of your choice, cut directly on the lines. Press the seam allowance to the dark side and trim your units to 3 1/2″ square.

Lay out your units following the pictures, being careful of the placement of your center blocks.

Once the units are laid out, begin sewing units into pairs.

Then you can either sew them into four rows or four patches. I chose the 4-patch.

half square triangles sewn into 4 patches

Then sew the rows together.

Spin seams as needed and press flat.

Trim to 12 1/2″ square and you now have the best kind of Next Door Neighbor.

In other news…

The Amazon Item of the Day is the Supreme Slider Free Motion Quilting Mat.  If you use a tabletop machine to quilt, you will more than likely need one of these. It helps your quilt sandwich glide over the surface and reduces ridges for the quilt to catch on. I also have one with a square hole for use with my walking foot. Can’t recommend this highly enough.

I’m doing a better job at daily journaling, so on July 1, I will post this month’s quilting progress in more detail. The only finish I have is the Quarantine Quilt. I finally managed to get the binding put on it. Y’all. It’s beautiful! I’m currently trying to figure out how to photograph it on something other than my clothesline.

A week ago Thursday I decided I wanted to start a new project. I’d finished quite a few UFOs so it was time to begin a new quilt. The Halloween Figs Sampler quilt has been giving me the stink eye in its bin because I’ve let it languish for so long. It’s supposed to be a block of the month and I purchased it as a kit last fall.  So I have set a personal challenge to do one month per day. Some days I think my cornbread wasn’t quite done in the middle.

Today is Day9/Month 9 and I’m trying really hard not to let Halloween Figs become a UFO. The blocks aren’t terribly difficult. It’s the cutting directions. They’re a nightmare. I’ve thrown rulers and rotary cutters down more than once. And cursed an awful lot. To see my progress, check out my Instagram profile.

This week I’ve also tweaked my schedule a bit to try and become more productive. I’m really trying to get my online shop ready to launch. I’ve been living life in limbo for almost two years now and I’m ready to move forward.

What I’ve been listening to…

If you didn’t see the notice in the Texas Quilter’s Group, I have a Spotify playlist embedded in the sidebar of the home page (scroll up a bit and look on the right side}.  It’s music to quilt to! Happy, upbeat, fun music from every genre and era I could think of. The playlist very heavy on the ’80s and early ’90’s as I’m Generation X and the era I grew up in. Give it a try and if you think of a song to add, let me know.

On Audible, I’m continuing to listen to the Harry Potter books. I have finished Book 3, The Prisoner of Azkaban, and I’m currently 1/3 of the way through Book 4, The Goblet of Fire. I can’t believe how much I had forgotten and how many little details there were. Those details are going to help tremendously as I gather fabrics for the Project of Doom Quilt.

If you have read this far, will you please leave a comment, even if it’s just a single letter to let me know you dropped by. It’s very difficult to gauge how much traffic my blog gets and whether or not all the time I put into it is worth it.

That’s pretty much it for this week. If you’re on Instagram, share your progress using the hashtags #quarantinequiltchallenge and/or #texasquilters. I look forward to next week and the reveal and I hope you are, too.

Blessings,
Melissa

Disclosure: This site uses links which lead to affiliate sites from which I make a (very) small commission. All comments and opinions are my own, and I refuse to promote a product that I do not like