Quarantine Quilt Challenge Week 8

Can you believe we’re eight weeks into the quilt along? We’re hurtling toward the finish line. It won’t be long before I reveal the finishing touches. For now, let’s settle for making Shooting Star 2 from Quilter’s Cache. In this week’s challenge, we’re going to be tackling Chevron units. If you haven’t made these before, they are similar to the flying geese and can be used to great effect in providing movement to a block. See how the central star spins?

New to the Quarantine Quilt Along? It’s not too late to join in. The blocks are simple and it’s just one 12 1/2″ block per week. They take about two hours each. You can find the previous week’s information in the links below:

This week’s post is very graphics-heavy. I have compressed the photos, but do let me know if the page takes too long to load.

My fabric choices

NOTES:  I oversized my pieces just a smidge to ensure proper unit size once trimmed up. Make sure the line on your ruler is ON the fabric, not next to it on the mat. Those extra threads really do make a difference.

Once my fabrics are cut, I lay them out and compare them to the pattern, just to make sure I have everything I need.

The next step is to take four of the 3 1/2″ background (my white) squares and four 3 1/2″ print squares and stitch them together in pairs. Press open, and square if necessary.

Next, take the remainder of the background squares and draw a diagonal line from one corner to the other.

Lay one marked background square face down on a 3 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangle, right sides together.

Sew just to the right of the drawn line. Those extra threads will make all the difference once you turn the fabric and fold.   

I chain piece mine.

Using your Add-A-Quarter ruler, trim the seam allowance. Press the seam allowance toward the background fabric.

Turn the rectangle around and repeat with the remainder of the background 3 1/2″ squares, making sure of which direction your drawn line is going (see photo). Otherwise you will end up with flying geese. Been there, done that, lots of cussing and I had to use Jack.

Using a square ruler, trim up your newly made chevron unit. I can’t stress this enough. If your units are square, your block will be square.

This is how little waste there is when you sew just to the right of the line.

Now you can sew your units A to units B to create four squares.

They should look like the following picture.

Again, square them up. As you can see from the picture, mine was slightly off. I had to frog it and adjust.

Once you have your four squares sewn and pressed, stitch them in pairs.

Then sew the pairs together to form your finished Shooting Star 2 block. Week 8 is now in the books.

 

In other news…

I finally finished the last two feet of binding on my Hurricane Quilt. Last spring I saw these fabrics from QT Fabrics and instantly fell in love. They are my colors. That sea glass is so soothing and peaceful. A calm in a life of chaos and sorrow. I pieced the top in June while at home with my husband on hospice. My longarmer quilted it for me in October and I started the binding sometime in January. You’d think that for a small quilt (57″sq) it wouldn’t take very long, but well, it’s hand-sewn and I’m easily distracted. You can read more about it when I publish my Hurricane post later this weekend.

I’m also enrolled in the Kimberbell bench pillow of the month (sewing version) from the Texas Quilt Barn, in La Grange, Texas. This month is the Slice of Summer bench pillow. When I opened up my squishie the other day, I knew I had to set my other projects aside and make it. It took about 2 hours to cut and assemble the top, then another hour for the applique and because I’m still learning FMQ, it took about 2 hours to quilt it. I have to attach the rind to the large slice, add the flowers and embroider the ants legs & antennae yet before I can attach the back to finish it up. It’s such a sweet and fun project.

What I’m listening to…

I have been a Jennifer Chiaverini fan for years. I think I read her first Elm Creek book soon after it was published oh so many years ago. This week I downloaded Resistance Women from Audible. I’ve just started it so I can’t really give you an accurate review, but it is kind of slow for machine sewing. I’ve got some handwork to keep me busy the next few evenings and we’ll see how well it keeps my attention. On Spotify, I’ve been listening to Barbershop Quartets. I haven’t found the group I used to follow, but there’s some pretty good melodies on there. The following YouTube video keeps Junior in stitches. We have the CD of that year’s championships and it’s still one of our favorites.

Amazon Item of the Day

The Amazon Item of the Day is this Spools 1,000 piece puzzle. I love the puzzles from Sunsout, Inc. They go together well and they’re beautiful. The heat is upon us, and even though the quarantine is essentially over, many of us are still staying home. Be sure to check out the other puzzles they offer, too!

If you are in the Texas Quilter’s Group and on Instagram, be sure to use the hashtags #texasquilters and #quarantinequiltchallenge so the rest of us can admire your progress.

Until next week…

Blessings,

Melissa

P.S. And for those that read the entire post, here is a sneak peek of the final layout. As you can see, Junior was goofing around behind the quilt while I photographed it. The wind caught it and Surprise!

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.