who’s ready for a little quilt along….?

Having completed 2  Denyse Schmidt Single Girl quilts, I think I can safely put it in the category of  ‘not as scary as it looks’.  It still has a lot to teach me though so I have been wanting to revisit the pattern -  but how about a bit of hand holding from some friends this time round?

Megan is making a quilt, & Katy is too!  Why don’t you come and join us?  We’ve set up the Single Girl Support Group in flickr so we can share tips & advice but mostly it’s to keep each other motivated  to finish a Single Girl Quilt.

Joining this group comes with a *warning*  though…it’s strictly for serious single girl quilters only who are committed to finishing a single girl project , be it a pillow or a king size quilt – which is why we made the flickr group private – not for ‘exclusivity’ reasons at all, but because we would much rather have a small group of quilters committed to sewing along with us, supporting each other along the way, sharing and discussing tips in the discussion thread and actually finishing the project, we’re sure you can understand :) You’ll be so pleased you joined as you stitch that last stitch in the binding of your single girl quilt, we promise :)

To join the group, go here and simply request to join, telling us how excited you are about making a single girl & that you promise to finish what you start ;)   If you’d like to sew along but not be part of the flickr group, that’s great too, Megan, Katy & I will be posting the steps on our blogs in turn so you are welcome to follow along from our blogs though the discussions will be in the flickr group only.

& btw….Denyse Schmidt has given us her blessing to run this quilt along, isn’t she nice :)  & even though she will be in the middle of deadline hell, will try and keep up with what we are doing and someone at her studio will be on hand to help with any clarification problems in the pattern.

So what do you need to do to join in the fun? (Yes that’ right, it’s gonna be fun, we promise ;))

• Firstly, you’ll need to buy yourself a copy of the pattern.  While we will be sharing steps and tips etc we won’t be sharing the pattern or templates  as part of the quilt along.  Here’s a list of stores we’ve found so far where  you can purchase it online. Your local quilting store might stock it too. Or perhaps it’s already in your sewing room, gathering dust on a shelf just waiting to be set free…….!

http://www.pinkchalkfabrics.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/thestockroom

http://www.etsy.com/shop/blueisbleu

http://www.wishuponaquilt.com (it’s on sale there – link below)

http://www.wishuponaquilt.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?cart_id=602343.8317.s0&product=Patterns&productid=pattern_singlegirlquilt_denyseschmidt&keywords1=single+girl&sales=0&lastmenu=

• Decide on the size you’d like to make. Baby, twin, queen or king OR if you want to join in but don’t feel confident about tackling a whole quilt just yet, why don’t you do what I’m doing this time around and make just one block & turn it into a pillow! It will be a very large pillow admittedly (finished block size is approx 22”)  but there’s  nothing wrong with big pillows I say, and it will fit a European pillow form – or thereabouts.  It’s a fun way to test the water!

• You will need lightweight card or template plastic to cut all 38 (!)  templates out of .

• A pencil for marking fabrics – or a silver gel pen or silver pencil if your fabric is dark. I also just tried a Clover ‘iron off ‘ chalk pen that was brilliant for marking dark fabric.

Fabric requirements for the various quilt sizes are as follows…

Baby (4 blocks)  ~ finished size 43 x 50″ ~ 1/8 yard each of 31 or 36 fabrics for rings ~ 2 1/2 yards of background fabric

Twin (12 blocks) ~ finished size 64 x 88″ ~ 1/8 yard each of 31 or 36 fabrics for rings~ 5 1/2 yards of background fabric

Queen (16 blocks)~ finished size 85 x 92″ ~ 1/4 yard of 31 or 36 fabrics for rings ~ 7 yards of background fabric

King (20 blocks)  ~ finished size 106 x 92″ ~ 1/4 yard of 31 or 36 fabrics for rings ~ 8 1/2 yards of background fabric.

As far as fabric requirements go for the pillow background you’ll need a piece of fabric approx 25″ square.   I’m using some scrappy strips of fabric for my background not a piece this size so be sure to check your scraps, you might have just the piece!

If you’re using  scraps for the ring pieces bear in mind you need 3 1/2 ” strips.

We’ll be kicking off the Quilt Along on Feb 14th, so that gives you time to get the pattern ,decide which size you’re making, pick your fabrics and most importantly – get your templates cut out so we’re all ready for the off!  Cutting the templates is by far the most tedious part of this pattern ;)

So go forth! Grab your pattern and template plastic and get the tedious job of cutting out your templates over and done with so you’re ready to start the fun bits on 14th Feb :)

Here’s what we’ll be covering, where & when…

14 Feb – Marking and cutting fabric – Katy’s Blog
21 Feb – Piecing rings – Megan’s Blog
28 Feb – Sewing curves – Right here!
7 March – Assembly – Katy’s Blog
14 March – Marking quilting design & hand quilting – Right here!
28 March – Quilt Along wrap up – Megan, Katy & Right here :)

We’ll be updating the links to posts as they go live in our flickr group too.

If you’re playing along, grab our button for your blog ! Copy and paste the html code below into your sidebar to show everyone you’re a determined single girl quilt alongerer & in a few weeks time you’re gonna have at least a pillow to show for your efforts, if not a king size quilt! Yay!