NOTE: The Pine Sky quilt along has ended, but the blog posts are still up and are very helpful as you sew your own Pine Sky quilt!
This week we get all our pieces cut and ready for block construction. Switch out those dull rotary blades for new, sharp ones because they will be doing most of the work this week. If you are just getting started, go back to WEEK 1 and read all about choosing fabrics. You can grab your pattern for the quilt along in my SHOP.
Weekly Goal
The goal this week is to get all your pieces cut. Remember, Blocks 1 and 2 begin exactly the same way, so you will be cutting and making strip sets for blocks 1 and 2 that are identical. I refer to this block as your base block before you make them into Blocks 1 and 2 in your final step.
To make the process of piecing the blocks in the pine sky quilt as streamlined as possible, you will sew together sets to begin. After you have made a set, you cut the set into 8 identical strip sets for each of your 8 blocks. Luckily, this makes the quilt construction very quick.
You will also be sewing half-square triangles (HSTs) using the 4-at-a-time method. This pattern only uses 8 HSTs so you don’t need to block an entire day for trimming. The pattern gives good graphics for how to make these. If you are new to sewing HSTs, there are many, many tutorials and youtube videos that can walk you through these steps. You can see an example HERE.
Weekly Tip
I have one simple tip this week that I may have learned the hard way. When cutting the pieces for your strip sets, you may want to make them 1″ wider than in the pattern. Using the throw measurements for an example, c is 6.5″ x 18″ and C2 is 1″ x 18″. After sewing these pieces together along the 18″ edge, you will cut into strip sets that are 2.25″ in width. I would suggest increasing the width from 18″ to 19″ on both of these pieces. This gives you some wiggle room for errors when sewing or cutting.
That’s all for this week. Make sure to check your emails for a discount code and the details on our weekly prize from Lamb & Loom fabrics. Happy sewing (or should I say cutting), friends!
