Welcome to June!

Halfway there, friends! How are you feeling so far? All caught up and feeling great? Worried you’re a little behind schedule? Either way, we want you to enjoy the process of making this beautiful quilt. Make sure to let us know if you need any additional help figuring things out along the way.

If you’re sewing along with us and want to enter to win prizes each month, post your finished blocks to Instagram or in our Facebook group (between June 15th and June 30th) with the #QP2019sewalong hashtag.

Each month, we post tips and tricks to help you with your blocks.  To keep up with the Tips and Tricks, visit our 2019 Block of the Month Landing Page here.  You might want to make it one of your Favorites on your computer so it’s easy to find.  You can also find it on QuiltersPlanner.com under the Patterns and BOMs tab.

To see a schedule for the entire year, visit our 2019 BOM Landing Page.

Which Block Should I Sew in June?

The block for June is Middle Ring Block 2. Instructions for this block are on page 19 of the QP magazine.

Snowflake Layout: Make two.

Pyramid Layout: Make two.

 

Tips for making Middle Ring Block 2:

We are pretty confident that you have all the skills needed for this block, as it is simply made of squares and HST units. That being said, we do have a couple of ideas that will help you make this block quicker and more accurately.

Tip #1:  In February and May, we showed you a couple of different ways to trim up half-square triangles. This month, we will focus on a final method using a Bloc-Loc ruler. Watch the video below to see how it’s done:

Tip #2:  When you lay out your block, as always, check that you’re HST units are all facing the proper direction! Here, you want all the triangles pointing in towards the center of the block. As you begin to stitch your units into rows, be sure to keep everything turned the proper direction.

Tip #3: Another thing to note on this block is that there are several places where six fabrics come together in the same spot. Being able to spread out that bulk a bit will really help your block to sit flat. In April, we talked about pressing seams open. Today, we would like to teach you how to spin your seams to alleviate that bulk.

Spinning seams is really easy once you understand how to press your rows. You want to press them so they nest together, but there’s a catch! Instead of pressing all the seams of a row to one side and then pressing the next row in the opposite direction, you will press in alternating directions within each row and then do the opposite on the following row.

For example:

Row 1: press seams right, left, right, left

Row 2: press seams left, right, left, right

Here is are the rows for the Middle Ring Block 2 all pressed and ready to assemble.

Once all our rows are sewn together, we need to release our seams a bit so they can open up and ‘spin’. At the intersections of the seams, you have your vertical seam (from joining units together) and your horizontal seam (from joining rows together). Your horizontal seam goes over the top if your vertical seam, holding it in place. What you are doing here is removing a few of the vertical stitches that are in the seam allowance of the horizontal seam. Do not remove stitches past the horizontal seam line.

With these stitches removed, open up the seam and do a little finger press at each intersection. Your fabric will naturally ease in to the spot it wants to go. You will notice that the seam allowances each go their own direction: one going left, one right, one up and one down.

Continue removing stitches and finger pressing all the intersections before pressing with your iron for a beautifully flat block!

 

 

 

Guidelines to enter your sewn blocks into our monthly challenge (and win prizes on Instagram and Facebook)

  • Between the 1st and the 7th day of each month, you’ll find the pattern for that month’s block and select your fabrics.
  • Between the 8th and the 14th, you’ll get your fabrics prepped and cut.
  • Between the 15th and the end of the month, sew up your block and post it to Instagram (please use the #qp2019sewalong hashtag) or to the Facebook group (using the same #qp2019sewalong hashtag).

 

As always, feel free to contact us on Instagram or on our Facebook group if you need any help or have questions about the block!