Today is the official start of the One Block Wonder Quilt Along hosted by Quilter in the Closet. As you can see I got a little head start (I was too excited to wait!) This quilt along is based on one of three books by Maxine Rosenthal. You could purchase any of the three, so I decided to get the first one, One-Block Wonders - One Fabric, One Shape, One-of-a-Kind Quilts. This book covers all the basics of how to make a One Block Wonder quilt, thus I was able to get a head start. The book covers fabric selection, how to cut, sew, arrange and put together your quilt, all from one fabric, and just one block shape, though you do have the option to either make a hexagon or an octagon shaped block. I am going the hexagon route, especially since I already had a 60 degree triangle ruler. Be it that the official start of the quilt along is today, the host (Jen) has an interview with the book's author on her blog today, you can read that interview HERE.
After quite a bit of deliberation, I chose this fabric (see above,) isn't it pretty? This fabric is by Valori Wells and is from her Cocoon line, this specific print is Liv in Sapphire, and since I am a September baby, I have always been partial to sapphires! The whole point of this type of quilt is based on your fabric choice, so you need to pick a large scale print that ideally has a 24" repeat. This one has a 24.5" repeat and the smallest foreground butterflies are in the 4" range. It also helps to pick a print that doesn't have too many colors. I felt this print was just right, and I love not only the print, but the colors, so I know I will love the finished quilt!
This past weekend I took the time to precisely cut out the fabric, there is a specific way that Maxine teaches in the book of how to perfectly line up and cut your fabric, which was actually easier than I thought it would be. The fabric strip above is 6 layers stacked on top of each other and the print is perfectly lined up on top of one another. You can also see my brand new Olfa Splash Rotary Cutter, which I love. It really helped to have a brand new blade, especially since I was slicing through 6 layers of fabric.
After the strips are cut, you then cut out the 60 degree triangles. I was able to cut out 19 triangles from each strip, thus making 19 blocks from each strip. I cut six strips, so by my calculations I should be able to make 114 blocks.
After everything was cut I couldn't help myself and laid out the first five blocks! Eek....so cool! Look how they are transformed. I am beyond excited by this one, can't you tell!
Since I had these five laid out, I HAD TO sew them together. So here are three of the five sewn top and bottom rows only, they are just pinned together in the middle, so there aren't any frustrating Y seams, you sew this quilt together in rows. I stopped at this point because I had to finish up some other WIPs, but as soon as I've wrapped up a few things, I will be working on this one, full force! Fancy to join along? Go check out the details, there is plenty of time to join in!
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