Hi friends!  How was your weekend?  Did you pack everything you could into those precious hours?  I sure did!  Joe and I had a great time celebrating our 11th anniversary.  He had reservations to the restaurant that we thought we went to the night he proposed to me.  Turned out to be a newer restaurant, with amazing food, so we were happy!  The rest of the weekend was full of family, friends and sewing – all the way around good!  Now I just need to catch up on some sleep and get myself on my self-proposed schedule this week before school starts…I’ll let you know how that goes.  All I have to say is “I’m a night owl”.

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Now that we have all the blocks made, it’s time to put them into a complete quilt top.

Here’s what you need:

40 – 2 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ rectangles (or the length that you trimmed your blocks to!)

25 – 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ squares, mine are all the same, but you can mix it up if you want.

A word about sashing:

Most of my quilts do not usually include sashing, talking with my mom the other day, she even asked – why sashing?  With the variety of blocks in our tops, the sashing works to unify all the different  styles.  I looked at it without the sashing when designing the quilt, but it just wasn’t working.  Each of the blocks needed their own space to shine!

Before you even try to figure out layout, add sashing to each of your 16 blocks.  To the bottom, and right side.  For the right side, first add your 2 1/2″ square to 16 of the long rectangles.  Add the bottom piece first, then add the side unit.

After sewing and pressing, you are ready to decide where things will go.  here’s a look at my progression –

Personally, I like to have my corners anchored with color, then work around those.

Now, sew small squares to 8 long rectangles.  Then add to the units to the blocks on the top and left side.  You will have one more square to add to the corner, add it to the rectangle/square unit.  Sew the top units first, then add the left side.  Carefully pin, sew and press as you work.  With those added you are ready to sew your rows together!  Work across one row at a time, or pin and sew pairs, just don’t loose your order!  I worked fast to get this off the floor before dinner, while the kids were playing outside, and Owen napping.

My complete quilt top!  I took it outside to take a few pics without ugly linoleum.   I love all the prints, and colors!  I just need to decide on quilting…I’m almost there.

I can’t wait to see all of your tops come together – I love how different each of the fabric selections make the quilt.  After you finish come back and post a permalink here:

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Quilting!

Amy