Sew-Along, Anyone?

The wintry weather most of America is currently experiencing has us all cooped up indoors, bracing ourselves from the snow and frigid temperatures. I just read a report which said that 73% of the country is covered in snow, the most widespread coverage in over 15 years. Yowza!

While it is pretty to look at from the confines of a warm, cozy home, I feel for those who must go out in it daily - farmers, road crews, law enforcement, and so many others. I'm glad to be retired and staying out of the elements.

From within the confines of my warm, cozy sewing room, I have been putting quite a lot of brainwaves to work on the sew-along that Sharon, Dee and I are going to begin soon - March 1, to be precise.

This sew-along is not exclusive to the three of us. We welcome others to join us, if it suits a particular need for diversion. We are attempting the sew-along for more social reasons than for anything else - it is pure sewing circle-type activity for this little project. If the three of us were able to more easily visit together in person, the project before us would be of secondary concern. Camaraderie is the goal. That is why we've selected such an easy, simple quilt to make.

As you decide if you want to join our experimental little sew-along, you might want to know some project details.

Size of quilt - determined by one's preference. The inspiration quilt looks to be about 30-ish" square, as best I can tell. Helen Philipps' blog has several posts in which this quilt shows up as a table topper. I plan to make mine a full, bed-size quilt. Dee and Sharon will soon share what they have in mind.

Our inspiration; pic by Helen Philipps from Instagram.

Fabric needs - I have no intention of providing a yardage recipe (too much math involved in that, and I'd surely miscalculate!). I will, however, share my method. I determined the look and size I wanted, and then pulled from my stash tubs and drawers about 20 different fabrics that seemed to work together in a complimentary way for the quilt I have in mind. 

Anther fabric option: Use a jelly roll or partial jelly rolls, if you have left over from previous projects.

Cutting: The primary number to remember is 2.5 inches. That is why jelly rolls make a good option. If using the strip-piecing method (above), subunits are cut at 2.5 inches. If using individual squares to make the blocks, use 2.5-inch squares. Easy-peasy.

The two blocks above illustrate a quilt that will have a totally scrappy vibe to it. I used individually cut 2.5-inch squares and tried to be as random as possible with the fabrics and still keep within a "spring" color-way. These will be used for my sample quilt.

The 'real' quilt I am making for the sew-along will be lots less scrappy. I have a consistent white-on-white fabric for the background. A picture up above shows my strip sets. Below you can see some of the construction process for my blocks. These blocks are ready to have the third stripset added to them.

Does any of this entice you to join the fun? 

The long and the short of it: join us if you so desire. We don't have any prizes; we don't have a hard, fast deadline (although a long-range target for finishing is June 21, summer equinox). We just want to have an excuse to visit!

I am going to begin sharing some details on Instagram. I also will make an attempt at contacting Helen Philipps to share with her our enthusiasm for her little quilt. Wouldn't it be fun to get her thoughts on details she considered as she decided to make her sweet little quilt? 

I'm looking forward to doing this! It gives me something to eagerly anticipate at we survive the winter of '21.

Happy Quilting, Friends!