Yonder QAL, Week 5, May 27th

Week 5!

Finish-up-those-remaining-blocks-week!

It's also a great week to start trimming your blocks.  Here's how I've been trimming mine:

Since an 18 1/2" square ruler is hard to find (and since I'm trying to practice minimalism, and can do without one) I use 2 rulers that equal 18 1/2", and treat them as one.  I lay a block on my cutting mat, and use my 12 1/2" ruler and 6" ruler (which magically equals 18 1/2") to trim the block.  I can trim the block in two steps/parts this way, one half at a time.  Usually I'm just trimming threads, and a little length off of E.

This week I'll be picking up this, 

...and this, 

...from Violet Quilts. Can't wait to share them with you!

Congrats to Heidi Harrison of @justkeepcruisin! You've won this original watercolour from Caverly. Please email your address and phone number, and Caverly will mail your prize to you!

This week's giveaway is from a new quilty business that you may not have been introduced to yet, Quilt Designs in the Yard.  Brenda makes weather-safe Barn Quilts, or Yard Quilts in beautiful colours and styles.  These 60cm sq. quilts are printed using UV resistant ink on a 1/4" thick sheet made of aluminum composite, then industrially laminated.  This is how signs are made for their local potash mines, so the yard Quilts are built to be durable, hardy, and made to last extreme seasonal conditions.

These can be installed on your home, deck or fence with outdoor velcro or by drilling holes. 

Our winner this week will receive their own Quilt for their Yard!  You WANT this prize!  Do what you gotta do to make a post this week!  Brenda sent Caverly and I ones for ourselves, and wow!  They're so nice.

You can also check out her website or IG (give her a follow!) to see more of her stunning variety  Yard Quilts.

Post your progress by Sunday at midnight to be entered!

We're down to our last two weeks:
Remember, any Yonder related post will enter you in this week's giveaway, but for the Final Giveaway announced next week and drawn on June 10th, I will be drawing a winner from the completed quilt top/flimsy posts that are shared.

WEEK 5, May 27th
Sew remaining blocks
Bassinet:   2
Throw:      6
Twin:        9
King:       12

WEEK 6, June 3rd
Lay out and assemble quilt top.  Post your finished quilt top/flimsy by midnight June 9th to be entered in the final giveaway, announced on June 10th.

I'm loving your quilts!  We're nearing the finish!  I'm excited to announce the Final Giveaway, I'll tell you all about it in a week!

Yonder Quilt Along Week 4, May 20th

Week 4!

It's Easy Week, Choose your Adventure week!

I LOVE seeing your posts!  Thanks for sharing, and keep it up!  There are still lots of prizes to be had.

Congrats to Crystal @crystal_quilts!  You've won the  $20 gift card to Stacked Fabrics!  Stacked fabrics can also be found on Instagram, give them a follow!  Send me an email with your preferred email address!

____

This week's giveaway is an original painting by Caverly.  I love Caverly's art!  I have a lot of her pieces in my house; mostly oils and a couple watercolours.  Everything she paints or sketches is just so happy.  She has kindly offered an original watercolour painting to this week's winner.  She chose colours for this painting from the Wildwood collection by Rifle Paper Co used in the first Yonder quilt.

To enter this week's giveaway, post a pic of your Yonder whether you've worked on it this week or not, and you'll be entered!

This week's task:
Do as you please.

Easy week is a great opportunity to get ahead, or catch up, or do nothing at all!  How will you spend your week?

Thinking of how to quilt your Yonder?

It won’t be long before these quilt tops are done, and we will be thinking about how to quilt them.  I thought I would share some thoughts on quilting inspiration.

My experience with free motion quilting is very limited. It's not a talent of mine on a domestic machine. My quilts either get long arm service, or I free motion quilt a design on a long arm by using the rental service at Violet Quilts. Strangely, I'm happy with my FMQ work on a longarm, where I don't have the ability on my domestic. I find it so much easier to be successful quilting on the open space of a long arm frame.  Haven't tried it yet?  Maybe there's a local quilter that offers rental.  It's only a little cheaper than having it quilted, but I really enjoy the process and find it energizing to free motion quilt on a longarm.

I've added two files to the bonus files page.  There's a small Yonder block file for testing out a FMQ design, and a full scale Yonder block file to use for practicing FMQ full scale.  Practicing FMQ before you start can start to build muscle memory and get you into a groove before you start on the real quilt.

I'm dividing my go-to quilting favourites into 3 categories:

• Easy ideas for quilting on your domestic (designs I've felt confident doing on my machine, and I bet another beginner would too).
• Advanced free motion quilting on your domestic or a longarm.
• Longarm service pantographs or Edge to Edge (E2E) designs I love.

Easy ideas for quilting on your domestic machine:

The following are techniques I've felt confident doing on my home machine, and though they're basic, I'm really happy with how they turn out.  A walking foot can be very useful for these styles.

Straight lines, different distances apart:  Use your walking foot and guide bar.  You'll be sewing across bias, so starching your quilt top and spray baste while making your quilt sandwich will be your friends.  Since these lines are not all the same distance apart, it takes out the fussing of every line being just so.

Organic wavy lines:  Use your walking foot!  Consider the height from crest to valley, and how close you want lines to get to each other.  Pay attention that these wavy lines end parallel to where they began so that these lines don't start to tilt.

Advanced ways to quilt on your domestic or longarm:

These would be quilted out using any sort of free motion foot on your domestic machine or using a longarm. 

For the pattern's cover quilt I wanted a wood grain design, and after looking at the options, I wanted a greater variety in the design than the repeatable pattern of a pantograph was offering.  So I chose to rent time on Sheri's longarm and quilted it out myself.  I practiced on paper to get an idea of how I wanted it to look, then taped it up so could refer to it as I got started.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out, for my first time.

Wood Grain:  Some lines will get very close.  The few lines before or after a knot are very squished close together near the knot, so plan ahead where you would like to have a knot, and set it up a few lines before you get there.  The knot is an elongated swirl,  Some people like the knot to have pointy ends, and some like them soft and round.  
I put little "splinters" in my lines every once in awhile. I make some lines very close together, and some quite far apart, some are wiggly, but most are straight with a little wave.

Elongated Meander:  Although a basic stipple seems like it must be a very easy design to quilt out, it actually takes a lot of practice. I feel this is a good first step (I like the look better than stippling, so I may just stay here).  It looks like water to me!  I love quilting it out.  If you're using your domestic, consider pushing and pulling the quilt through to make the long lines, so you would be working from the side of the quilt if you want these lines to be horizontal when the quilt is upright.  If you are doing it on a longarm, let your body sway left to right as quilt it horizontally. The lines can be wavy.  Remember to add hooks and on their sides Cs, Ns, Es.  You can work your way from one side to the other side or pick up and end off on only one side of the quilt at times.

Rainbow Cluster:  Start out with a little arc, then echo with a few more arcs.  Avoid points if possible.  Think in advance where you would like to build your next rainbow, so you know where you're going next.  You can even start your next rainbow in the middle of an arc.  Ideally you'll have rainbows in every orientation so that the design doesn't have a right side up or right side down.

Longarm service pantographs or Edge to Edge (E2E) designs I'm loving:

I've already mentioned how I quilted Yonder #1 for the pattern cover.  #2 and #3 were dropped off for longarm service over a week ago so that I could have them quilted and show you pics during the QAL.  Here are the pantos I used, and a few others I'm crushing on.

Yonder #2

I've chosen this Baptist Fan for my Yonder in Garden Club.  I wanted something curvy since the block is linear.  I felt it would help to meld the soft florals in the fabric and the bold block.  I chose a pistachio thread colour.  The blue floral in the corner is the backing.

Yonder #3

For the Yonder in Mazy, I've chosen a Chicken Wire Edge to Edge, which isn't really a suggestion. I chose it because of the fabric I used. I first fell for Mazy's Garden because I grew up on a little farm, and the colours and artwork reminded me so much of squash blossoms, fresh tomatoes and string beans from the garden. We used Chicken wire to hold up our sweet peas and house the chickens, so to me, it was a perfect fit to the fabric, not necessarily the design of the pattern.

Here are some other pantos I think would be a great fit for Yonder:

This is Boardwalk.  I've used it on my Starstrung quilt and it gave the quilt an amazing texture, especially since I used Hobbs' new Tuscany Supreme Cotton - a double thick cotton batting.  I love how this panto gives texture without drawing attention to itself.  It really shows off a quilt well!

Fancy Schmancy.  Karlee Porter has some amazing retro-tile-inspired pantos.  This has been a favourite.

Here's a Woodgrain that was a contender for Yonder #1, in case you're hoping for woodgrain too!

Cheerio! By Natalia Bonner.  This is on my list to try out sometime.  It looks so good quilted out on other quilts, I bet it would look great on Yonder.

Discounted Quilting Services exclusive to our QAL:

Two amazing Longarm quilters are welcoming your quilts for longarm service, and offering special discounts to you.

Sheri of Violet Quilts is located in Fall River NS, and is my local longarmer.  She has quilted over half my quilts!

Dara Tomasson is in Nanaimo BC, and is well known for her custom longarm quilting.  She's my go-to for custom quilting.

Both quilters are offering 25% off of batting and 10% off of longarm quilting services on all Yonder quilts.  It would be a great idea to be in touch and book with them in advance if you're interested.

Here's what's coming up:
Also remember: Every post sharing your progress enters you for giveaways, even if you haven't fully completed the week's task.  The only exception is the final giveaway, which will be drawn from the finished quilt top/flimsy posts shared.  So there's still prizes to be won as long as you're sharing your progress.  To enter the final giveaway, completed quilt top/flimsy will need to be posted by June 9th.

WEEK 5, May 27th
Sew remaining blocks
Bassinet:   2
Throw:      6
Twin:        9
King:       12

WEEK 6, June 3rd
Layout and assemble quilt top.  Post your finished quilt top/flimsy by midnight June 9th to be entered in the final giveaway, announced on June 10th.

Yonder QAL WEEK 3, May 13th

Week 3!

We're sewing more blocks this week!

Congrats to Bonnie @bonniesews!  You've won the 6 month membership to Make Modern Magazine!  Send me an email with your preferred email address!

____

This week's giveaway is a $20 gift card to Stacked Fabrics, a favourite Canadian fabric shop with amazing curated bundles, and a stash-worthy selection of fabric!  Thanks Nikki!  I just jumped over to their website to get the link, and now I have something in my cart, how did that happen?! Stacked fabrics can also be found on Instagram, give them a follow!

To enter next week's giveaway, post your progress, no matter how great or small, and you'll be entered!

This week's task:
We are sewing more blocks... 

Bassinet:   1
Throw:      5
Twin:        8
King:       12

So by the end of the week our "intention" is to have a total of Bassinet: 2, Throw: 10, Twin: 16, King: 24 blocks sewn.  But remember, next week is Easy Week and there's no task assigned that week, so you can catch up! 

Also remember: Every post sharing your progress enters you for giveaways, even if you haven't fully completed the week's task.  The only exception is the final giveaway, which will be drawn from the finished quilt top/flimsy posts shared.  So there's still prizes to be won as long as you're sharing your progress.

I find with these blocks once I sit and sew, I get excited to see them come together, and I keep on having to suppress the inner voice that's chanting, "Just one more block!"  So needless to say, I'm ahead on my block sewing! 

If you're also a child of the 80's, perhaps you remember the Pringles slogan, "Once you pop, you can't stop!"  I remember feeling that way about Pringles, and I definitely feel that way about the Yonder block!

Next week I'll be sharing some ideas to consider for quilting your Yonder on a domestic machine, or some pantos that I love and think are a good fit if you're planning on having the quilt longarmed.

We have two amazing Longarm quilters that are welcoming your quilts for longarm service, and offering special discounts to you.

Sheri of Violet Quilts is located in Fall River NS, and is my local longarmer.  She has quilted over half my quilts!

Dara Tomasson is in Nanaimo BC, and is well known for her custom longarm quilting.  She's my go-to for custom quilting.

Both of these lovely quilters are offering 25% off of batting and 10% off of longarm quilting services on all Yonder quilts.  It would be a great idea to be in touch and book with them in advance if you're interested.

Here's what's coming up:
Next week we have Easy Week where you can catch-up, get-ahead, or take-it-easy.  There will be a prize every week, so share your progress every week!

WEEK 4, May 20th
Catch-up, get-ahead or take-it-easy week

WEEK 5, May 27th
Sew remaining blocks
Bassinet:   2
Throw:      6
Twin:        9
King:       12

WEEK 6, June 3rd
Layout and assemble quilt top.  Post your finished quilt top/flimsy by midnight June 9th to be entered in the final giveaway, announced on June 10th.

Yonder Quilt Along, WEEK 2, May 6th

Week 2!

We're taking our pretty piles of fabric and sewing blocks this week!

Congrats to Jessica @cuzchica!  You've won the Aurifil bundle of 3 threads of your choice plus a pattern from my shop!  Send me an email with your three thread preferences!

This week's giveaway is a 6 month membership to Make Modern Magazine!  I love Make Modern.  Imagine the creative inspiration that would come in issues with this epic magazine!

I was once a Covergirl on a Magazine!
It was actually Make Modern, and it was actually my Potter's Wheel quilt, but that's all beside the point.

An announcement:
We have two amazing Longarm quilters that are welcoming your quilts for longarm service, and offering special discounts to you.

Sheri of Violet Quilts is located in Fall River NS, and is my local longarmer.  She has quilted over half my quilts!

Dara Tomasson is in Nanaimo BC, and is well known for her custom longarm quilting.  She's my go-to for custom quilting.

Both of these lovely quilters are offering 25% off of batting and 10% off of longarm quilting services on all Yonder quilts.  It would be a great idea to be in touch and book with them in advance if you're interested!

This week's task:
This is the week we get to start sewing blocks.  Our goal is to sew a third of our blocks:

Bassinet:   1
Throw:      5
Twin:        8
King:       12

If you're not finished last week's goal, no probbie! I bet you could be all caught up in no time.  Week 1 is the only heavy work week, so you can adjust your goals for Week 2 by getting Week 1's work accomplished and letting some of this week's task overflow into next week..

I find the Yonder blocks such a satisfying block to sew, and since efficiency is my favourite thing, I've got a sewing-yonder-blocks method I'd like to share.

My tips for efficient sewing:
Please note: I am still following the instructions as they are in the pattern, so keep the pattern's instructions nearby as you sew your blocks. I'm showing how I sandwich the steps to do multiple steps in one bite. 
In sharing this I'd also like to say, if these methods aren't your style you do what works for you!  These methods work for me, and could be helpful for others, but you find a groove that's a good fit for you.

1.  Assembly line piecing / Chain piecing:  I love these methods so I don't have to trim threads while I'm assembling.  I zoom multiple pieces through the machine at one time, and I find it saves me time and effort.

2.  I start one block at a time, so I don't get parts of blocks mixed up.  As you'll see in the videos below, I assemble a block in 3 sittings at the machine.

Though I don't show it in the video, I often start piecing an additional block during the second or third video, (and these wouldn't get mixed up with the original block because they're in different stages of completion.)

3.  I'm not pinning (but you can).  If you follow pressing directions suggested in the pattern, all intersecting seams in the block will nest, so I nest the seams and hold the pieces together until they go under the presser foot.

4.  When assembling both types of "house units", I finger press seams so I can add additional pieces without having to get up and press the pieces open at my iron.

Video 1:

This first video shows how far I can take the blocks at one sitting at the machine.  I sew D to C3,  both types of "house units", and B pcs to A.

Then I take these to the iron, and trim the parts indicated in the pattern.

A note for trimming D,C3:  Since this is a bias seam, sometimes sewing these two pieces together will cinch the fabric a bit, and D will appear a little smaller than its cut measurements.  Once I've set the seam, and pressed, I give both ends of the seam a gentle tug, and this brings D to its full size again, and the D,C3 pc will now be ready to be trimmed.   

Here's what the block looks like before I head back to the machine.

Video 2:

Here, I'm sewing the parts of the block into three sections.

Then I take these to the iron, and trim the centre strip as indicated in the pattern.  Here's what the block looks like before I head back to the machine for the final go.

Video 3:

Now all that's left is to sew these three sections together.  I match seams (indicated in the pattern) as I go.

Then one last trip to the iron to set the seams and give the block its final press.  E has been left a little long up to this point in case it's needed to match up to D. Trim the outer edges of the block to 18 1/2".

Done!  These blocks come together so fast once you've made a couple. 

Here's what's coming up:
Next week were sewing another third of the blocks, then we have Easy Week where you can catch-up, get-ahead, or take-it-easy.  There will be a prize every week, so share your progress every week!

WEEK 3, May 13th
Sew a third of the blocks
Bassinet:   1
Throw:      5
Twin:        8
King:       12

WEEK 4, May 20th
Catch-up, get-ahead or take-it-easy week

WEEK 5, May 27th
Sew remaining blocks
Bassinet:   2
Throw:      6
Twin:        9
King:       12

WEEK 6, June 3rd
Layout and assemble quilt top.  Post by midnight June 9th to be entered in the final giveaway, announced on June 10th.

Shawl Quilt Along, WEEK 7, May 6th

Final week!

It's finish 'er up week.  We're so close to the finish!  We're starting to see the plaid as these parts come together!

Congrats to Anna from @joyfullychosen.  You've won the surprise bundle from Aurifil!  I'll need your mailing address to get this out to you!

Final giveaway is a bundle from Cotton and Steel's newest release, Neko and Tori!  I got to play with this line back in August, so it's a thrill to see it's arriving in stores.  I envisioned Neko and Tori in a few of my patterns, here's a peek at some of the projects I proposed.

New Spring in Throw

 Potter's Wheel in Twin

All my patterns will be on sale from the 8th to the 16th, use the code BIRTHDAYWEEK to get 20% your pattern order from our shop.  Caverly's birthday is on the 8th and mine is on the 15th, so we always like to celebrate what we call our Briar Hill Birthday Week.  :)

Here are some tips for the week:

As mentioned last week, the instructions for assembling this quilt up look more complicated than they really are...

Some people are drawn to written instructions, some just want to understand the concepts and take it from there, and some people are drawn to an image.  Quilt Assembly includes instructions for all these different learning styles, so go with the instructions that feel most comfortable for you.

Once you've got your entire quilt together, if you didn't stay stitch the edge pieces already it's a good idea to sew around the edge with 1/8 seam allowance. These edges will be tugged during the quilting process, so this is a good way to keep the seams from opening.

Have you got your backing?  I have a favourite method for pattern matching the print on a backing and it's explained in this blog post.

Sheri will be taking my quilt this week to be quilted.  I've chosen a medium blue thread to have it quilted in, and I'm still deciding between those two pantos I shared two weeks ago.  I guess it'll be a game time decision!

My Shawl's left corner is together, and my little guy and I are pretty happy about it!  He is on a twin bed, and so I've been making the quilt according to queen instructions, it will just be a little narrower.  Today is his birthday, and he's asked for a day off of school and Glow in the dark MiniGolf, so we're off to do that today!  Tomorrow my goal is to get the rest of the quilt top together!  Yay for finishing week!