Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along, part 1

*** This giveaway is now closed***

Welcome to the Stop, Drop and Roll Quilt Along! I am hosting this for the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr group. Come and join us!

The first step for the quilt along is to gather your materials. To make a 42-inch square quilt, you will need:

for the block centers:
25 charm squares or 2/3 yards fabric cut into 25 charm squares (five-inch squares)

for the block borders:
75 charm squares or ten ¼ yard cuts cut into 75 charm squares (five-inch squares)

for the backing:
2 2/3 yards

for the batting:
throw sized batting

for the binding:
½ yard

The block finishes at 8 ½ inches. If you would like to make your quilt larger or smaller, note that each block requires one center charm square and three border charm squares (or six half charm squares).

Before I show photos, I need to mention that like a great deal of the United States, New York is, has been, and will apparently continue to be cloudy and rainy. My photos are quite dark and dreary. Sorry! We are under a flood watch, but nothing like the devastation in other parts of this country. I will take new photos should the sun ever decide to grace us with its presence again.

I gathered a few charm squares into groups:



Instructions:

Keep each center charm square whole, but cut each border charm square into two pieces, 2 ½” x 5”.



Select a center square and six rectangles for each block.



Once you have arranged your block, you are ready to sew.

I recently (last week) discovered my new favorite piecing thread:



It is DecoBob. by WonderFil. I have used this thread for quilting before, but the man from WonderFil told me to use it for piecing. Well, I came straight home and did just that! It is a beautiful 80-weight polyester thread that is thin and strong. I pieced for several hours with it and am absolutely tickled!

I think you will be tickled with this thread, too, and that is why I am giving away those two spools of thread to one lucky commenter. Leave a comment below between now and Sunday and I will pick a name on Monday morning.

Once you have picked your sewing thread, sew a rectangle to the left and right side of the center square. Press seams toward the rectangles. Sew two rectangles together (2 ½” x 9 ½”) for the top and bottom borders. Press seam to one side.

Center that seam over the center of the middle square. There will be approximately ¼ inch of extra fabric on each side. Stitch top and bottom border to the block. Press seams toward the borders. Trim the block to 9 inches square.

I think this is a simple little block that will work great with those charm squares you have been collecting.

Next week I will post instructions for joining the blocks into the rows and joining the rows to make the quilt top. After that, we will dig into the free-motion quilting!

For a sneak peek, I made this quilt top from a variety of bright charm squares that I had on hand:

Is this darling? When you are choosing your fabrics, try to make blocks of different colors or different color values so they stand out when placed next to each other. I know that you will blow me away with your creativity. I cannot wait to see your photos!

Come on over to the Old Red Barn Co. Flickr page and post photos of your fabrics.

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win two spools of DecoBob thread.

*** This giveaway is now closed***