Independence Quilt Along: Week 8- Assemble the blocks

August 23, 2019

Independence Quilt Along: Week 8- Assemble the blocks

Hi, Quilty Friends! We've made it to Week 8 of the quilt along and we are ready to start block assembly!! I've been waiting for this for weeks and I'm so excited!

Before we get started today, here are some basics,

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Here is the General Schedule we will be following--

Introduction Post
Week 1 July 5- Choose Fabric
Week 2 July 12- Cut Fabric
Week 3 July 19- Make Blocks
Week 4 July 26- Make Blocks
Week 5 August 2- Make Blocks
Week 6 August 9- Make Blocks
Week 7 August 16- Make Blocks
Week 8 August 23- Assemble the blocks

Week 9 August 30- Add Borders

Here is the DETAILED SCHEDULE based on the specific size quilts that we will be following for the Independence Quilt Along:

This week, for Week 8, we are working on block assembly!

I am going to show you the photo tutorial for the size quilt that I'm making and then I will show a digital image of block arrangement for each of the sizes. I am making the Queen size.

When a quilt is set on point, as this quilt is, it means the blocks are tipped on their points to look like diamonds instead of sitting flat on their sides like squares. There are a few ways to look at it when setting them out but I am going to go through how I do it (feel free to do it your own way also)...

Since an on point quilt has the blocks tipped on their points, you need to use triangles to keep the blocks set that way. There are two kinds of triangles used in an on point quilt- setting triangles and corner triangles. Setting triangles are at the beginning and end of each row (except for the middle row) and corner triangles are put on all the corners to make the quilt square.

On our quilt here, the setting triangles are cut from the 12 1/2" squares of background and the corner triangles are cut from the 6 1/2" squares of background.

I assembled this quilt completely random. I did not plan where each block went. Because I made the largest size and there were quite a few blocks, I knew that I'd be happy with a random layout. However, you can lay your blocks out and then switch them around with each other until you are happy with the arrangement if you'd like.

When I start laying out an on point quilt, I start with the block in the upper left corner. The upper left row will have one block and 2 setting triangles (not show here, I fill those in at the end). In these pictures, I have laid out all of the pieced blocks and will go back and fill in the solid background squares afterward.

This is the first two rows-

You'll continue on laying out each row, adding one more blocks as your rows increase in size. You will continue increasing until you make your middle row. This "middle" row will contain the number of blocks that appears to be in your horizontal row when you look at the quilt full on.

For the Throw Size, the middle row will have 4 blocks. For the Large Throw/Twin Size, the middle row will have 5 blocks. For the Full Size, the middle row will have 6 blocks. For the Queen Size, the middle row will have 7 blocks.

After the middle row, you will begin decreasing. The blocks will match up with the open spaces (which are the solid background filler blocks or the setting triangles).

Then I go back and fill in the the background squares and setting triangles.

Start at the top left again. The first row will have 2 setting triangles and no background squares. (They are hard to see in the picture below because the background is the same color as my carpet but this is the only space I have that's big enough to lay out a quilt). Each row will begin and end with a setting triangle, except the middle row which gets no setting triangles. And, all of the open middle spaces will be filled in with solid squares.

Then you can start to sew your rows together. When I do this, I sew all the rows together as they are laid out. You will need to trim the dog ears on each of the setting triangles before you sew the rows together.

Then, when I start sewing the rows together, I sew all the rows on the left of the middle together and all of the rows on the right of the middle together. Then I sew each of those to the middle, one at a time. I find what when you are making a large quilt that is set on point, this is the easiest way to do it.

After you sew the rows together, you have a quilt that is almost square. To make it square, you just need tossed on the corner triangles.

Take one of the corner, trim off the dog ears.