Row Along 2018: Row 4 Pinwheels

Row 4 is here and its a quickie! So that means it is a great time to get caught up if you need to and would like to. These simple pinwheels are extra fun because they are 3D! You will add these pinwheels to many quilts in the future. They are only a little more work than the classic, but add fun dimension to your project and are very unique.  Little one’s absolutely love them so they are especially fantastic in baby quilts.

Fabric:

For this row you will use your background fabric plus 8 fabrics of your choosing from your fats (or fat 1/8th’s).

Cutting:

Everything is cut the same size for this row,so its easy peasy.  But you are cutting a 5/8″ measurement which can be a little harder to see on your ruler, so just double check yourself that you are lined up correctly every time you cut.

Preparing the Pinwheel Units: 

Pressing:

The first video in the Facebook Group shows how to press your pinwheel fabrics.  Your folds will put you on the bias edge of the fabric, which is super stretchy, so make sure to press ( up and down motion) not iron (back and forth motion).  Ironing, rather than pressing will cause quilting fabrics (especially ones on bias) to stretch and distort out of shape, sometimes when pieces don’t line up and are not fitting together,this is the cause.

Another tip is to use a little glue stick in addition to pressing to hold your triangles in place , this is not necessary but helpful.

A glue stick and an awl are the most helpful tools for this row.

Stitching:

We have you stitch the pinwheel triangles closed, before they are stitched to the background, so that they do not open and give you any trouble in the next step. You can stitch them with your regular stitch length or even move to a larger basting size stitch. When stitching the triangles closed and a couple more times in this row you will use an 1/8″ seam. TIP: The inside edge of your 1/4″ presser foot is an 1/8″ and you can easily line fabrics up with it, as shown in the pic below.

You will again use a 1/8″ seam allowance to stitch the triangles to your backgrounds (with a regular or a basting stitch). Follow steps 3 &4 in the book exactly. Also it is very helpful to attach them into place with glue stick rather than pins. You will also find your awl very helpful when stitching from now on, you can use it to easily guide the triangle points under your presser foot. The #2 & #3 videos helps with these steps.

Stitching the Pinwheels:

When making your pinwheel block, there are 2 different configurations you can make, they each result in the pinwheel spinning at a different point or in a different direction. This was a small mistake we noticed in the book, our quilt shows the pinwheels in a different configuration than our how-to step shows. So here are both and you can choose which one you like best, the left or the right. Either works perfectly, they are just different, just make sure whichever configuration you choose, that all of your blocks are consistent. Our book quilt is made with the left picture configuration, and I decided to use the right for my quilt. Videos #4 – #7 offer additional help, pinning and stitching your pinwheel segments into blocks.

This pinwheel block will feel much more bulky than we are used to because of all of the extra layers so pay careful attention when pressing, press some seams open if you like and give each block a little extra press when you are finished. Video #8 helps with pressing the block.

Putting the row together: 

Layout all of your blocks in the order that you like the best, than take a photo or mark each ones place. Stitch them in pairs and so on until all 8 are together for your row.

This row was a breeze, don’t you think? Make sure to post your pics and use the hashtag #row4giveaway for a chance to win a Row Along prize!

Now everyone eat your Wheaties, next month are those darn birds! You’ll either love making them ,or be really excited to be finished, but I know you’ll adore them in the end.

I LOVE my quilt so far! I still need to add my red embroidery stitches to my Row #3, and stitch them together, but its a rainy day today so maybe I’ll get it done finally. We hope your loving your quilt too!!

Row Along 2018: Row 2 Ribbons

So, hopefully we all survived Row 1 and were ready to stitch forward. Row 2 is fun to make, but there are a few places that can give you some problems if they are done incorrectly. So we are going to guide you on your way and point out exactly what to do to get the best results.

Fabric:

This Row requires only 3 fabrics, your background and 2 other fabrics that can co-ordinate or have contrast, its totally up to you. We used a red print and red solid, but I have already seen other rows with more contrasting colors and they look great.

This is the first time you will cut into your background fabric for a row, please read the “Cutting Borders, Sashing, and long rows” (page 13) section before you cut into your off white. In that section we talk about making sure to cut the long pieces required for borders and sashing FIRST, before cutting for any of your rows. This will ensure you have enough length to cut these pieces in a continuous piece. If you purchased our kit , there is a piece that is 88″ and labeled for cutting borders & sashing ect. You will use the other piece to cut for rows wherever needed and also the extra on the 88″ piece only AFTER you cut for borders, and sashings.

For your red solid and red print fabrics, you will NOT use Fat Quarters, there is a specific yardage requirement for these fabrics on page 6.

Cutting:

Accuracy in cutting is KEY on this row, so “measure twice, cut once” and be extra careful. The first video for this row on our Row Along Facebook Group (make sure to click the link & join if you haven’t already) is on cutting the diamonds with your 45 degree angle, this can be a little tricky, especially if its your first time.

P.S. I noticed several people who stitched ahead commenting that these red print diamonds looked large and they thought they had done something wrong. They do appear a little larger than you think they should. As long as they are measuring the 3 3/8″ width, your good.

Stitching It All Together:

There are two main things to be careful of when stitching your off white triangles to your red square.

First, be careful to attach the triangles the correct direction, it is very simple to accidentally place them wrong way. See the pics below, the wrong direction pic is sewn on one side, because I was in a hurry and totally made that mistake!

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second, you need to make sure you line up and pin the triangle with its 90 degree angle matched up to the 90 degree angle corner of the red square. There are 2 quick videos in the FB group showing the pinning and stitching of the triangle.

See in the above pic, how both 90 degree corners on the triangle and square are matched perfectly and the pointy ends are sticking out about 1/4″. The little triangles sticking out are what we are calling “dog ears” and are very important to make this row work. Also from here on out, do not be skimpy with your pins, you want everything to stay perfectly in place as you stitch. Look at the picture in your book, where both off white triangles are sewn and you can see the dog ears sticking out on both sides, once you have pressed these finished units.

As you continue and attach the diamonds to these stitched units, again the “dog ears” will be the key to everything lining up to make a straight row.

See above, how the diamond is lined up with the pieced unit, right sides together, creating the “dog ear” on both sides. It should be sticking out 1/4″. See FB video for more help on lining up correctly.

Once your stitched and pressed, you will still see the “dog ear” on one side and everything should be lined up pretty perfectly. Eventually you can slice these all off, I like to wait and do it when my whole row is completed.

When you stitch all of the row te row together, again its the “dog ears’ that matter. They really are the key.

Hopefully these tips with the book instructions will help you to make this row correctly.

When your ready to trim your edges, make sure to trim them to match the width of your Row 1. If your lucky, it will turn out just perfect, like mine did. Yay! Happy Dance!

I hope you are still having fun! Make sure to post your pics in the FB group as well as instagram! I will be doing more giveaways later this month from your posts, and I will choose the winners from last month tomorrow and post.

Getting Ready to Row Along

Who is ready to row along with us starting next month!? I can’t wait, we are going to have so much fun.

I wanted to share with you some of the basics that you will need to be all set to start. If your an organized planner kind of person, you’ll want to start organizing some things now. Or if you are a down to the wire, last minute kind of gal, like me, grab it all the night before, either way here’s a list to help you quilt along

1. First of all, you need to know a few quilting basics, but you definitely do not need to be an expert! This will be beginner friendly , as long as you are excited to make the quilt and willing to learn, you can do it. Remember, you will have a whole month to complete each row and we will be here to answer questions and help you.

2. For the patterns you will need a copy of the Quilting Row by Row book.  You can purchase this as a paperback or an e-book, whatever you prefer, from many places online, from us or really the best place to get a copy is your favorite local quilt shop.                                    

3. You will need your trusty machine, and the basic tools such as thread, rotary cutter, a mat, ruler, pin, pincushion, iron ect ( and speaking of pincushions, if you love the one pictured in the book ,it will be a free pattern on our blog later this week). There is also a tool we use every day, one of our faves that we have noticed many quilters are not using. It is an awl. If you don’t already have one, we suggest getting it, we will show you its many, many uses once we get going (we promise, you will thank us later for this suggestion!). There is more info on tools in the book and as we get further along, we may suggest some specific tools and threads for certain rows.

4. So now lets get to the fun stuff, the fabrics!

You will need a white fabric for your background and sashing. We suggest purchasing this all at one time, to ensure you have the same fabric throughout. We used Riley Blake’s solid white, but any other solid that you love will be great. You need 4 yards, and that has a little extra built in for mistakes ( we all make those, right?).

Next, can you say Fat Quarters? Gather lots and lots of fat quarters, from your stash, from a shop, wherever ( I am willing to bet many of you already have exactly what you need, because if were being honest here, most of us have a little too much fabric on hand that we need to use up). One of the best parts of this quilt in my opinion is how scrappy it is. We mixed fabrics from many collections and different companies, and it looks great. You can also add some fat eighths to have even more variety, our kit is a mixture of Fat Quarters & Eighths. You will need a total of 36 Fats in an array of colors, with at least 6 of them in greens. There are a few rows, that require specific yardage that is a little more than a fat, these are listed in the book, but mostly its about the FATS! We used a variety of prints, really heavy on basics like dots and make sure you have a solid in practically every color you incorporate. If you want to splurge and make it really easy on yourself, we have a few kits left all hand picked by us to look just like our quilt.

So now we have what we need to get started. We are ready to, right?

One last suggestion, spend a little time and read through the Introduction and Getting Started chapters of the book. We think you will learn a few new things and it will give you a clear idea of all of the basics on the project ahead. We will be kicking off the first row the first Thursday in January.

P.S. Follow our blog or any of our social media so we can notify you when each months post is up.

P.P.S.  We have also created a Facebook Group, for everyone participating in the Row Along, click this link and press join and we will make sure you are added. This will be a great place for you to post questions, and share your pretty pics each month. Plus we will have a few special giveaways only for this group.

ROW ALONG with us in 2018!

Most of you already know we have a newly released book with C & T Publishing called Quilting Row by Row.  The book is inspired by a class we did a few years back, where we made the beautiful row quilt pictured above, one row a month. At first the quilt might look a little daunting , but if you tackle it a month at a time, a row at a time, it becomes much more do-able. You know the saying: How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time. Its just like that!

We will work one row at a time starting with the easiest and working our way up to the harder ones. You will learn a new fabulous quilting technique, that you will be pretty great at by the end of each row. And at the end of the year, you will have finished your own version of the beautiful quilt above. We know you want to make one! So make one with us! Come one come all, beginners and intermediates can quilt along.

So lets do it! Join our ONLINE ROW ALONG starting in January. We will be posting the row for you to work on, extra tips for each row, plus most months will have a bonus free pattern that you can make once you have mastered the technique for that month. And of course we will also have some GIVEAWAYS for those of you quilting along with us, because hey, we all love to win a quilty prize, right?

Who’s excited for 2018!?

Stay tuned for our Getting Started Post at the end of December and than the first Thursday of every month we will be posting that months Row. Make sure to get a copy of our book from us or at your LQS, its the main thing you will need and fabric of course. We have a few kits left, pick up fabric from your fave shop, or use up some of that stash.

Start a group and Row Along together, or get going on your own, either way it will be a blast!

We have a BOOK!

We are sooooo excited to announce our first ever BOOK is coming out! It is being published with C & T Publishing who did an absolutely amazing job partnering with us to create our vision perfectly. In “Quilting Row by Row” you can learn and perfect many quilting techniques one row at a time, while making the most beautiful quilt. The rows are made in order of difficulty, so that even beginners can make it and will finish up being an expert.

The book will start showing up in stores near you in October (please make sure to tell your favorite quilt shop about it). Copies are available from us directly now and have FREE SHIPPING, YAY!  We also have fantastic fabric packed QUILT KITS with all fabrics picked by us available.

Stay Tuned, we will be announcing a ROW ALONG soon, where you can sew along with us one row at a time with lots of additional tutorials, videos and some FUN surprises and prizes. We can’t wait!

Sneak Peek of The Piper’s Girls Row by Row

This is a Sneak Peek Introduction to our very first Piper’s Girls Row by Row quilt. We have been working on this quilt and all of it’s designs for a while so it is really exciting to finally share it with you. We designed this quilt to be a work in progress, hopefully you can keep up with us and make a row every month. At the end of the year you will have a stunning quilt that you will cherish forever and will be on another level of quilting expertise. Each row is designed to teach you a new quilting skill, so row by row you will become a better quilter. This quilt will be fit a Twin Size bed when completed.

So what do you think? Would you like to quilt along with us Row by Row?

We hope you will join along with us on this quilting adventure!