"Let's Do a Sew-A-Long!" [HST Sew-A-Long 2018 1/18]

-

Let's Do a Sew-A-Long

I am so lucky to be surrounded by many enthusiastic makers, both online and local to me.  We have daily cheeky chats and sometimes we talk about sewing (or stash collecting haha). This community has made this whole process so enjoyable for me. 

A couple of weeks ago, I received a little message from my friend, Colleen Fifield of Sewing for Sawyer, asking my opinion on starting up a little online, local, general, sewing group. This has been something I had been hoping for, so of course I was all for it. "Sew Ottawa!" was created. 


The group has been an incredibly positive space, full of creativity and enthusiasm. Many members have had an interest in quilting. A few days after the launch of our group, Colleen reached out suggesting we do a Sew-A-Long on the basics of the Half Square Triangle Quilt. 

So here we go folks! We've put together a sew-a-long tutorial that will give you enough blocks to make a lap-sized quilt. We have selected an assortment of 16 half square triangle (HST) quilt blocks, that when assembled, will give you a lap-sized quilt top. You may choose to do less blocks for a baby quilt, or more blocks for a larger sized quilt but the principles will remain the same. The inspiration for our design (to be released next week), is based on Larissa Coleman's tutorial.


How Does it Work?

There are 16 blocks to complete and two collaborating bloggers. Colleen of Sewing for Sawyer and myself will alternate each week with a new demo for 16 weeks until all blocks are covered. Beginning January 11th, we will post a HST tutorial on our blogs, alternating between Sewing for Sawyer and Poppy Monroe. You can subscribe to our blogs on the left hand side to get an e-mail notification to follow along easily.

BONUS: We are working on weekly giveaways for everyone who completes their block before the following blog post is released! "Photos or it didn't happen" rules apply!

Preparing for your HST Quilt Sew-A-Long

You will need:

- 8 Fat Quarters, or 2 yards of light coloured fabric
- 8 Fat Quarters, or 2 yards of dark coloured fabric
- Corresponding thread
- Appropriate piecing needles
- Pins
- A seam ripper (if you don't have one ready, Murphy's Law suggests you will end up needing to use one)
- A yummy snack
- A camera to post your progress, genius ideas and finished blocks

You may choose to connect with a buddy to make sister quilts. For example, Colleen will make 2 blocks for each week she completes a tutorial. I will make 2 blocks for each week I complete a tutorial and then we will share the blocks so that half of the blocks in each quilt are made by each of us. 

Curious how those little triangles are made? 

Check out Colleen's first blog post here for a quick demo. Next week we will start our first block!!

Meet back at Sew Ottawa! if you have any questions or need some suggestions on where to get fabric.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sewing My Way through Christmas!

-
Image
We celebrate Christmas and gift giving is a part of it in our home. A selling factor to upgrading my sewing machine was the possibility of giving hand-made gifts over the holidays. "It will pay for itself" was the discussion as we had 7 quilts lined up for a Long Arm service.  So I have here, a reflection of some of this year's projects (aka the ones I photographed). I was lucky enough to scoop up this year's Christmas Vintage custom french terry from Blended Thread Fabrics  for the children's jammy-jams. If you haven't experienced Hollie's custom fabric bases, you absolutely should join her Facebook group here for details on upcoming rounds. Both the Cotton Lycra and French terry are incredibly stretchy with beautiful recovery.  I completed a couple of quilting projects for the family, and managed to snap a photo of a couple of them. In the summer, I came across a yard sale, hosted by a "retired" quilter. She had many beautiful bati...
Read more

Sew Ottawa! HST Week 10 [HST Sew-a-long 2018 11/18]

-
Image
Let's Get Sashy! It was March Break for many of us this week and I know it was hard to get to the sewing machine. Many of us were travelling, or were quarantined with the great flu of 2018. Kudos to everyone who completed blocks or chimed in to encourage each other. We made it through. You should now have 13 blocks in your Work-In-Progress (WIP) bin. If you're just joining us, you have 13 templates for block options. We set out to complete 16 different blocks. Today we will go through the last 3 blocks of the Sew-A-Long. We will also talk about optional sashing. I know, I know... this is a lot to discuss. Continue along at your own pace. There is lots to discuss coming up and so you will have time to catch up later if you complete less this week. Week 10 Giveaway! Colleen kindly crafted this adorable teacup pincushion for this week's giveaway. I love it so much! the Dresden plate on the top reminds me of the sweetest little flower. I can use any reminder of Spring th...
Read more

Sew Ottawa! HST Week 5 [HST Sew-a-long 2018 6/18]

-
Image
Hi all! Colleen has an awesome week 5 prepared for you all.  From Colleen at Sewing for Sawyer .  Welcome to week 5! You guys are doing so amazing and your quilts are coming together nicely! At this point we should have all have 5 blocks and we will be adding 2 more this week – almost halfway there if you aren’t quite caught up yet that’s ok, we will have some time at the end to get caught up. Last week we had a wonderful prize donated from Jenna-Rae at  Fabric Crush . Thank you Jenna-Rae! The winner was Christa Fine with her beautiful Purple blocks! This week our prize is a box of  Shout Colour Catchers  and two  FriXion  pens – perfect for all the HSTs we are doing!! This week we are going to talk about lining up points and keeping seams lined up. It has been brought up a lot on the weekly threads so I thought we could go over a few tips. Cutting and Sewing. Make sure you are starting with your 3.5″ blocks and they are not misshaped or t...
Read more