Sunday, February 2, 2020

Are You Up for the Challenge of a Sew Along?

Good day! What are you working on in your sewing space these days? Do you have a special project underway? Are you working on something for the Guild "Let's Get Sewing Challenge" or maybe you are doing the sampler? Remember we have lots of great prizes for participants.. just sayin'.. wink

Don't forget our President's Challenge for Gateway to Adventure at Quilt Canada, using the Kona Jungle Green? (It's not too late to start, Andrea still has the jungle green Kona cotton in stock.) All the details can be found here. Remember the deadline is our March meeting.

Perhaps you are looking for a new project. There are a number of free Sew Alongs, BOM's, and BOW's underway (that's Block of the Month and Block of the Week programs.) Moda has started the third round of their popular Block Heads Sew Along with Block Heads 3. If you are not familiar with this BOW, you will find answers to some frequently asked questions here.  There will be 56 blocks in total throughout the year, and each will have directions for at least two sizes, 6" and 12", some will also have directions for 8" and 4" sizes. You can decide how many blocks and what size or sizes you wish to make- whether all blocks the same size or mix it up with different sizes. A number of possible layouts are given - lots of ideas and inspiration!! A block is "unveiled" online each Wednesday morning by that week's Moda designer; there have been three so far, so you're not too late to jump in and get caught up. The first three are (Week 1) Star Crossed by Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts,  (Week 2) Sunshine Star by Sherri McConnell of  A Quilting Life and (Week 3) Crown and Star by Betsy Chutchian of Betsy's Best...quilts and more. Because this is a free program offered by Moda, of course one of their objectives is to promote Moda fabrics, but you can use whatever fabrics and colours you wish. I plan to participate with some of the blocks... I know I won't do them all, but I do like all of the first three, so we'll see... Anyone care to join me?

If you are trying to use up some stash this year instead of buying more fabric, this challenge might interest you...  Amista Baker of Modern Design for Quilts and Bags is hosting a Stash Buster Challenge. Read all about it here. 

Another Stash Buster Challenge can be found here at  Border Creek Station. This block is very simple and can be set a number of ways- great for using up scraps, for a gift or charity quilt.

If you are interested in improving your skills, quilting sisters Kimie and Missy at On Williams Street are offering a free sampler quilt sew along. They are suggesting it as a group activity - a quilting bee! However there's no reason you couldn't just do it on your own too if you wish. You can read all about it here. 

How about a UFO challenge? If you don't know, in "quilter speak" UFO stands for UnFinished Object. In other words, projects that you started but never got around to finishing...  Do you have any of those languishing about? If so, this challenge might be for you!



AQS (American Quilters Society) is hosting a quilt a month quilt along. Directions are given each month for the fabric pull, unit construction, quilt assembly and quilting ideas for the month's block. You can check it out here.

If you love star blocks, have a look at this beauty... "Midnight Stargazer" is spectacular! LOTS of other freebies on the sidebar too at BOMquilts.com.....

Abyquilts has started a BOM quilt along called "Sisters." Each month directions are given for a 12" block (big sister) and the same block in 6" size (little sister.) The first two blocks are already shown, January's block is Dutchman's Puzzle and February's is Twin Star. You'll find all the info here.

Michael Miller Fabrics is running a monthly Quilt Along called Peek Into Batiks (Who can resist those beautiful batiks??) Click here for the first installment. 

If you'd like to try a Mystery Quilt Along, this one starts in May 2020.

Lastly, if you like "scrappy" this quilt-along  "scraps-along" may be for you. Each month Sherri of  A Quilting Life will show a Scrappy Challenge with two components -a scrap sewing challenge and a scrap organization challenge! Wow, what a great idea! Check it out here. 

So, if you've been bored, and looking for something new to work on... now you have lots of ideas!!