Adjourn QAL: Week 9

Hooray! We’ve made it to Week 9, the LAST week of the Quilt Along (unless, that is, you’re joining me for the bonus weeks)! We’re (finally) all finished with our blocks and this week we will be adding our sashing and assembling the full quilt top.

For those of you who are leaving us after this week, I want to thank you all for participating in this quilt along! And a huge thanks to all of our amazing sponsors for their fabulous prizes!

Once your quilt top is finished, don’t forget that Emily from Brown Eyed Quilter, Lilo from Trace Creek Quilting, and Rosie Girl Quilting will be offering 25% off longarm quilting on all Adjourn Quilts up to 2 months after the quilt along!

Adjourn Quilt Along Schedule:

• Week 1, February 13th: Cutting fabric, strip piecing, and layout
  Prize sponsor: Lamb and Loom Fabrics

• Week 2, February 20th: Blocks 1-2
  Prize sponsor: Great Heron Thread Co.

• Week 3, February 27th: Blocks 3-4
  Prize sponsor: Bookends Quilting

• Week 4, March 6th: Blocks 5-6
  Prize sponsor: Pasadena Quilt Studio

• Week 5, March 13th: Catch-up Week
  Prize sponsor: Zahm Co.

• Week 6, March 20th: Blocks 7-8
  Prize sponsor: Piece Fabric Co.

• Week 7, March 27th: Blocks 9-10
  Prize sponsor: Rosie Girl Quilting

• Week 8, April 3rd: Blocks 11-12
  Prize sponsor: Trace Creek Quilting

• Week 9, April 10th: Sashing and Assembly
  Grand Prize Sponsor: Brown Eyed Quilter & Tree House Quilting Co.

Quilt supplies needed this week:

Everything is still the same here! After all, we’re still just piecing, so let’s jump in!

Week 9 Goal: Sashing

First, we’re going to piece our sashing and assemble our block rows. When piecing the C3 sashing strips with your block units, I recommend folding the center background piece in half and creasing it. Line up that crease approximately with the middle of the center strip unit, then pin and sew as usual. I’ve included a video below to see how I pin these strips and blocks together.

Fold B5 in half by matching the seams.

Crease at the center.

Line up crease at center of B4.

Once everything in your rows is pieced, I recommend laying out a full block row, either on your design board, desk, or floor, and then laying out a sashing row to check that your sashing lines up (mostly) correctly. If your blocks all measured 15” square once pieced, you should be good here! If they ended up a little smaller because you used a slightly larger seam allowance, you might need to trim your sashing pieces slightly to make them fit better. If you need to trim, I recommend trimming from the longer Color C pieces rather than the smaller Color B pieces as the smaller pieces will be more noticeable if they are different sizes from the others.

Once your sashing looks good, we’ll start piecing those rows together!

Week 9 Goal: Quilt Top Assembly

To piece your sashing with your block rows, I recommend folding your B7 pieces (in the sashing row) in half to create a crease. Then line those creases up with the center of the C1 strips in your blocks. Make sure to line up the ends of the sashing strips so they’re flush with the edges of the block rows, just like when we were piecing our blocks. Then sew, sew, sew!

When lining up one completed block row with another, I recommend lining up the rows using the same method we did to line up the cross pieces in the blocks. Roughly line up two block rows and then fold up the bottom edge of the top half at each cross and align the two C1 sashing units. Roll the top half back down and pin it into place. (If you’re not sure what I mean by this, check out the video above for lining up 2 blocks. You’ll be doing the same thing with the rows, but you’ll just be repeating it for each block in the row.) Again, also make sure to align and pin the two ends and add pins in between before stitching together.

BORDER ASSEMBLY

Adding borders should be a cinch after getting all those sashing strips attached! The key here is to make sure your borders are cut accurately and pin, pin, pin! Just like when adding all those one inch strips to your quilt blocks, make sure to pin the ends of the borders so they’re flush with the edges of your quilt blocks, then add pins in between. Once your borders are added, congratulations! You’ve finished your quilt top!

*NOTE: There is an error in the pattern instructions for the borders. The written instructions are correct, you add the side borders first (B8) and then the top and bottom borders (B9), but the diagram shows the opposite. Click here to see the corrected diagram.

Finishing Your Quilt

If you want to send your Adjourn Quilt to be longarmed, there are three wonderful longarm quilters who are sponsoring this quilt along and are offering 25% off quilting through the end of May.

• Trace Creek Quilting

• Brown Eyed Quilter

• Rosie Girl Quilting

If you’re finishing your quilt yourself, stick around for the Adjourn QAL Bonus Weeks! I’ll be sharing tips on basting, machine quilting, hand quilting, labeling, and binding your quilt!

And last, but not least, there’s a bonus prize for everyone who finishes their QAL quilt! I’ll be sending out a set of my brand new stickers! It’s just a small thank you from me to you for participating in my very first quilt along. So after your quilt is bound, make sure to post a photo and tag me @juniperusthreadworks and I’ll reach out!

Thanks all and happy quilting!

QUESTIONS?

If you have comments or questions about anything QAL related, let me know in the blog comments below or check out the Adjourn QAL Facebook Group!

The answers to frequently asked questions will be posted each week, so please let me know if there’s anything you’d like clarity on or anything you need help to troubleshoot!

WEEK 9 SPONSORs & PRIZEs

Say hello to Emily from Brown Eyed Quilter! Emily quilted the cover version of the Adjourn Quilt and it was so great to work with her! Her quality is fantastic and her turnaround time is quick. Make sure to check her out if you’re considering getting your Adjourn Quilt longarmed! Plus, she writes patterns as well and they are fabulous!

Brown Eyed Quilter is sponsoring Week 9 and she is giving away free longarm quilting for one participant’s QAL quilt!

Say hello to Charla from Tree House Quilting Co.! I first met Charla when she tested my very first pattern, The Spectrum Quilt! Since then she’s opened up her own fabric shop and puts together some of the most beautiful bundles and quilt kits! Make sure to check out her shop and follow her on Instagram for shop updates since things are a bit different than usual as she’s expecting her first baby! (yay!!)

Tree House Quilting Co is sponsoring Week 9 and she is giving away a fabulous fat quarter bundle!

HOW TO WIN:

• Post a picture of your QAL progress to Instagram using the hashtag #AdjournQAL.
  You must have a public Instagram profile to participate.

• You do not need to be caught up to the current QAL week to enter, all progress is celebrated!

• Your photo must be posted before 12am on Monday, February 28th. The winner will be picked randomly from all qualifying posts and announced on the 28th. Good luck!

Here are my finished quilt tops from both of my colorways. I can’t wait to see yours!