Originally Posted by blahel
beautiful quilt steve...i have been thinking about doing this for my son in black and white so on a scale of difficulty of 1 - 5 (5 being the hardest) where would you rate it for a beginner? Everyone is right your quilt is awesome so learn to accept compliments for your work as you will get lots more going by your quilting efforts so far! :thumbup:
I'd say just a ‘2’ if you've sewn before. I'm just learning to sew, as well as quilt, so there was a bit of wrestling going on due to the physical size of the block itself. It's simple strip piecing though, so you should have no problem.
I cut all the fabric up front, and one thing I would do differently is that I did one block initially to get my bearings and chain pieced the rest. That was a mistake; I think that if you do them all at once they will be more uniform. Also I'd suggest squaring each block, setting seams and pressing each step of the way. The hardest part was getting all four sewn together, since my first block was about a 1/16th inch larger. Another thing is that if you match them horizontally according to size it should fit together well in the center. Just measure first and match them.
You might double-check this against the Quilter’s cache first, but I think that this is correct and what I used with the two colors to get the four blocks:
Color 1 needs: Twenty-four 2 ½ " squares, four strips each 2-1/2" x 7”, 9”, 11", 17", 19", 23",
and eight each 2 ½ x 13", 22”
Color 2 needs: twenty 2 ½ " squares, 4 strips each 2-1/2" x 5", 9",
and eight each 2 ½ x 7", 11", 17”
If you get two yards of each you should have more than enough ‘if’ you cut carefully (cut larger pieces first!). You’ll need border material as well.