And we are at the end of our journey!
Good morning, everyone, ready for your big finish? I am giving you a lot today in the final clue, and am letting you proceed at your own pace to finish your top. Hope all are pleased with your quilt top.
Now that all your HSTs and 4-patches are done, you are ready to assemble 12 blocks that will measure at 12-1/2” square. I wanted to make sure that, at the end, I didn’t have 3 red HST and 5 blue 4-patch in that last block, so I went ahead and pulled 4 different HSTs and 4 different 4-patch, making 12 little piles. Laid them out in a box with slips of paper separating them, so I could work on a block, make some sash, repeat. (I’m easily bored!) I sewed one together to make sure it was sized right before making all 12 blocks. I laid out the 16 pieces in one of those little piles, and sewed as show in the first picture. Press. Check your seams, and adjust seam width and needle position if block does not measure 12.5” Watch your matching of seams. With the light and the dark, you want the seams to be as neat as possible. Sometimes a little tug is needed to get the seams to match. Press and make sure the block measures 12-1/2” square. Trim if needed. Make a trial block to make sure your blocks come out to 12-1/2” when pressed, and use slight scant seam if block if too small. Don’t worry about how the seams press, just try to press each block so it doesn’t have seams that don’t lay flat. With the sashing, you don’t have a worry about joining blocks.
Make your sash – or use yardage if you are using yardage or if don’t want a scrappy sash. I saw this sash used in a pattern a long time ago, and they had directions to cut strips at2” by 6-1/2” long and only used one strip to sash, but I used two pieces that were a bit narrower as you can see in the picture. I didn’t like the wider 2” piece. However, to me, it was easier and faster to take some larger scrap that varies from 4” to 8” wide – I didn’t like the static look of all the pieces cut at 6.5”. If you do it this way, sew along the long side, then slice into 1-1/2” wide strips. Take two 1-1/2” strips and sew right sides together. Press. Don’t worry about how the seams fall, they will all look great in the end. You will need about 500” of the 2-piece strips. I know that seems like a lot, but it really goes fast once you get started. If you aren’t going to do scrappy, you will need about ¾ of a yard, cut at 2-1/2” wide.
I usually do a picture of the total layout before sewing but seems as if I cannot locate that pix. Look carefully at the last picture, and you will see what I am describing next.
From the sashing, cut 8 pieces at 12-1/2” and make a row with 3 of the pieced blocks and 2 sashing pieces. Make 4 of these rows. Cut 3 pieces of sashing the width of the strips you just assembled. Sew together as seen in the final picture. Sew a sashing strip to each of the two long sides, and two to the short sides. Naturally, you will press seams as you go along.
I am sorry I don’t have a picture of the finished quilt. I added two more borders. Inner border was black cut at 2" wide cut at 2-1/2” in a solid to go next to the scrappy sashing and another in a print at 3-1/2” to go at the outside. I forgot to take a picture before turning it in to the charity I sew for.
So, we are at the end of another mystery. Hope everyone is pleased, and I look forward to your progress as you move through the completion steps.