Hello Everyday Quilters!
Welcome to Week 3 of the Wander Quilt Along! By now, you “should” have all your hexies cut and the selvage hexies ready. If you don’t, there’s no rush. You can finish in your own time, just keep posting on the hashtag with your progress even if it takes a while!
This week let’s get to the sewing! We know several of you have been waiting for this week!
Before We Start Cutting…
Congratulations to Sharon @sharontun all the way from Australia for winning the Week 2 drawing. Since she’s outside the US, she got a free pattern download from our catalog. And thank you to everyone who posted using the hashtag #wanderqal2021! It’s a great way to feel a part of the community of quilters who are making the Wander quilt together!
Weekly Live Q&A
Don’t forget to tune in Wednesdays for the live Q&A Sessions on Facebook (10 a.m. CST/15:00 UTC) and Instagram (7 p.m. CST/Midnight UTC). If you need just a little more help or clarification on anything at all – or maybe you just want to spend some time with like-minded quilters, this is the place! You can submit questions ahead of time here or post them during the live session.
It is important that you follow us on FB and/or IG to see these events. If you haven’t done so, here are the links:
Everyday Stitches Facebook
Everyday Stitches Instagram
We’ll see you Wednesday!
Let’s get started with Week 3!
Sewing the Top
This week it’s time to start sewing all the hexies to make the top.
Start by marking the 1/4″ seam allowance on all the corners of the backsides of the hexies. This is to help see where to start and stop stitching. You can do this pretty easily while watching TV – or you can mark as you go rather than doing them all at once. This may make sense to you because you don’t need every corner marked once you into the sewing.
After your corners are marked, then line two hexies up and stitch from corner to corner being sure to backstitch at the marks. You don’t want to sew off the edge like a regular seam. And be sure to backstitch. This will keep the seam secure when moving the hexies around to sew the next seam. There’s more in the pattern and on this week’s video about sewing.
It’s easiest to work in chunks of 3-5 and build your top from there.
Last, to press, wait until the top is finished. Since it’s all Y-seams you can press in a circle. They all seam to fall in place this way.
Can you believe next week is our last week already? Trisch will show you some tips for quilting your Wander quilt. We can’t wait to see how you finish yours!
Week 3 Video
For more on cutting, click here. We talk about marking the hexies, sewing and pressing. While you’re on YouTube watching, can you hit subscribe for us if you haven’t already? We only need ONE more subscriber until we can get a branded link to YouTube! Thanks!
Our QAL Progress
We are making the Wander quilt along with you! Each week we’ll chronicle our progress and tell you things we’ve learned along the way.
Jenifer’s Quilt
Sewing goes really fast after you get in the groove. I approached mine in chunks of 3 or 4 hexies, then sewed those together until I got 4 quadrants. Then I sewed the quarters together. That worked pretty well and I wasn’t overwhelmed with wrestling the top underneath the needle.
I don’t have all the quadrants together yet. That is a project for this week! You can see progress in the photo above.
For the most part, I followed Trisch’s instructions from the video. I don’t have a lot of experience with Y-seams and this method works better than others I have used.
I added in extra rows at the bottom to make mine bigger. It didn’t really add a lot more sewing time since there were only about 12 extra hexies and I’ll be happy with the larger size.
Trisch’s Quilt
I’m stitching my hexies together, it’s amazing how quickly it starts to come together once you get going. I’ve been busy with other things, so hopefully I’ll get it finished soon. In the meantime, I’ve been pondering what to do with the triangle scraps!
How to Enter The Week 3 Giveaway
This week we’re giving away another fabric bundle from Windham Fabrics. To enter the drawing, post a picture of you sewing your hexies! Use the hashtag #wanderqal2021 so we can all see your progress!
Remember, the bundles are for US residents. If you are outside the US, you’ll get a free pdf download from our pattern catalog.
The drawing will be Wednesday, April 21. We’ll draw a random winner during the Instagram Live session at 7 p.m. central. Winners will be notified by email or direct message.
Have a great week and we’ll see you on the hashtag!