Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway and used the hashtag #gatewayqal2021 and congratulations to @cortniquilts who won a Ruby Star Society Rise charm pack and @lmpias who won a Windham Fabric fat quarter bundle of Aerial fabric! We’re happy for both of them!
We’ll be doing both FB Live and IG Live again Wednesday, so be sure to join us and bring your questions! We’ll be happy to answer anything you need clarification on. We want this to be fun for you while you’re creating your quilt.
Let’s get going with Week Three!
Week Three
The Sewing Continues!
Week Three is about catching up or continuing sewing your blocks. The goal is to have all the blocks sewn by February 1. That is when we’ll start arranging the blocks and sewing the top together. Of course it’s not a competition, so you can go at your own pace and get there when it happens for you.
Last week’s video has a lot of hints and tips about sewing the blocks. If you didn’t see it, you can watch it here. A few people had additional questions that we addressed in the FB Live and IG live sessions. You can find those in our feeds. Watch those to see if we answered your questions.
We’ll also do the live sessions again this week, so if you have additional questions or need further clarifications, be sure to tune in and ask so we can help you through it.
Next Week
Week Four is arranging and sewing the top together – arguably the most fun part of the process – at least it’s the showiest part!
Our QAL Progress
Jenifer’s Version: Sewing started out a little slower than I thought. Life has a way of getting in the way, but I did manage to get some blocks sewn.
Thursday I sent the puppy to daycare, turned off my phone, and put pedal to the metal! I got 60 of 80 blocks and a bunch of work on the bonus quilt done. So I feel like I am back on track.
In case you’re wondering, I am making my throw-size Gateway with Malibu by Heather Ross and Ruby + Bee Solids from Windham Fabrics.
Trisch’s Version: Unlike Jenifer, I knew I’d be off to a slow start. We took our daughter back to college on Saturday, so Sunday was my day to play catch up. I finished the first side of 80 blocks, I’m pretty happy with that. One thing that made it go a little faster: I took my stack of arches and right side backgrounds to the ironing board and pressed the midpoint of all of them – for me that’s a lot faster than finger-pressing. Then I just randomly paired them as I went avoiding a couple of things: same color, same print, two florals. I have 110 blocks cut. After I got through 80 of them, I paired up the rest just so I didn’t get stuck having to break my guidelines. Now I just have to decide if I’m sticking with 110 blocks, or adding another row or column.
How to Enter the Week Three Giveaway
For the Week Three giveaway, post a photo of your seam ripper along with what you’ve sewn so far – even if it’s just one block. Tell us if you’ve had to use your seam ripper during the QAL! No shame in that – we admit we have! Don’t forget to use the hashtag #Gatewayqal2021 so we can all see!
The drawing will be Wednesday, January 27. We’ll draw a random winner during the Instagram Live session at 7 p.m. central. Two lucky quilters will win fabric bundles. Winners will be notified by email or direct message.
BONUS DRAWING! For those of you who are further along than the rest of us (we know who you are!) post all your finished blocks in a stack or if you’ve pieced your top already show us that. Mention somewhere in the post about being a Gateway bonus entry so we can identify you easily. You over-achievers will be in an additional drawing for a free PDF version of one of our quilt patterns – your choice!
Weekly Live Q&A
Each week we host a live Q&A Session on both 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. 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 hope to see you then!