My First Quilt-Along!

For those who read the My First Quilt blog post, you will know that I am not a quilter, but I am a fairly experienced sewist. While I can read a bag making pattern with ease, quilt patterns are still about 60% confusing to me after my first read through.

When I read about Northcott's With Glowing Hearts Quilt-Along with a pattern by Patti's Patchwork (of whom I have another pattern from that is on my list to sew) that would come along with tips and tricks, I knew that I needed to sew this project! 

Bonus points because I love the Oh Canada collection!

I don't do much halfway, so of course I was going to choose an intermediate level quilt pattern for my second quilt.. when I had no idea how to read a quilt pattern!  If you recall, my first quilt project was 100% winging it - which was OK because I learned so many other lessons on that one.

This project, while looking daunting, has been broken up into 10 segments, which makes it seem quite a bit more manageable!  After receiving the tips and tricks newsletter, I saw a link to a YouTube tutorial video from Patti hosted on Northcott Fabric's channel - this was just what I needed to give me the confidence to dive right in!

My goals for this project, aside from a really cool quilt, are fairly straightforward: 

• Finish the project pieces on the Quilt-Along timeline
• Learn how to read a quilt pattern
• Try different blocks
• Practice my scant 1/4" seam and improve consistency 
• Learn a little about applique

At the start of her video, Patti recommended cutting everything out for best use of the fabric which I found daunting, but I did it over a few days, leaving only the fabric for the longer pieces to cut for later.  Future me may not be terribly happy with that decision a few months from now, but we will have to deal with that then.. so much cutting!

I carefully highlighted each cut as I went and used little sticky labels to identify the different pieces for later with the patterns numbering system.  If you are purchasing the kit from us, each piece will come with a sticker on the selvedge with the SKU to match it up to the pattern.

After all of that cutting as well as some spring cleaning activities in the sewing room, it took me a while to come back to start the first block.  I settled in with my labeled pieces, my copy of the pattern, and Patti's tutorial on my screen - time to start sewing!

While I was super impressed with Patti's tutorial and way of making it seem easy, there was lots of pausing and furrowed brows as I progressed through block one.  I was comparing what was written in the pattern with the verbal explanations as I was working through my block to work on the goal of learning how to read a quilt pattern.

Now I knew from my first project that I still need to work on my scant 1/4" seam, so I figure my blocks aren't going to be super perfect, but I should be able to work with close enough for this one I hope!

I figure this block probably took me about 2 hours to complete just because I was taking the extra step of comparing the video to the written pattern, but I could have completed this block with the video alone - it was very thorough!!

I particularly liked the tip to not cut the thread for the final row and column construction and chain piece them together in the correct order.  It really make the final seams so easy!

Ta-Da!  Block 1 is finished!

I am hoping to start Block #2 much earlier in the month as the pieces are already cut!

Remember, if you are Quilting-Along, to tag your Instagram pictures with #WithGlowingHearts2022 for a chance to win prizes from Northcott and their event sponsors!  (Spack Craft Fabric is not associated with the contest in any way)