I’m making a Quilt As You Go 48″ square quilt. I’ve designed it and I’ve started the first section. If you want to join me, I’d be delighted. Please be aware this is a totally amateur project so don’t commit your most favourite fabrics to it. {All care no responsibility :)} I’m calling it the Emperor’s Jewels. I’m using saturated reds from purple to pink, through reds to orangey browns and blacks. It’ll be scrappy. I’ll give you the fabric requirements for each block as we go.

Hand or machine – your choice

I’m choosing to hand-piece, hand-applique and hand-quilt this quilt but feel free to do any or all of it by machine.

Here’s block 1

You’ll need five 4.5″ pieces of fabric for backgrounds and five 4″ pieces to make the circles.

I used a 3.25″ diameter Perfect Circle using the starch and foil method here to make my circle. However I left the plastic in and stuck it to the centre of the fabric square using Elmer’s Schoolhouse Glue, setting it with an iron from the back.

Then I appliquéd the circle to the centre of the block. Then I flipped it over and cut a small hole in the back and  cut around .25″ from the stitching, pulled out the circle of background fabric and the plastic and pressed it.

Then I stitched the five blocks together.

To make the quilt sandwich you’ll need a piece of backing fabric and a piece of batting 21.25″ x 5.5″. I used spray baste to baste the sandwich but you can use pins if you prefer. Then I drew a couple of concentric circles around the medallions with a pencil. I also drew in the 1/4″ seam allowance. Then I used 12wt thread to quilt the circles.

Don’t cut any of the excess backing and batting yet just leave it as is and I’ll see you at the next block.

Show me your blocks

I though what I’d do is post a picture of my completed block in a post titled with the block number on the Sewjournal FaceBook page. Then you can just upload your block photos in the comments section underneath and we can see them all in one place. What do you think? Are you in?