Piece & Quilt Sampler blocks – October

It’s time to share my Piece & Quilt Sampler blocks for October. If you’ve been keeping up with this quilt along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop, you might feel like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I sure do!

All of the information for the quilt along can be found at Fat Quarter Shop’s blog. It wraps up in February, so we’re over half way there. If you like sampler quilts, this is a great project to indulge in.

A few tips for this month

As you know, I like to add a few piecing tips for those who are sewing along with us. Always start by pressing and starching your fabrics. This makes the entire piecing process easier and more accurate.

NOTE: I won’t be giving specific measurements or cutting instructions. You need to purchase the book, Celebrate With Quilts, to get the full instructions if you want to follow along.

Tulip Lady Finger blocks

There are four Tulip Lady Finger blocks to make for October. The piecing is really straight forward; just squares and half-square triangles. There is a lot you can do with color placement for these blocks, though. I kept it simple with the same background color and black accent fabric for all four blocks. The sample in the book shows two blocks in opposite corners with a different color for the plain squares. That definitely adds some contrast to each block and results in a cute little 4-patch in the center.

For each block, I made eight HST’s from the same fabric, so I made those with the 8-at-a-time method. Another tip is to trim (if needed) each sub-unit before sewing the units together. This helps to keep the final block square and accurate.

Arizona block

The Arizona block also has many HST units plus four flying geese units. I made the HST’s 8-at-a-time and the flying geese 4-at-a-time. Fast and efficient is the way to go!

Before sewing all the units together, I played with the arrangement. By rotating the HST’s and flying geese, you can get a completely different looking block. The image below shows the different rotation of the units I tried. I ended up liking the pattern version best (upper left).

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I hope those tips were helpful. Remember to post a photo of your blocks on Instagram and use the hashtag  #piecequiltsamplerqal so we can all see. Plus, this will enter you in the giveaway each month!

• Tips for the September blocks can be found here.
• Tips for the August blocks can be found here.
• (I didn’t post anything for July).
• Tips for the June blocks can be found here.
• Tips for the May blocks can be found here.
• Tips for the April blocks can be found here.