How to Quilt: quilt as you go project

(Yes, this is the original webpage that introduced the Quilt as You Go Videos created from the first webinar!)

Now You Can Travel
and Not Give Up Any Quilting Time

Give Me 60 Minutes
and I'll Show You How to
Finish a Quilt One Block at a Time

quilt as you go project

This simple Quilt as You Go Project has 4 blocks and is used to show you how this quilting technique is done.

Greetings Quilter -

Have you ever taken a long car trip, gone on a cruise, or had a bunch of appointments and wished that you had a portable quilting project?

When quilting daughter, Stephanie, and engineering son, Bubba, were small, every year we would jump in the car and drive.

One year we spent two weeks driving to Devils Lake, North Dakota and back. Another year, we toured Yosemite and the redwood forests of Northern California.

After packing as many toys and other primitive child-entertainment devices (this was before X-box and Wii), food for lunches in the park, and enough clothes to get us from one laundromat to the next, I was always able to find some space for a small quilting project.

One year it was hand piecing my broken star quilt. Another year I actually tried to quilt a quilt as we traveled.

It wasn't the stitching that was difficult. We always traveled during the day, so the light was good. There would always be a few hours when the kids were sleeping, making it quiet. And ex-husband, Bob, didn't talk much while driving, so there weren't many distractions there.

The limitation was the size of the project. The year I decided to hand piece my broken star quilt, I thought I was well-prepared. All of the pieces were cut, and organized - or so I thought. After about two days of driving, they were a jumbled mess, and it would have taken a convention center floor to get them straightened out. So much for making progress on that project.

The next year, I was going to outsmart myself. I took a quilt. And a hoop. And I was just going to hand quilt. How difficult could that be?

In the end, it was probably as difficult as hand piecing the broken star. It was summer and 90 degrees outside, the air conditioning in the car broke, the quilt was massive and hot on my lap, and it was nearly impossible to comfortable turn the hoop around to quilt easily.

That project got put away during the trip, too. And then there was nothing to do for much of the trip. Yes, the scenery was beautiful - when there was some. But, through the plains of South Dakota, once you've seen some of it, you've pretty much seen it all.

The trips were fine; we all survived those many days in the car; but my quilting projects didn't make much progress, and I finally learned to leave them at home.

If I had only know about - or thought about - doing a Quilt as You Go Project. Then I could have taken small blocks with me and finished one block at a time.

Quilt as you go projects are really fun and easy, and your design can be anything you want it to be.

And they are perfectly named. Because these are projects that you work on one block at a time. You piece the block (either by hand or machine) and then quilt it - one block at a time.

Many quilters machine piece their blocks and then hand quilt them. Equally successful quilt as you go projects can be machine pieced and machine quilted.

And then you have a stack of blocks that simply get attached to each other to make a larger quilt.

And your quilt can be any size, too. Quilt as you go projects can be as small as a little 4 block wall hanging, or they can be a king size quilt.

The questions come in as you put the blocks together.

As you might imagine, you have a block that is quilted almost to the edge of the block. Then you have batting and backing sticking out. Now what?

How do you trim the batting? What to do you with the backing? How to you sew the blocks into a row so you can attach another row to the top and bottom and have a quilt that is more than just one row wide?

It's like so many other things about quilting - it's easy when you have a few tips and have seen a few techniques to guide you along the way.

Ove the years, many quilters have asked questions about how to complete a quilt as you go project, and I have answered their questions individually.

During our survey last summer, hundreds of you said you wanted more information about the technique.

I was going to write some instructions and post them on the site. But each time I tried, the instructions ended up confusing me - let alone a quilter who has not used this technique before.

So, I decided to do a short video demonstrating the technique. In this video you see:

How to trim the batting and quilt top to attach one block to the next
How to line up the blocks to stitch them together
What to do with the batting between the blocks
How to measure the backing for the overlap
How to secure the backing
How to attach two rows together

Because there is so much interest in this topic, I decided that it would be a great topic for an Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation webinar.

What began as a simple demonstration of one way to complete a Quilt as You Go project turned into video demonstrations of two completely different methods, and then as quilters on the Eavesdrop call asked "what if" questions, a third video developed showing what two variations would look like.

The net result is that this is now a set of 3 videos showing how to make two variations of two completely different styles of Quilt as You Go projects.

In the first video, you will see how to sew blocks together side by side, and then trimming the batting and closing the backing of the quilt. This is a very simple method and doesn't use sashing.

In the second video, you will see a method that was brand new to me. In this method, you machine stitch the backing fabric together between the blocks, and then fold the seam allowances over on the front of the quilt for the finishing.

This method is a great choice if you want to do all of your stitching on the machine. It does have a completely different look, and it is a good idea to plan your backing fabric well, since it will show on the front of your quilt.

In the third video, you will see how to complete these projects when you vary your sashing options. In the first method, you see how to add sashing between the blocks. In the second method, you see how to delete the sashing on one of the blocks, so there is sashing on only one side.

Each has its own unique look, and which you choose will depend on your individual quilt, what you want it to look like - and maybe even how much fabric you have.

When this Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation webinar was conducted a couple of years ago, I had planned to take orders for this video set for one week.

I was blown away with the number of quilters who wanted this information, and finally gave up on having a deadline because the orders continued to pour in.

Eventually this product was expanded to include several other techniques - 9 Quilt as You Go techniques in all!

And it has remained one of our most popular quilting resources.

Because many quilters are asking for more information about the technique, but are not sure they want to know 9 different methods, I thought I'd bring back the original 3 techniques on a Limited Trial Basis!

That means you'll have the most popular and easy-to-do techniques to complete your Quilt as You Go project - both with sashing and without sashing. In all, you'll have 4 methods to choose from.

But, this is a really limited time, and I'm not sure I will ever offer this again, since the full Quilt as You Go DVD Mentor is extremely popular.

So, just until the end of January, you'll be able to reserve your copy of these videos.

In short, the deadline to get in on this extra special deal is midnight Hawaii Time, January 31. (We'll squeeze in a few extra hours past Pacific Time!)

Here is what some quilters who got this have to say:

"Hi, Penny
I just wanted to thank you for this quilt-as-you-go instruction. I am currently making my first quilt, and this is the method I'm using. Our teacher showed how to join the blocks in class, but it was so quick, I had already forgotten by the time I got home. Your video is so helpful, and has now given me the confidence I need to do it myself. Thank you so much,"

Cathy Lonnquist

Anyone who has purchased quilting DVDs can tell you that each of these videos should be going for no less than $19.95, which would make thevalue of the whole set $59.85. You save more than 53%. And that's if you could even find this fabulous information anywhere else - which is highly unlikely.

This Incredible Information Can be on Its Way to You
in Less Than Five Minutes

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