This is an ongoing series documenting my first block of the month, the Les Amis block of the month quilt from Craftsy. Previous posts in this series: January, February, March and April.
Sashing Blocks
The only blocks left for the quilt are sashing blocks. This quilt uses an Irish chain to highlight the other blocks in the quilt. I’ve done Irish chains before, but they were much more simplistic. I really liked this twist and the use of the chain to highlight more complicated elements. I’ve already implemented this in the design of another quilt I’m working on.
This is also the first time during the construction of the quilt that I have finally felt in my element. The sashing blocks are put together using strip piecing techniques. I absolutely love strip piecing and use it in most of my quilts. After struggling with the previous blocks, it was so nice to do something in my comfort zone.
Putting Everything Together
With the sashing blocks done, the only thing left to do was put the top together. With the amount of points on the blocks, this took longer than I initially anticipated. The more I’ve worked on this quilt, the more I’ve started to care about getting things to line up properly. This resulted in a very close friendship with my seam ripper.
The videos proved useful in this aspect as well. While the pattern tells you to press the seams open, Shelley gives you two options (pressing open or to the side) and the pros and cons of both. She also give suggestions on the order in which to put the blocks together, which ended up being very useful since it is very easy to put these blocks together wrong if you aren’t paying attention.
Craftsy Support
In January’s post, I noted I didn’t have enough of one of the fabrics. Shortly after that Craftsy sent out modified cutting instructions, but it was too late for me. I wasn’t worried, I figured I could just buy some more if I ended up needing it. When I got to the sashing blocks, it became apparent I was not going to have enough fabric. Unfortunately, it was the one fabric I couldn’t find on the website.
Before I broke down into a full panic, I reached out to Craftsy’s support chat in case I was just looking in the wrong place. I was shocked at how amazing their support department is. In less than five minutes, they had a yard of the fabric ready to be sent to me at no charge! I was floored.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed the Les Amis block of the month and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The beginning of this year wrecked havoc on my life, and my quilting time has been dramatically reduced. Having a block to do every month kept me going without being overwhelmed. It has also pushed me to learn new techniques, and hopefully become a better quilter. Before this quilt, I wouldn’t have even considered doing some of these blocks, but now I feel more confident about blocks that aren’t simple squares and rectangles.
I would suggest this quilt to advance beginners and up. It might be somewhat daunting to an absolute beginner. I would also suggest it to anyone who is trying to break out of a rut, or has limited time to devote to a quilt.
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