Quilt As You Go Progress: Meadow Mystery

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

After a rainy weekend, the sun has finally broken through the clouds today to reveal a beautiful Spring morning!

Meara and I have been doing our best to enjoy the warmer weather, even when it is a little wet, by spending time outside walking, birdwatching, and playing frisbee. And in the midst of all those activities, I still like to find some time to work on my quilting projects!

Since finishing my Aster blocks, I've mostly been working on quilting and assembling my Meadow Mystery quilt, so I wanted to share an update on how that process is coming along!

Quilt As You Go

As shared in an earlier post, I chose to assemble Meadow Mystery using the quilt as you go method. Quilt as you go simply refers to quilting blocks individually rather than as a finished quilt top, and the technique contains many different methods of assembling those quilted blocks.

The method I chose to try is one that uses quite a bit of hand sewing, so it may not be the fastest method, but it certainly sounds interesting!

Here's a more detailed look at that process!

Folded Edge Quilt As You Go Assembly

Beginning with a set of pieced blocks, fold the seam allowance to the back side of the block and baste in place.

I've used thread basting for my blocks, but I expect glue basting would work just as well. I wouldn't recommend pin basting though, as the pins will get in the way while quilting.

Once basted, cut a square of batting just slightly larger than the finished block and a square of backing fabric slightly larger than the batting. My finished blocks are roughly 12" square, so I cut batting around 13" and backing at 14". I probably didn't need to cut that much bigger, but it's my first attempt at quilt as you go, so I wanted a little room for error.

Layer the backing, batting, and quilt block together into a quilt sandwich. These layers can be basted to keep them in place, but I find that, at this small size, the cotton fabric is quite willing to stick to the batting and stay in place on its own.

With the sandwich prepared, it's time to start quilting!

For my blocks, I've used a machine quilted grid motif to fill the background and hand quilting to accent the piecing. Any quilting motif and method can be used, but be sure to quilt only up to the edge of the block, not past it.

Tie off any thread ends around the edges of the block and bury any threads ending in the middle, then trim away the excess batting.

Now we can finally start sewing the blocks together!

Place blocks pieced sides together and fold the excess backing fabric out of the way to expose the folded edge of the pieced block. Sew blocks together using a whip stitch, ladder stitch, or any other EPP stitch. I have personally chosen to use the feather stitch.

Once that seam is complete, we will sew the backing fabric to cover it.

Trim away all excess backing fabric on one side of the seam, on the other side, trim backing to ½".

Unfold the blocks so they lay flat with the seam running up the middle and the backing fabric facing up. Fold the ½" of excess backing fabric in half so it has a finished edge. Flatten this over the seam allowance to hide all raw edges and stitching, then secure in place with a slip stitch.

As an optional step, add more quilting over the seam where the blocks are joined. This will add a little extra stability to the quilt, but is not required.

Repeat this process until the quilt is fully assembled then bind as desired.

Thoughts on the Process

At this time, I only have a few blocks sewn together, so I can't give my final thoughts on the method just yet, but so far, I've been quite enjoying it!

Quilting the blocks individually is much faster and easier than attempting to quilt a full sized quilt. I find myself much more motivated to actually quilt this project!

As for assembly, hand sewing gives me a lot of control over seam matching but at the expense of speed.

I already knew this going into the project, so I had no idea of how long this might take, but it hasn't been exhaustively slow. But I am currently just beginning to put my blocks together, so I haven't encountered any particularly long seams just yet.

Later in the process, I may get to a point where I find the slow pace somewhat frustrating, so I'll need to reevaluate my thoughts then.

For now Friends, I hope you've enjoyed a look at my quilt as you go process!

If you have any tips or stories that might help me, I would love for you to share those in the comments below!

To keep up with my progress on the Meadow Mystery quilt, come visit me on Instagram @v.a.fibre.arts!

One final note, I'm currently in the midst of a visit with my Grandma, not related to Generations, she just needed some assistance following a knee injury, so the blog will be taking a break next week. But I'll be back again on 09 May to share the final instalment of the Summer Garden pattern!

Until Next Time Friends, Happy Quilting!

~VA