BLOCK 3 OF FAT QUARTER SHOP SNAPSHOTS QUILT-ALONG

Fat Quarter Shop are hosting a year long Block of the Month (BOM) which was designed by the legendary Mother-Daughter duo Bonnie & Camille. The quilt is made up of 12 novelty blocks that capture and celebrate moments of happiness in our lives and is called “Snapshots”. Fat Quarter Shop are asking people to donate US$5 for each block that they download the pattern for with all money benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. (A fabulous cause!)

I was truly honoured when Fat Quarter Shop asked me to come on board as one of the bloggers for the Snapshots Quilt-along and share with you all my version of the quilt. Fat Quarter Shop allowed me to pick any bundled range and complimentary fabrics to complete the quilt and I jumped at the chance to go wandering their virtual aisles. You know that phrase “kid in a candy shop” well that doesn’t even come close to describing how it was.

I spent a good couple of hours browsing, making notes, clicking and comparing and trying to imagine just how I’d pull this quilt together and in the end I went to my happy place; Robert Kaufman Kona Solids. 

I’m truly having a love affair with solids at the moment. I just can’t get enough of them and I want to play with them all. I selected the Kona 2014 New Colours Fat Quarter Bundle which I felt gave me such a great range of colours to have fun with on this quilt. I’m using Kona White for the background of each block and that’s all you’re going to get from me at this point about how I’m pulling the quilt together. *evil laugh* I lie, I’m going to give you one more hint – I’m only using solids in the blocks; the background, frames, binding and backing will all be prints.

When I wrote about the Snapshots Quilt-along last month I shared that I was going to be making each block from my own stash and so I’d made the first block, “Let Them Eat Cake”, using fabrics from my stash. However, now that I’m going to be making one for Fat Quarter Shop I’m going to go back and remake that first block. Next month I’ll share with you my new version of the cake block. In the meantime let me share with you my version of the latest blocks.

Block 2 is called “Sew On & Sew On” and it’s a great patchwork (no paper piecing involved – there’s no paper piecing used in any of this quilt, which is great if you avoid it like the plague like I do!) version of a sewing machine.

Making this block was a lot of fun, I just struggled a little with not being able to fussy cut for the control panel like the pattern requested because I’d gone with solids. I did briefly contemplate hitting my stash up to supplement the solids with one of my favourite prints but in the end I decided to stay true to the vision (sob) and stick to all solids. I like to think that this sewing machine would compliment my Ikea Raskog Trolley. I chose the thread spool colour as a nod to my favourite aurifil colour to piece with; #2000.

I’m really happy with how this block came out. It’s probably a little punchier in the colour department than I would have gone with if I was sewing from my stash, but I’m really enjoying the constraint of having to sew from the Kona 2014 New Colours Fat Quarter Bundle.

Block 3 (which was released this month) is called “Put the Kettle On”.

This block really challenged me (embarrassingly to the point where I wrote to Fat Quarter Shop to ask if there was a misprint with a pattern measurement… there wasn’t I was just a dork!), but it’s probably now one of my favourite blocks I’ve made so far.

Here’s my tip for you:

The piecing for the connecting blocks of the handle to the pot require you to stitch the blocks together right sides together and then trim and press. If you’re like me and you have trouble reading a pattern diagram and you’re not 100% sure you’ve got those handle connectors where they need to be do not trim! Press them back, construct the rest of the block and then confirm that they will match where they need to. If they do, awesome, trim them and pressure properly before joining to the rest of the handle.

If they don’t, don’t worry it’s not as bad as if you’d trimmed. Just unpick and try rotating and sewing again. Confirm they match and then trim. If you don’t do this (which I didn’t) and you get it wrong (which I did) your connectors will be about half an inch off their mark. You’ll have to unpick, recut your fabrics, make the blocks again and do the match up all over again. (Hopefully you’ll omit the step of emailing Fat Quarter Shop to ask if the pattern is wrong, unlike me!)

So that’s where I’m at with my version of the Fat Quarter Shop Snapshots Quilt-Along. If you’d like to find out more about it (including how to donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital) or see some great video tutorials on how to make the blocks (something I’ll be watching from now on so I don’t repeat the handle incident!) then click here.

Don’t forget you can also check out the following amazingly talented quilters and see their versions of the Fat Quarter Shop Snapshots Quilt-Along:

Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms

Bonnie Olaveson of Cotton Way

Pat Sloan of The Voice of Quilting

Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet

Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life

Melissa Corry of Happy Quilting

Thelma Childers of Cupcakes N’ Daisies

Pam Viera-McGinnis of Pam Kitty Morning

Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs

Stephanie Kendron of The Modern Sewciety

Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt

Greg Jones of Grey Dogwood Studios

Jessie Fincham of Messy Jesse

Disclosure: The Fat Quarter Shop are sponsors of GnomeAngel.com. All opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced by the businesses involved. For further information about my disclosure policy please click here.