ELECTRIC QUILT-A-LONG – 38 x 52 inches
SFMQG ELECTRIC QAL 2023 April Month #2
Hello my musically inspired QALers! Hope everyone is recovered from the quilt show and ready to dive right into Month #2 of the Electric Quilt-A-Long.
Your first assignment was to make seven to eight wonky star blocks (if you’re following our tutorial – otherwise, let’s see what your inspiration has led you to. This month, it’s time to finish up your wonky stars and in addition, we are going to start exploring our “planetary” big block that will be the focus of our quilt.
***quick musical break *** I’m hoping our participants have had a little bit of time to listen to some music and explore how music (and poetry) can influence quiltmaking. For instance, if one listens to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “the ABC Song”, they have the same tune, but different words, thus inspiring one in two different directions graphically. Likewise, for those who remember the hymn “Amazing Grace” from church, it inspires a whole different set of emotions when set to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO2px91IheQ .
***back to our regularly scheduled monthly assignment***
This month, we are going to work on our planetary block. This is the large circular block located in the middle of the quilt. It will be made in several steps that will take two months.
First of all, you will be making the components of the star block BUT (and it’s a big BUT, and I cannot lie :D) you will not sew them all together. You will make four equal components because next month, we will be doing the circular portion.
I’m posting a picture of the layout for the patchwork blocks below. The squares should be 2.5 x 2.5 inches. The rectangles should be 2.5 x 4.5 inches. Cut your pieces as noted (with the neutrals in the middle) and lay them out. You will also need eight pieces of neutral for the “arms” of your star that are at least 2.5 inches wide.
When you start to sew them together, you will place neutral pieces on the long 2.5 x 4.5 inch pieces, sew and flip (like you did with all your wonky stars).
After you have all your “arms” for your 2.5 x 4.5 inch pieces sewn and flipped (and pressed), you will construct the center piece in QUARTERS only. Don’t sew the whole center together. There is a reason that will be explained next month.
Now you should have four quarter star pieces. Make sure to press and square them up as you go along, but DON’T SEW THE QUARTERS TOGETHER yet. That’s for another time. (please note; my example has a piece folded on the upper right side – please ignore – it’s supposed to look like the rest of the pieces).
That’s all for this month. Make sure to post your progress on our SFMQG Facebook Members Page and send to Charlotte for our meeting roundup. Also, if you have been inspired to use this Quilt-A-Long to develop your own Electric quilt, please share that information with our group. I have heard from a few members about their inspirations and I would love to hear more! You can email me at: patriciaauten@bellsouth.net or post on our SFMQG Facebook page (or message me there). Can’t wait to see our “electrifying” progress! Use hashtag #sfmqgqal2023
Patti