Let me tell you about the Piece and Quilt Sampler today. If you know me, you know I can’t resist a quilt along. I especially can’t resist the Fat Quarter Shop quilt alongs. And this one? It was an immediate yes from me. The Piece and Quilt Sampler is the cover quilt from the new Celebrate with Quilts book by Lissa Alexander and Susan Ache. Published by It’s Sew Emma (the publishing side of Fat Quarter Shop), this book is a fantastic resource for any quilt room.
When purchasing through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.
When purchasing through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.
Celebrate with Quilts Book
The Celebrate with Quilts is a brand new book by Lissa Alexander and Susan Ache. This book is more than just a typical quilt pattern book though. It does feature a ton of quilt patterns. Thirteen to be exact. But where it really shines is the 60 sampler quilt block patterns, each with instructions for 4 different block sizes.
Every block pattern has cutting instructions for 3 inch, 6 inch, 9 inch, and 12 inch finished quilt blocks. The assembly instructions for each block are so detailed in the way that makes It’s Sew Emma in a league of their own. I love a well written pattern, and I know if it’s done by It’s Sew Emma and Fat Quarter Shop, it’s going to be great.
Whether you are more visual with assembly pictures, or like to read step by step instructions, this book caters to both types of quilters. I tend to like just looking at the pictures to assemble blocks, but every quilter is different.
Piece and Quilt Sampler Quilt
When Fat Quarter Shop revealed the book on their live stream, they also shared that there would be a quilt along for the cover quilt. The Piece and Quilt Sampler combines 22 of the quilt block patterns in various sizes to make the stunning cover quilt for the book.
While there was a kit for the quilt along (sold out at this time), the authors of the book also compiled a starter kit with their favorite fabrics and prints to be used on the quilt along too.
Piece and Quilt Sampler – My Process
Since I have an ever expanding quilt fabric stash, I wanted to try to use something I already had. In my collection I found a new fat quarter bundle of Dwell fabric by Camille Roskelley. In addition to that, I also had several fat quarters and large scraps left over from another fat quarter bundle in the same prints that I used to make a wedding gift for some friends. Knowing that this quilt will work with a scrappy look, I thought this would be the perfect start for fabrics.
Next, I needed to color the quilt in advance. I’ve never colored a quilt by myself before, but I thought this one would be the perfect one to learn on.
I own the Electric Quilt 8 software, and it makes it so easy to draw each of the blocks and drop them into a worktable in the arrangement that matched the Piece and Quilt Sampler. Then I began the process of coloring the quilt blocks in with the fabric swatches from the Moda Fabrics website.
Knowing I had more of some fabrics than others, I went about dropping in different fabrics for each of the blocks. I came up with a layout that I was pretty happy with.
Piece and Quilt Sampler Quilt Along – Month 1
The first month of the quilt along features two different quilt blocks from the Celebrate with Quilts book. The Shoo Fly block will be made 12 times in the 3 inch size, and we need just 1 Dandy Star block in the 6 inch size.
Using my Electric Quilt layout as a guide, I made all of the blocks for the first month. The Shoo Fly blocks are just darling in the 3 inch size.
Celebrate with Quilts
I want to take the time again to say that the Celebrate with Quilts book is an invaluable resource to any quilter. The different sized quilt blocks makes it easy to use any block as a substitute in a pattern where you want to mix things up. The Piece and Quilt sampler is also the perfect pattern for a scrap busting quilt project. It makes great use of the low volumes in a collection that can be hard to use.
Related Post: Star Streams Scrap Quilt
Join me next month for more Piece and Quilt Sampler quilt blocks.
Happy Quilting!
