could you spare a square?

The past few weeks I've been preparing for the Summer Work Party for Margaret's Hope Chest. Today I'm working on quilting this "guy" quilt, which will be one of my samples for the work party. It's definitely out of my normal range as far as color schemes go, but it's really fun to branch out. I love the simple pattern! More on that later.

The problem with quilting, though, is that it gives me waaaaaaaaaaaay too much time to think. I usually dream up at least 2-5 new quilts while I'm trying to finish up the one I'm quilting. What a vicious cycle. No wonder I'm never caught up!

My main thought today was, I'd like to do another quilt in this pattern, but using khaki colored sashing (already have it!) and plaids or stripes for the squares....so kind of a mimic of a guy's wardrobe. Wouldn't that be fun? I don't have a ton of plaids hanging around my craft room and the last time I hit a garage sale and bought plaid shirts for quilting, both shirts ended up fitting my husband perfectly, so he got them. It was a happy accident!

So, I thought I'd ask you...do you have any guy shirt fabric (or guy looking plaid or striped fabric) hanging around? Could you spare a square?

These are all from shirts that my boys or husband wore. The one on the bottom right was actually the victim of an unfortunate mustard incident after church one Sunday. I salvaged what I could. :)

If you would like to help, please read and follow the specifics carefully:

Each square should be cut 6.5".

Only one per person, please.

100% cotton fabric only.

Either washed or pre-washed is fine.

Please mail in one week or less. If you can't work on the deadline, please let someone else help. The nice thing is that the square should be easily mailed in a regular envelope, so no special trip to the post office should be needed. If you are anything like me, you would count that as a bonus.

I'll assemble the squares into a quilt top and the quilt (or quilts) will be donated to Margaret's Hope Chest. (Or if I get a bunch, I reserve the right to recruit help!)

If you want to help, leave me a comment with your email and I'll get back to you.

Thanks in advance for your help!

edited to add:

Thanks for the great response! You guys are the best! I'm closing the comments because I have plenty of help. Thank you, thank you, thank you! xo

quilt along week 5

How are your quilts coming? Are you having fun with this or are all the little pieces driving you crazy?

Personally, I'm glad this is a quilt along so I can chip away at it a little each week. When you have 16 quilts on the go, any accountability is helpful.

For this week, we are going to sew more blocks together! :)

Sew 10 segments together for the top and 10 segments together for the bottom.


Sew the strips to the top and bottom of the center block and press seams.


Sew together 14 segments for the left side and 14 for the right side.

Sew them to the center of the quilt. Press seams.

Now, add the sashing pieces that measure 28 1/2" to the top and bottom of the quilt.

Add the sashing pieces that measure 32 1/2" to the sides of the quilt.

Press all your seams. Isn't that pretty?

As the borders get longer and longer from here on out, always be aware of your block placement. You should be able to draw an imaginary zig zag down the side of your quilt. And on the top and bottom of the quilt, for that matter. The blocks should always be offset. If your blocks are adjacent to each other, it may be time to get out the seam ripper.

I had a few questions regarding which way to press the seams last week. It really doesn't matter which way you press the seams, as long as the ones that meet are facing the opposite direction. I added a few arrows to this photo to illustrate what I mean. Double click the photo to see the details.

Hope that helps!

That's it for today...set aside your mess until next week! Happy sewing! :)