Finishing Ideas For Sampler Quilts

I don’t know about you, but I get all excited to sew along and make a sampler quilt because the blocks are good, and the pace of the patterns is great, and I want to join in on the fun! But then you get to the end of the quilt along or the block of the month and you have a collection of blocks sitting on your sewing table. What do you do with them now?!

For the Patisserie BOM, I made two sets of blocks – one with my 8” Qube, and one with my 6” Qube – and I wanted each quilt to look different.

With my 8” Qube blocks, I came to a serendipitous layout. And by that, I mean that I had cut strips for sashing and popped the blocks and the strips into a bag and went off to a sewing day. Only to discover that I hadn’t cut enough strips to do what I had originally planned! Not one to shirk from a challenge, especially as I wanted to complete it there, I ended up with something a little more modern and I love it.

Finishing ideas for sampler quilt with AccuQuilt Australia

I used the GO! Strip Cutter -2 1/12″ (2″ Finished) die to cut 3 strips, and then sub-cut them into 8 ½” lengths. I sewed one strip to the side of each block, and then laid them out to spread the colours around.

The side on which the strip is on each block is flipped in each row, and it results in an alternate grid-work design. Using this layout for 8” blocks makes a quilt that is 30” x 32”.

For the 6” Qube blocks, I went a little more traditional, adding sashing, cornerstones and a border to show off the bright primary colours in the blocks.

Patisserie BOM sampler quilt in bright primary colours by BlossomHeartQuilts.com for AccuQuilt Australia

For this setting, you will need strips for sashing and squares of the same dimension of the strips for the cornerstones. Depending on the size of your sampler blocks, you will need to adjust how many strips you will need to initially cut. These are the instructions for 6” sampler blocks.

Materials

  1. AccuQuilt GO! Big, GO! Cutter or GO! Baby Cutter Fabric Starter Set
  2. AQ55024 GO! Strip cutter – 1 ½” (1” finished) strips
  3. AQ55113 GO! Cutting Mat 10” x 24”
  4. AQ55470 GO! Square – 1 ½” (1” finished)
  5. AQ55137 GO! Cutting Mat 6” x 6”
  6. ½ yard background fabric
  7. 20 small scraps from quilt blocks
  8. Rotary mat, cutter and ruler
  9. General sewing equipment

Cutting Instructions

  1. Cut ten 1 1/2″ strips
    • Use rotary cutter to cut strips into:
      • 31 – 1 ½” x 6 ½” strips
      • 2 – 1 ½” x 24 ½” strips
      • 2 – 1 ½” x 29 ½” strips
  2. From scraps:
    • Cut twenty 1 ½” x 1 ½” squares

Sewing Instructions

NOTE: All seams are ¼“, (6mm), unless otherwise specified. It is recommended to layout the blocks and the cornerstone squares before sewing so that the spread of colours is pleasing to your eye.

  1. Sew one 6 ½” strip to one edge of each block. Press seams toward the strips.
  2. Arrange the units into four rows of three blocks so that there is a strip between each block. Sew the units together. Sew one 6 ½” strip to the end of the row. Press seams toward the strips.
  3. Sew a square to the end of each remaining 6 ½” strip. Press seams toward the strips.
  4. Sew the units from step 3 into four five rows of three. Sew one remaining square to the end of each row. Press seams toward the strips.
  5. Arrange the rows from step 2 and the units from step 4 to create the quilt top – alternate rows of squares with rows of blocks. Sew the rows together. Press seams open.
  6. Sew one 29 ½” strip to each side of the quilt top. Press seams open.
  7. Sew one 24 ½” strip to the top and bottom of the quilt top. Press seams open.

And there you have one 24” x 31” sampler quilt!

We can’t wait to see your blocks! Feel free to share them with us on Instagram, tagging @blossomheartquilts and @accuquilt_australia, and using the hashtags #blossomheartquilts and #accuquiltBOM. Join us next month for block 9!

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4 responses to “Finishing Ideas For Sampler Quilts

  1. Joan McKenzie says:

    Lovely to receive an email from AccuQuilt AUSTRALIA! I’ve just had to unsubscribe from AccuQuilt USA to stop the mountain of emails with ‘specials’ and ‘new beaut designs/patterns’ etc – sooo unaffordable to me in Australia with the outrageous Australia Post charges. I haven’t been able to afford the ‘Cube’ series but enjoy reading the various projects and samplers. Many thanks,

    1. Alyce says:

      Thanks for reading along!

  2. Eileen FINNIGAN says:

    what a great idea, saves stippling at which I’m not very good. Thankyou

    1. Alyce says:

      Quilting is certainly more than just stippling! It’s what you want it to be 🙂

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