Willow QAL: Week 1

Hello hello!

Welcome to week 1 of the Willow Quilt-Along!  

Jessica Dayon and I are hosting this Quilt-Along and we are super excited you're here!

One of the best things about a Quilt-Along is connecting with you guys and hopefully
having some new friends at the end of it!  So Jessica and I thought it would be fun to
answer a get-to-know-you question each week. We thought we'd start by doing a brief
introduction about ourselves.  We'd love it if you want to play along too!

So I'm Amber Johnson.  I've been married to my husband for 21 years.  

We have 2 children (a boy, 17 and a girl, 14).  We also have a dog that we adore 

(she's half Black Lab and half Brittany Spaniel).  We met on the first day I moved to 

Utah to go to college.  A few weeks later he asked me out.  A couple weeks 

later I told him I just wanted to be friends.  A few months later I realized I was crazy 

and that he was everything I always said I ever wanted so I asked him if he wanted to "hang out" 

again (at that point I knew he was the one).  About 6 months later we were married and now...

here we are!  I was born in California, grew up in Washington State and have been quilting 

for about 20 years.  That's me in a nutshell!

So the assignment for this week is to make 6 Harmony Blocks (above).

I found that they went together relatively quickly by using the chain-piecing method.  

Chain-piecing is a time-saving quilting technique similar to an assembly line.  

You repeat a single sewing step for all the blocks of a quilt without cutting threads 

between each section until after you are done with that step.  It creates a "chain" 

of pieces and saves time and thread.

Note: the blocks finish at 6" so you will be working with small(ish) pieces.  

Try to be as accurate as you can in your cutting and sewing so everything goes 

together nicely.  Check your seam allowance prior to making your first block 

to make sure it's exactly 1/4".

Click HERE for the pattern.
Click HERE for the Willow coloring page so you can fill in your own colors!

Be sure to stop by Jessica's blog next to see her beautiful blocks and get to know her more.

And please introduce yourself in the comment section below.  

We'd love to know where you're from and whatever else you'd like to tell us! :)

Happy sewing!