Make a quilt in 2019! January quilt block

I’d like to help you make a quilt this year.

Actually, I am all about helping people to make things (especially quilts!)  I spend much of my working time designing quilts and writing patterns so other people can make quilts and other sewing items. The patterns either go into my Etsy shop (here) or into magazines (you can see the ones I have worked with here). This was a recent project for Quilt Now.

I enjoy teaching people one-to-one and I do that from time to time to get people started on patchwork and quilting (you can find out about this here).

But what if you don’t live in striking distance of Durham in the North-East of England? Well, help is at hand. I plan to release a pattern every month this year for a twelve-inch patchwork block. (By that I mean that when the block is finished and stitched in to a quilt, it will measure 12 inches by 12 inches.) By the end of the year, you will have twelve different blocks ready to stitch together to make a quilt. I will give instructions for making up the quilt at the end of the year.

It doesn’t matter if you have never made a quilt before, because we will take things slowly. It doesn’t take too long to make a twelve-inch block and then you can have a rest until the following month! I generally write a blog post each Monday. The blocks for ‘Making a quilt in 2019’ will appear on the second Monday of each month. (You could click the ‘Subscribe to this blog’ button and then each post will arrive in your in-box.)

So, if you have never made a quilt, this is the equipment  you need to get started:

• a rotary cutter with a 45mm blade (choose one which is comfortable for you to use and if you are left-handed, check that the cutter works for you – some don’t)
• a cutting mat (at least A3 size)
• a quilter’s ruler (there are lots to choose from; the one below is ten and a half inches square and I find it very useful)

You can choose to stitch your fabric by hand, just taking it slowly, but if you are not hand-stitching, you will need a sewing machine. It just needs to do a straight stitch.

I’m going to suggest that you use fabric of a single colour all through the year. This will help give your quilt a unified appearance when it is finished. I will be making the quilt blocks in blue fabric, but you might choose a different colour altogether, in fact I hope you will!  You can buy fabric for the quilt a bit at a time (including using recycled fabric if you wish). All you need to do is to ensure that you use fabric in different tones of your chosen colour (light, medium and dark). In the photo, the light-toned blues are on the left, the medium-toned blues are in the centre, and the dark-toned blues are on the right.

So without more ado, here’s the pattern for January. Click on the link below and you will see the PDF of the pattern which is free for you to download and print at home.

make a quilt in 2019, january

If you have any comments or queries, please get in touch using the form below.

Here is my ‘Birds and Roses ‘fabric design. It’s in my online studio on Spoonflower here.

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Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here