Just Buzzing Through Quilt Along – Week Four – Assemble The Blocks

Today is the day for assembling the quilt blocks! Woohoo!

This Quilt Along has been so much fun! I am especially enjoying seeing the different fabric combinations that everyone is coming up with!

The great thing about a Quilt Along is that you can start at any time. All you need is a copy of the Just Buzzing Through pattern, some fabric, sewing supplies, and an attitude that says, “I’m in!” All of the previously published Just Buzzing Through Quilt Along posts are available here.

I thought I’d share a few of the tips that helped me assemble the blocks more smoothly.

I made two stacks of 70 units each and laid them side by side like this. That way, I wouldn’t get the units turned the wrong way.

I took one unit from the right stack, flipped it over, right sides together, onto the top one on the left stack, picked them up and pinned along the right, raw edge and sewed.

I tried sewing them without pinning. I really did. But, it just doesn’t work for me. The fabrics shift somehow and, more often than not, I’m just not happy with how the seam turns out, end up ripping out the seam and pinning it any way. So, as a general rule, if the seam to be sewn is longer than 2″, I pin.

Notice the lines I’ve drawn on a piece of masking tape on the bed of my machine and table. (My Sweetheart built a platform under my machine to support it and make the bed of it level with the table.) As I described in Less Marking, More Sewing , I use this for keeping my fabrics lined up to sew a 1/4″ seam.

After all of the pairs of units have been sewn together, I press the seams open, then flip them over and press them flat.

I rotate one stack 180 degrees, like this.

Then I take one from the right stack and flip it over one from the left, as I did with the units. I line up the center seams first.

I place a pin just to the left of the seam. I used to place a pin just to the right of the seam also, but, realized that it was like closing the barn down AFTER the cow has gotten out. It did nothing to help the situation. It didn’t keep the seam from shifting. Any shifting happens BEFORE the seam. So, now, I only put a pin on the left.

I place a pin at each of the corners and about half way between the ends and the center.

When I sew the seam, I, start from the edge and sew almost to the pin. I leave the pin in as I hand-walk the needle over the pin and into the seam. Only then do I remove the center pin and continue stitching to the end.

The center looks pretty good, huh?

As with all of the other seams, I press this one open, then flip it over and press the block flat from the right side.

Okay, now for the surprise I promised.

I started playing around with the positions of the units in the blocks to see what other patterns might be made using these units. Instead of lining them up like this…

I turned each of the units 1/4 turn counter-clockwise and saw this.

Which when laid side by side, makes a quilt that looks like this.

Pretty cool, huh?

I was amazed at the transformation, so, I played some more. When the units in a block are laid out like this…you get this when you sewn them together.