Welcome to the first month of the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!
If you are new to the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge you can hop over quick to read through the introduction and also see the colors coming up in the months ahead.
Our first color to start the year off is: Green. This year I decided to use a little floral inspiration with my colors and for green I chose Bells of Ireland.
I chose this particular flower because of the gorgeous, fresh color, but also because my family has a little bit of Irish in them. The story goes that my great, great, great (I'm not sure how many greats, I should check into that) grandfather witnessed a murder by the Irish mob. He had to leave in order to not be killed himself, so he flipped a coin between Australia and America. Thanks to that coin flip I am here today. ;)
Are you a beginner? For this months block these posts may be helpful:
For a full ensemble of my tips for beginners see the Beginners Unite page.
For this months block you will need:
Mat
Rotary cutter
Ruler
Marking pen/pencil
Specialty rulers that are NOT required, but helpful (the links above go over trimming with specialty and regular rulers):
A great group of bloggers will be joining us throughout the year. January's bloggers are:
Joanne - Everyone Deserves a Quilt
Melody - Two Maker Chicks
Sarah - The Quilted Diary
Cinzia - Raconteur
Judit - Quilt Fox Design
Make sure you visit their blogs, see their beautiful blocks and maybe even get some tips.
Piecing tips
Chain piecing is your friend. I sew as much as I can before I have to go press.
This is the first set of chain piecing. I then pressed.
Remember to finger press your strips before hitting them with the iron, this keeps them from getting wonky.
Then I do the next set of chain piecing, press and trim them all to the required sizes. This means I'm a little out of order with the instructions, but once you start feeling comfortable with piecing quilt block units I encourage you to start chain piecing as much as possible before pressing. It speeds up the process for you.
Remember to sew with the Square in a Square unit on top so you can watch where the stitching meets and you don't lose your point.
I never trim my blocks, but if you are a trimmer I recommend waiting until all of your blocks are pieced and then finding trimming them all at once. Your goal is 12 1/2" unfinished blocks. I don't trim because I don't want to lose my points and since we make the units that makeup the block larger and trim them down, you should be fairly close to the correct size. If you are off 1/8 of an inch or less I really discourage trimming. If you are off 1/4 of an inch then instead of trimming I would suggest taking a look at your seam allowance and cutting, because trimming will definitely cause you to lose the look of the block.
For tips on putting together blocks that are slightly off read THIS POST.
Ready for your free January Monthly Color Challenge block? Find it HERE. Remember there is a change this year and the block is available for free only through January 31st. Use #2019monthlycolorchallenge on social media so we can see your blocks.
To get the block instructions delivered right to your email sign up HERE.
This will not give you January's block, you still need to go to Payhip and download it, but from this point on it will come directly to your inbox.
Happy Stitching!
Jen
New to Patterns By Jen?
Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.
Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge coming soon!
Nice points! So excited to be joining in on the fun this year. :) Thank you for hosting this great event.
ReplyDeleteExcited that you have joined! Happy New Year!
DeleteThis is a really good post! I love how you have links back to helpful tutorials on how to make each part of the block. You are GOOD! I'm thrilled to be a part of the hop. Thanks for including me! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for joining! I'm trying to take the time to do a better job of introducing other posts from my blog, but it's a work in progress. Happy New Year!
DeleteWell, I wasn't going to do any more BOMs. However, I'm going through my fabric because of a quilt room renovation, and I need to get rid of some of my fabric. So -- this BOM is just the ticket, and I like the idea of one block each month. I think I can handle that. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you are going to join in. Going through fabric can be eye opening, but a quilt room renovation sounds amazing!
DeleteGreat pointers, little things make a big difference. Thanks for hosting this blog hop!
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed the color challenge last year! And I am looking forward to seeing what blocks, color and flowers we explore this year! Thanks. :) MelvaLovesScraps at NolanQualityCustoms dot com
ReplyDeleteHow long does usually take to receive the pattern in an email? Just wondering. Had to use my Gmail account and not used to using as much as other email. Looking forward to seeing the pattern and all the pictures of completed blocks. Yay, another project to add.
ReplyDeleteHello! If you signed up after January 1st you will have to follow the link above to get the block pattern. The email will start for you on February 1st. If you signed up before January 1st you should check your spam folder. It will be coming from "Patterns By Jen".
DeleteHusband has my new sewing room computer and printer up and running so I am able to join in!! Looks as though I will be doing Jan/Feb together but am looking forward to playing in my fabrics! Thanks for taking your time to encourage us to play, I think some of us forget how important it is to join in! Really looking forward to each block. Thanks :)
ReplyDelete