String of Hearts Quilt SAL - Week 3
Welcome to another week of the String of Hearts Quilt SAL! We have made it to Week 3, y’all!
We get to start sewing this week! YAY! This week is so fun because we start to see all of the pretty hearts come together. There’s something about that small heart that gets me every time…
Some Tips
Organize your pieces! - Along with the fact that you get a cute little picture out of it, this will make it so easy to just zoom right through your sewing! I sewed up a heart of every size first and laid out the little squares associated with each size next to them. Typically I would lay them out next to the stacks of rectangles that make up each heart size, but I had already organized mine based on where they would be throughout the quilt. Now I can just grab from each stack and pull little squares from my corresponding piles! But of course, make sure to keep your hearts organized as you go if you are doing this like me. I worked hard to get my layout ~just~ right so I definitely plan to keep all hearts in each column pinned together so they don’t get separated in the sewing process. (Can you tell yet that scrappy quilts kind of stress me out? LOL)
Chain-piecing heaven! - So before I start blabbing about this part, let me explain what chain-piecing is first. Chain-piecing is the act of sewing all alike pieces back to back in an “assembly line” fashion. You do this to prevent starting and stopping over and over again and helps you get a lot of piecing done since you’re in the rhythm doing the same stitch. You’ll end up with a long chain of pieces afterwards that you can then snip apart or add right on to them in that same chain! This is best to do when you have a lot of multiples of the same block - like we do here with the multiple hearts!
Picture from Simple Simon & Company
Okay so chain-piecing is going to be perfect for sewing all of your little squares onto the corners of the hearts. You can zip right through them and save yourself a lot of time! I personally go back and forth between chain piecing and completing full blocks because sometimes I just need to see myself completing something to make myself feel like I’m not doing it all for nothing. LOL
Sew Along Details
Dates: Jan. 2 - Feb. 5
Duration: 5 weeks long
Quilt Size: Throw size - 51” x 62”
Hashtag: #stringofheartsquiltsal
Week 1: We will be picking out our fabrics this week. The cover quilt of String of Hearts is the original layout, but you can go totally scrappy with it! If you want to play around with colors in the quilt, you can do so on QuiltInk!
Week 2: This week is all about cutting our fabric.
Week 3: We will sew Heart Blocks this week.
Week 4: We will be finishing up the Heart Blocks and assembling the Heart Columns.
Week 5: We will be assembling the quilt top.
Participation and Prizes
Along with sending out SAL newsletters, I will be posting my progress on Instagram. If you aren’t following me on IG, you totally should. :) If you want to participate in the weekly prize drawings, you can post your progress picture each week on your Instagram using the hashtag #StringofHeartsQuiltSAL to be entered! But make sure you have a public profile - otherwise I won’t be able to see it.
Week 2’s winner is: @legacythreadsquilting!!
Week 3’s prizes are:
The Gypsy Quilter Clapper - because clappers get you the flattest seams!
All of my RPQS digital patterns - because I love seeing how creative you all are with them!
An Art Gallery Fabrics String of Hearts Scrappy SAL Version Quilt Kit - because I love them so much and I truly truly love this version!
