Intro to Quilt Along and Schedule

My good friend Marion approached me last year about doing a Quilt Along. I have done a couple of QALs, and really enjoyed them a lot, but it seems like I usually bookmark them and save them for "later" -- code for "maybe never". But I didn't have a project for January, so I thought it sounded like fun. Plus, I really enjoyed making my Farmer's Wife Quilt last summer (below), and this sounded very similar, so I decided to go for it. And if you enjoyed Farmer's Wifery, you should join us too!

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A month or two after Marion originally put out the idea to do this QAL in January, I hadn't heard anything, but I wanted to purchase the book if we were going to do it, so I contacted Marion about whether or not that was still a plan for her. Little did I know, she wanted an unsuspecting excited friend to do the QAL with her. I was actually really thrilled she asked me, and here we are -- gearing up for the QAL and getting so excited!

Marion has the intro post up on her blog today (link here!!), and it includes all the pertinent info you'll need to get started -- how long it will take, where to get the book, etc. (I got mine from amazon.com, and just got one that was in very good condition. It was less than $10.) We'll be trading off posting what we've done. She's also lined up some of the other local quilters to do guest posts, so it ends up we'll only be posting about our own blocks about once a month. That works out nicely with my plans, though, because I didn't really want to do a whole twin-sized quilt. And, to be frank, I don't love the blocks on point without a little more breathing room than the pattern calls for (3/4" sashing and cornerstones -- what?!). And, I might even do mine NOT on point -- just to make it more "me". We'll see what happens, I guess! I plan on using this quilt for free motion quilting practice, so I'll take you through that journey when I'm finished with the top. It may be ugly in the end -- but I'm just going to go for it and say, what the hey -- who cares? It's not for anyone else, it's just for me, and this is what I want to do with it. And if, when I'm done, it just needs a little straight-line quilting and nothing else is working, then I'm going to just do a whole cloth quilt, because by golly, I need FMQ practice! :)

If you're on Instagram, we'll be posting a little more real-time pictures at #BFTPqal

I hope you'll quilt along with Marion & me! This is going to be so much fun!