SIZZLE Preparation--the Excitement Grows!

The 2019 Block of the Month on The Quilt Show will begin January 1, 2019. It is FREE to Star Members of The Quilt Show--reason enough to join, but you get so much more for your $49 investment. I encourage you to JOIN if you haven't yet.

Watch Becky Goldsmith's show to see how fun this will be: Here

The Sizzle Introduction can be found HERE--Fabric Requirements for both Warm and Cool colorways will help you if you want to make your own fabric palette.

Here are suggestions to help you be prepared to jump in January 1:

1. Have plenty of ink and paper on hand--in addition to the Month 1 pattern, you will have access to a 30 page General Instructions document--I am referring to this frequently so, for me, it is worth the ink and paper to have a printed copy.

2. Have Vellum or very lightweight, translucent paper to print the paper piecing pattern pages--each month there are 8 pages to print, giving you all the paper piecing patterns for that month's  20" block.  The Accessory Kit provides this product--I found it very easy to print 8 copies with my printer, they did not stick together and the ink was dry by the time I walked from the studio to the office to get them:

3. Watch Becky Goldsmith's show, it airs December 30, 2018--this will get you excited for the upcoming Block of the Month. An excellent designer and teacher, you will really enjoy watching her in action.

Things to know:

1. There are GREAT videos from designer Becky Goldsmith, showing you exactly how to make this quilt. PLEASE watch them before you begin--her method is a bit different from what you may be familiar with--follow her instructions for success.

2. Each month there are 2-3 pages of instructions, in addition to the paper piecing pattern. If you purchased the Kit from The Quilt Show, print the Warm or Cool instructions--this will give you the Key to which fabrics to cut for that month's block and exactly HOW to cut that fabric.

3. If you are using the Kit, I strongly recommend you put a small piece of each fabric on your Fabric Requirements pages. I am using the Cool Kit and found some of the blues look very similar--and each person's printer may show different depths of color. With the Kit, you want to know which fabric is which:

Sometimes I found it helpful to use the amount of fabric in the kit to determine which was which, 2 yards vs. 1/4 yard, for example. I cut 1" pieces of each fabric and used double stick tape to put in my notebook. Once this is done, it will be a snap each month to select the fabrics for the block.

4. The first month's instructions include the Block Corner Template, printed on two pages then taped together to make the 10.5" quarter circle. Becky recommends using Laminating Sheets to make this template you will use to make 36 quarter circles. I taped my paper template to the bottom of Quilter's Template plastic--my local quilt shop sells a large piece of this for about $3. I carefully cut out the template plastic, following the lines on the paper--this creates a very sturdy template:

5. The last thing I want to tell you is this is EASY--even if you are new to Paper Piecing, you will catch on quickly and be delighted to see your sections grow into a beautiful block--here is a Teaser, Block 1 parts under construction:

On the first of each month, I will have a Blog that shows how I made that month's block, following Becky's instructions. I am also prepared to answer your questions--please post them on the Forum where there is a Category for this quilt. 2019 SIZZLE Topic--go there to see the previous blogs I've written on this project--Introduction and Fabric Selection and Preparation--full of more tips and suggestions.

During 2019 I am teaching this locally to a class of 15 people at a quilt shop and to The Sunday Sew and Sews, a group of 25 of us who have been working on the TQS Block of the Month quilts since January 2017. All these people ask good questions that will find their way into instructions on my blog. I encourage you to follow my blog for the latest information.

The Sunday Sew and Sews saw my pieces last week and they said the fabrics were even prettier than they thought they would be. If you want a Kit, Cool or Warm, it's not too late to order it HERE.

We are going to have a great time in 2019 making these beautiful quilts. I hope you will join us.

Let's quilt,

Barbara