. . . quiltspeak . . .

. . . a quilt begins with a trip to your LQS . . .

{local quilt shop}

. . . or in this case OQS . . .

{online quilt shop}

. . . where i ordered this stack of FQs . . .

{fat quarters}

. . . by a favorite designer . . .

. . . then from each print . . .

. . . and from solid white, cut 5 inch strips WOG . . .

{width of goods}

. . . then cut the strips into squares . . .

. . . this step could've been skipped

if i'd purchased a charm pack instead . . .

{precut 5 inch squares - 1 of each print in a collection}

. . . draw a diagonal line on each white square . . .

. . . pair with a print RST . . .

{right sides together}

. . . sew scant quarter inch seam on each side of line . . .

. . . cut on line . . .

. . . forming HSTs . . .

{half square triangles}

. . . press seams toward print . . .

. . . trim dog ears . . .

{seam allowances sticking out}

. . . chain piece pairs of squares . . .

{don't cut thread between pairs}

. . . good idea to have floor relatively clean . . .

. . . put two and two together . . .

. . . forming pinwheels . . .

. . . also good idea to watch monk reruns while sewing . . .

{especially since gilmore girls just started over again}

. . . route 44 is a given . . .

. . . raw blocks ready to be trued up . . .

{squared/trimmed to size}

. . . fabric spaghetti . . .

. . . look! there's mr monk again . . .

. . . cleaned up blocks . . .

. . . lay them out six by six . . .

. . . stand back and squint . . .

. . . rearrange . . .

. . . stand back and squint . . .

. . . repeat . . .

. . . decide this one . . .

. . . and this one don't blend in . . .

. . . remove them . . .

. . . and make replacement blocks . . .

. . . settle on this arrangement . . .

. . . sew into rows . . .

. . . then sew rows together . . .

. . . add narrow white border . . .

. . . boring . . .

. . . decide it needs another border . . .

. . . this one's called piano keys . . .

. . . miter/mitre {if you're british} the corners . . .

{join at a 45 degree angle}

. . . regrets? i've had a few . . .

. . . should have mitered/mitred the corners of the white border, too . . .

. . . play favorites . . .

. . . love this stripe . . .

{pardon random threads}

. . . also love this print . . .

. . . it's pink, of course . . .

. . . another regret? wish i'd known the large scale of these prints . . .

. . . hard to tell with OQSing . . .

{remember? online quilt shopping}

. . . because, no doubt about it . . .

. . . you lose the awesomeness of these fabrics to some degree . . .

. . . when you chop them into little pieces . . .

. . . inspirational credits to vanessa christenson . . .

. . . and our fearless quilt group leader . . .

. . . stay tuned for part two . . .

. . . when it's quilted/bound/named . . .