3 Keys to Making This 4 Patch Quilt Pattern Fast and Simple
1 - Use the color
order of the Charm packs. I have wasted so much time fiddling with fabrics and getting the layout "perfect." Recently I realized that precuts already come packed in a gorgeous color arrangement.
By leaving the fabrics in order and maintaining that arrangement throughout the block
piecing, I created 20 quilt blocks without any perfectionistic fussing. What a relief!
2 - Use Charm Packs from the Same Manufacturer - I love Kona cotton solids and Moda prints. Unfortunately these precut charm squares can sometimes be more than
1/8-inch different in size. Not all precuts are cut the same size.
The easiest solution for this is to buy packs from the same manufacturer. I found my Kona Cotton solid squares and the Robert Kauffman prints lined up perfectly and made it much easier to piece my 4 patch blocks
precisely.
3 - Quilting with Paper Stencils. I never realized how much mental power was required to quilt free hand designs on a large scale. Turns out having the design printed on paper and being able to just follow the line not only speeds up the
process, but gives my brain a break too!
I'm still playing with all the ways we can use these printable quilting stencils. Lots of quilters have asked about using these on a longarm on a quilting frame. I can't see why that wouldn't work, so definitely give it a try.
