Hi ,

One of the biggest challenges for quilting on a home sewing machine is dealing with the bulk and weight of the quilt on the machine.

One of the easiest ways to make the quilt lighter is to break it up into smaller sections, like the blocks we've pieced and quilted for the Machine Quilting Block Party this year.

This month we're working on our ninth block which means three rows of the quilt can be put together. This technique is called Quilt-As-You-Go and there's lots of different ways to connect the quilted pieces together.

But there's only one method that I teach because it's easy, fast, and creates a beautiful finish on both sides of the quilt. 

Last week we learned how to piece a Star Crossed block and with a very easy paper pieced unit and half square triangles.

This week it's time to machine quilt this beautiful block with circles, Sharp Stippling, and straight lines. I really love the effect of the circles and lines in the center because it really emphasizes the Star Crossed them of the block.

You may have noticed that I've been repeating certain quilting designs and motifs within the Sunshine Surprise quilt. This is a technique that helps make a sampler quilt look more cohesive. When you see a cool motif in one corner, then used again in another corner it makes the quilt look more organized, even if the blocks are very different.

It's also great to repeat designs because practice is key to mastering machine quilting. The more you quilt any particular design, the better you will get to know it and understand how to use it in other quilts and projects.

As you can see from the picture above, Sunshine Surprise is looking gorgeous! This mystery quilt along has been a wonderful project and Josh and I have loved watching you build new skills every month. Click Here to find all the posts shared for the Machine Quilting Block Party this year.

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day