• Divided into 4 weeks, creating a pace to make this quilt project manageable and give us a structured, creative start to the new year.
• You will grow your color and design skills, learn some new ways to use your stash fabrics
• The quiltalong is free to follow along with, but to actually make the Vira quilt, you will need to purchase a copy of the pattern (links below).
• You may also want to pick up a Ruby Ruler®. It’s an optional color value design tool cutting ruler. Blair will demonstrate how to use this tool throughout the quiltalong.

Welcome to Week 1!

This week we are deciding the colors for our quilt and, with that decided, pulling fabrics from our stash.

Look for color inspiration for your Vira quilt–in nature, take a field trip to an art museum, around your house, on Pinterest–wherever your go to is for color inspiration. (Blair likes runway shows!) Sometimes we just need a jumping off point to get started.

In this week’s video, Blair shares her go-to for inspiration and uses it to pull and audition fabrics from her stash. She also shows how she uses the Ruby Ruler® throughout the process.

From Blair-

When I was editing this week’s video, I realized that the colors I’ve chosen for a new version of Vira are essentially the same-ish colors of the original quilt, but flipped! I’m excited to see how differently this new one comes together. I’m starting from a different inspiration source, picking from different areas of my stash… Let’s see what happens!

This week you’ll be cutting all the fabrics for your quilt. Have your iron nearby, clear plenty of space, put on some music or a podcast, whatever you’re inspired to be entertained by, and start cutting! Tune into Blair’s video this week to see learn more about how she stays organized when working with so many different fabrics and her best cutting tips.

From Blair-

I actually look forward to cutting day, mainly because I’ve prepped well (doing this over and over again through many years forces me to create a reliable system). Plus I get to watch a movie or listen to music while I do it. I’m convinced that doing all our cutting at the same time increases accuracy. If you have a big assortment of precut pieces to pull from when you start building your blocks, you’ll be less likely to doubt your earlier decisions, or be tempted reach for more/different fabric. Plus our natural tendency to not want to waste fabric helps to keep us focused on using what we have cut and ready.

It’s time to play with all that fabric you’ve been cutting!

This week, we’re sewing the blocks for the Vira quilt. Have fun grabbing from all those pieces you cut last week. We’ve prepped for this step, so each block go quick!

From Blair-

I love this block and it’s straightforward construction. But I know it’s also easy to overwhelm yourself comparing one block to another as you are creating them. Try hard to focus on creating one block at a time. Aim for variety in each block on it’s own, not worrying about comparing it to the other blocks. For example- if I have 2 different fabrics that keep ending up side by side in a few blocks, it’s often because I’m grabbing fabrics from my value stacks in the same order, or from the same area. Shuffling my stacks and not having those stacks sit side by side helps things get mixed up. So I try moving the stacks of those cut pieces into different positions, or in different orders, on the foam core sheet I use to stack everything. 

It’s week 4. That went by fast! This week we are assembling our quilt tops. Hopefully you have a design wall or cleared space where you can lay out the blocks you sewed from last week. Find a layout you like and start sewing!

In this week’s video, Blair shares some quilt top assembly tips that are tried and true for her own quilting practice. Maybe there’s something new to try out!