Sashed and ready to go.



With the wind howling outside and the rain lashing down I'm very glad to be inside putting the sashing on our sample quilt - I think it may come in useful for chilly evenings!!
I did enjoy the Bank Holiday sunshine - spending it outside with grandchildren - watching on while they did all the running and chasing.
So to the sashing and joining of all the blocks.
I used a royal blue, from the Perfect Palette range by Fabric Freedom.
I used 1 1/2m because I didn't want to have joins in the long pieces.
I made the sashing and the border strips all 2 1/2" wide and used die 658328, and cutting pads - 656847, to cut the strips.
You will need 5 strips 48 1/2" long ( I usually cut a little longer just in case the quilt is bigger than I thought it was, the extra can always be trimmed off later.)
2 more strips will be needed for the top and bottom border and these need to be 42 1/2" long.
Finally you need to cut 16 x 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" to join the blocks into strips ( I cut 2 long strips and then cut them to length ).
Lay out all your blocks in an arrangement that you like.
Starting from the top, and working in rows down the length of the quilt,  join an 8 1/2" strip to the bottom of the first block, and then add the next block to the strip.

Continue with this until you have a row of 5 blocks joined together.
Press the seams towards the blue sashing.
continue to join the remaining 3 rows of 5 blocks together in the same way.
Using the longest strips pin the sashing along the inside edge of the first row of your quilt, stitch in place, and then add the second row to the sashing.
Continue until you have joined all 4 rows together. Trim any excess fabric from the sashing.
Press well.

Add 2 more long strips to the long outside edges of the quilt, to form the outside border.
Press.
Finally join the last 2 strips to the top and the bottom of the quilt to complete the sashing and the binding.

Now you can trim any threads or extra border away and we are ready to layer the quilt and stitch
It was only after I had taken the photo that I realised I had 3 blocks with yellow in a row - I would have preferred to have them mixed through the quilt more - I may change it before next week - but I'm not sure - so double check how you've laid the blocks before you stitch!!!
next week I will be at Quilts UK show at Malvern Showground - I'll be demonstrating on the Cotton Patch stand.
Come and say hello as you go by, it will be nice to meet you, and if you like bring your quilt to show me!
Have fun.
Angela