#SupportGroupQuiltAlong with #FQS Finishing!

This quilt is part of the Fat Quarter Shop’s fundraiser to support the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Message from the Fat Quarter Shop: “We are giving breast cancer awareness a strong push with the Support Group Stitch and Quilt Along. The Support Group cross stitch and quilt pattern by Lori Holt is a sweet nod to how good undergarments are like good friends – we show up during hard times to uplift and support each other! Take the plunge with us into this sew along to give breast cancer awareness the full coverage it needs.

We encourage you to donate $15 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation by October 31, 2022. Fat Quarter Shop and designer Lori Holt will each match up to $5,000 of the donations raised. Together, we can reach our goal of $20,000 to help women at every step of the breast cancer journey. Check out our donation page: https://fundraise.nbcf.org/fqs “

Finishing. YAY!! Time to add the vertical and horizontal sashing!

The hardest part about this step is matching up the vertical sashing in the rows so that they line up evenly with the row above and below it. Sorry for this wrinkled hot mess… We were on the road in the RV and I was constantly folding this up as we kept traveling.

The simple solution to this it to use seams of each block in the row as a guide to make a mark on the other side of the horizontal sashing so you can use that to align the pinning for the next row.

This makes easy work to line everything up nice and straight.

When it came time to add the borders, I was astounded at how wide they are! I do believe, at 8.5″, this is the widest border I’ve ever added to a quilt.

Adding borders is the final opportunity to square up and straighten your quilt top. I heard an interview with Lori Holt recently where she said she always makes sure to cut her borders exactly to size and then add them so the quilt will be square. This goes against the convention of making a border a bit longer than required and just sewing it on. That method leaves the dimensions of the finished quilt up to the quilt top itself. Forcing the quilt top to be the size of the border, squares up the quilt to the pattern. I pin at the ends first, then center, then in between those sections.

You can see below that the border looks a bit longer than the quilt top and it appears to be wavy. Remember, “Bigger on bottom” so this will be sewn with the straight cut border on the bottom closest to the feed dogs and the straight edge of the border will determine the 1/4″ seam allowance. There are bias cuts in the quilt blocks so using the border’s straight edge is the best bet.

Allowing the feed dogs to do their job, stitches it on so everything fits nice and tidy! This side is exactly 50.5″ long just as the pattern requires, regardless of what size the top was before the border was added.

After sewing on the first border, I knew I was close to running out of bobbin so before I began the next side, I checked. YAY! I won at Bobbin Chicken! WooHoo! Hey, I take small victories anywhere I can get them. 🙂

Adding the border on the bottom also makes sure that your seams don’t get bunched up under the presser foot.

So here it is! All finished! Hooray! As soon as I get my chickens off the longarm, it goes on next!

Thanks for joining me on this journey. It’s been an honor and a pleasure. Again, if you haven’t had a mammogram in over a year, please schedule yourself for one. And if you haven’t donated yet, please do! Let’s make that $20,000 goal by Oct 31!  https://fundraise.nbcf.org/fqs