This week, we are finally starting to sew! Wahoo! Here's a look at where we've been and where we are headed. Note, if you missed any of the previous weeks, you can click on it below!

• April 5 - Week 1: Plan
• April 12 - Week 2: Cut & Organize
• April 19 - Week 3: Create 4/5 Blocks
• April 26 - Week 4: Create 4/5 Blocks
• May 3 - Week 5: Create 4/5 Blocks
• May 10 - Week 6: Create 4/5 Blocks
• May 17 - Week 7: Sew Blocks Together

If you are creating the Square Throw, you'll be making 4 blocks for the following 4 weeks. If you are making the Large Throw, create 5 blocks per week.

I kindly ask that you please be mindful when sharing about your quilt progress. Do not include any measurements or photos of the inside of the pattern. This is copyrighted information. :)

TEST BLOCK

If you've never made flying geese and/or half square triangles before, I highly suggest making a test block! You'll likely want to figure out the nitty gritty details about making this block on some scrap fabric, rather than your precious fabrics that you'll be using in your quilt!  :)

HALF SQUARE TRIANGLES (HSTS)

Nightingale uses the two-at-a-time HST method. There is a LOT of wiggle room with these HSTs, so don't worry about being too precise. You'll be square them up once they're assembled. Here are some tips for HSTs:

• Remember to place the two squares right sides together.
• Pay attention to directional fabrics! Refer to this blog post to see what I mean.
• Mark the diagonal line by using either a fabric pen, hera marker, the back side of a butter knife, or by folding it in half diagonally and pressing a crease with your iron. Another idea is to use Diagonal Seam Tape….my new favorite!
• For these HSTs, I press my seams open to help decrease bulk. Start out by finger-pressing the seam open. Then use your iron to press the seam. Be careful not to stretch your fabric as you press. Then flip the piece over and press the right side.
• You can trim your blocks using a plain square ruler with a 45 degree line or a Bloc Loc ruler (here is the size you'll need). There are several other HST specific rulers out there! A few examples include a Quilt in a Day ruler, and a Clearly Slotted Perfect Trimmer ruler.
• Remember that when you trim, you'll want the diagonal seam to run from corner to corner. This will set you up for beautiful, crisp points down the road!

Find my HST Trimming Tutorial here!

FLYING GEESE

These flying geese have a little bit of extra wiggle room as well, but not quite as much as the HSTs. I highly recommend making a test flying geese (goose?) if nothing else, just to see where your seam allowance needs to be. Here are a few other tips:

• Pay attention to directional fabrics! Refer to this blog post to see what I mean.
• Use pins to hold the smaller squares in place.
• Remember to place fabrics right sides together.
• Mark the diagonal line by using either a fabric pen, hera marker, the back side of a butter knife, or by folding it in half diagonally and pressing a crease with your iron
• For these flying geese, I also press my seams open to help decrease bulk. Start out by finger-pressing the seam open. Then use your iron to press the seam. Be careful not to stretch your fabric as you press. Then flip the piece over and press the right side.
• Use a scant ¼" for these. This means that your seam allowance will be a tiny “thread-width” more narrow than a true ¼". Also note that if you are using a thicker fabric like what I'm using in the example below, you will definitely need more of a scant ¼" seam. Remember that your fabric has to go up and around that seam, so if your thread and/or fabric are a little bit more thick than usual, you'll need to factor that into your seam allowance. Again, testing this out before you get started is key!
• You can trim these flying geese by using a ruler that has a 45 degree line. Alternatively, you can also use a Bloc Loc Ruler. This is the size you'll need.

Find my Flying Geese Trimming Tutorial here!

STRIP PIECING

You'll notice on Step 2 under Block Assembly, there is a tiny bit of strip piecing. This is just to save some time and energy. Any time you strip piece, you want to remember to use a slightly smaller stitch length. This is because you'll be cutting through your seams and you'll want to make sure that they don't become unraveled too easily. A stitch length between 1.8 mm and 2.2 mm is perfect. I normally stitch with a 2.0 mm stitch length.

Also note that you'll have ½" of wiggle room with this unit. Square up your strip set before you cut your pieces from it. Then rotate the unit around and cut your pieces by covering them with your ruler. 

Block assembly

This part is pretty straight forward. Here are a few bits of advice to consider as you are sewing the block units together:

• Use pins to help keep the individual units of the blocks aligned as you sew. 
• If you are using directional fabrics, remember that you'll want to lay everything out so that the fabrics are all going the same direction before you start piecing your block together.
• For seams that are on the perimeter of the block, you may or may not choose to backstitch those seams to secure them in case they end up being on the outside perimeter of your quilt. I know that I like to take photos of my quilt top once all of my blocks are sewn together, and if you handle your quilt top too much, if your seams aren't secured around the perimeter of the quilt, they can start to unravel.
• When sewing the flying geese to the rectangle, have the flying geese unit on top so that you can visualize where you want your seam to be.
• Press all seams open to help decrease bulk.

Facebook group

If you have any burning questions, or if you're just looking for community and support, join the Lo & Behold Patterns Facebook group!  

week 2 WINNER

The winner of the $50 gift card to Cottoneer Fabrics and the $75 gift card to Woven & Woolly is… 

@4_sewn_together !!!!

Congrats! Please reply to this email! :)

week 3 PRIZES

This week, your task is to get all of your fabrics cut and organized. Share a photo to Instagram and be sure to use the hashtags #nightingaleQAL, #nightingalequilt &  #loandbeholdpatterns and you'll be automatically entered to win this week's prizes! You have until next Monday, April 26th at 8am EST to get your entry in! The winner will be randomly chosen and announced in the Week 4 newsletter!

This week, we have two prizes! One lucky winner will receive:

• Two shirts from Noodle & Bee (one for you and one for a friend!). Noodle & Bee has several adorable sewing/quilting related shirts in their shop!
• A $50 gift card to Lamb and Loom Fabrics , an online fabric shop that really has such a great assortment of fabrics. (I really love them all!)

These are two really awesome shops so be sure to give them a follow on Instagram!

grand prize

We have two grand prizes! One lucky winner in both the USA and Canada will win free long-arm quilting! American quilters will have a chance to win edge-to-edge quilting from the Henhouse Quilting. Canadian quilters will have a chance to win edge-to-edge quilting from Matante Quilting! To enter, you'll need to participate in each week of the QAL by sharing your progress photo each week (with the hashtags!). One winner will be randomly chosen from the USA and Canada at the end! 

(Canadian participants, there will be a separate hashtag that you'll use for Week 7. I'll share about that when the time comes!)