We are ready to kick-off the Book Club Hand Pieced Quilt Along!
Our first block is called Evelyn, after the heroine of the Marie Bostwick Cobbled Court series of books. The Evelyn quilt block is a straightforward block, just like her down-to-earth namesake, and a perfect place to start our hand piecing adventure!
Haven’t grabbed a copy of the pattern yet?
This is one of the few blocks in the quilt that can be completely rotary cut, but it’s also a great one to practice making templates, which eliminates a bit of bulk at the triangle corners. When selecting your fabrics, make sure that you have some nice contrast.
We thought this would be a great place to start the pattern and quilt along, because it’s a very straight forward block–just a couple of four patches and compound half square triangles. If you’d like a little four patch refresher, check out this video.
Block Construction
The construction is quite simple. Just sew the white triangles to the aqua square and then sew that unit to the dark blue triangle, forming a compound half square triangle (see video for hand piecing half square triangles). One great thing about using templates is that the rounded corners on the triangles result in a little less bulk when stitching the units together (see dark blue triangle above).
At this point, it’s just a giant four patch! Easy peasy! When pressing you may want to spin your seams (here’s a video) to get your block to lay as flat as possible.
The Book Behind the Block
A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick was the first quilty novel that I ever read. I didn’t even know such a genre existed! Evelyn is a gutsy character reeling from a recent divorce when she moves across the country and opens a quilt shop (and not even in a great location!). Of course, she has several setbacks, including a serious medical diagnosis that strikes close to my heart. I’ve read and enjoyed every book in this series and if you enjoy crafty fiction, I think you’ll enjoy this series.
Don’t forget to check out Patty’s take on the Evelyn block over on the Elm Street Quilts blog.
Looking for the Book Club: A Hand Pieced QAL pattern?
HAND PIECING RESOURCES
Check out the whole Hand Piecing Basics video playlist on YouTube.
Patty has many written tutorials from the original Hand Pieced QAL.
STAY IN TOUCH
- Join our Hand Pieced Quilt Along Facebook Group
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- Follow Simply Everyday Handmade and Elm Street Quilts on Instagram
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I’m Kristin, a passionate quilter, sometimes knitter, everyday cook, and cozy home creator. Simple Handmade Everyday is my place to share my love for living a creative, intentional life. Grab a cup of tea and have a look around!