Book Club QAL: Louisa Block

Book Club QAL: Louisa Block

The third block in the Book Club Hand Pieced Quilt Along is called Louisa.

The character of Louisa comes from the Me Before You trilogy by Jojo Moyes. Louisa’s life often seems spinning out of control, just like this spinning block.

Haven’t grabbed a copy of the pattern yet?

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Block Construction

Though it’s possible to cut all the triangles with rulers and a rotary cutter, this is a great block to use the templates. This block also has the challenge of eight triangles coming together in the center. No worries–I’m going to talk you through that!

First, sew up the wedges into pairs. And then join the pairs.

When joining the pairs, keep an eye on how they line up, so that you keep your points.

Full disclosure: the pattern tells you to sew those corner units on at the end, but I apparently did it sooner 🙂 It doesn’t matter when you do it.

Now for the fun part! We are going to sew the two halves of this block together, being very careful where all those seams come together in the center. Pin the beginning and end of the seam and then we will tackle the center.

Make sure that the center seam is nicely nested. You can tell that it is when you take a peek and the intersection and it looks like this:

Once it is pinned securely–just treat it like any other seam intersection. A small stitch right before the intersection, then slide your need right through the base, and a small, reinforcing stitch on the other side. (Here’s a video on sewing through seam allowances.)

The Book Behind the Block

In the first book in the Me Before You trilogy, Lousia takes a job as a caregiver for a quadriplegic man. It’s a life-changing experience for her when she is a bit directionless. His influence ripples through the next two books. I think my favorite in the series is the last one, called Still Me. It brings the series to a satisfying conclusion.

Don’t forget to check out Patty’s Louisa 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

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