New Horizons Sew Along Week 4: Assemble Blocks

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

My fellow quilters, we are already on the fourth week of this New Horizons sew along! Can you believe it? By the end of this week you will have finished quilt blocks ready for sashing and assembly.

The main takeaway from this week is nesting seams and getting precisely perfect points. Does that feel like an unachievable goal? Fear not, Quiltketeers, Week 4 will be full of fun surprises and marvelously matched seams is one of them.

New Horizons Sew Along Schedule

Don't forget that the only way to enter to win a prize from our weekly sponsor is to use #NewHorizonsQuiltSA on Instagram AND have a public profile. If you only have a private profile, you can create a public one just for this sew along and then delete it afterwards.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Week 4: Assemble Blocks

As I said before, the main thing to focus on this week is nesting seams. What is a nested seam, you ask? It's when we press the seams in opposite directions so that when sewn, they lock together like sweet little pieces in a puzzle. Or, I guess like nesting dolls because that's probably where the term came from?

Before we jump into the details of nesting and it's origin, let's do a quick review of chain piecing.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Tip #1: Keep chain piecing!

The main reason this quilt can be whipped up so quickly is because you can chain piece parts of it every step of the way. Below you can see that I have my blocks lined up and ready. Before you start sewing, let's get to Tip #2...

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Tip #2: Lay out the blocks before sewing.

Not all of you will need to do this, but I get mixed up if I don't lay everything out first. Below is what a full block looks like. Some of your blocks will be full and some of them will be partial. Check out the chart on page 9 for a list of how many partial and how many full blocks you need to make.

For the throw, it looks something like this:

  • Colors 1-4: 2 full blocks and 2 partial blocks
  • Colors 5-8: 3 full blocks
  • Colors 9-12: 2 full blocks and 2 partial blocks
  • Colors 13-16: 3 full blocks
  • Colors 17-20: 2 full blocks and 2 partial blocks
The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt
The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Tip #3: The partial blocks mirror each other.

Think of these partial blocks as being the end caps to every other row. On the left side you need a left end cap and on the right side you need a right one. Reference the throw diagram on page 14 for more clarity.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Here's an example of what your partial blocks look like. Notice the 1/4" seam allowance above the stitch-and-flip tip. That is there so when you are ready to trim the quilt top you will have enough of a seam allowance available for binding, while still maintaining your pretty points.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Troubleshooting Note!

Sometimes trimming gets off or pressing gets wonky. That's normal and fine and it would be weird if it never happened to you. Below is a picture of one of my stitch-and-flip blocks laying right side down on a HST block. Since they don't line up all the way along the edge, I'm going to line up the corners and sew my 1/4" seam straight down lining it up with the edge of the HST.

That means the fabric in the stitch-and-flip seam will be less than 1/4" in that one spot, but that's OK. The seam will still be strong and as long as I catch 1/8" of the fabric in the seam I don't have to worry about it becoming a hole once the quilt is washed.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Tip #4: Nest your seams one of two ways.

We've made it to the main event⁠—nesting seams! If you really want those block points to match up, I suggest giving fork pins a try. I have a whole blog post about them and they really are the most helpful little things. For more info on fork pins check out, Fork Pins: The Best Way to Match Seams Perfectly.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt
The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Of course you can also get accuracy with straight pins. Either way, I suggest pressing your seams toward the HSTs so the seams can nest well together when fully assembled.

When I use straight pins, I like to cross from one side of the seams to the other to lock the two layers together. See in the photo below how I catch both sides of the seams by pinning diagonally.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Troubleshooting Note!

One question that's popped up in the Suzy Quilts Patterns FB group during previous sew alongs is about dimpling. I personally think dimples are adorable, but the dimples you're wondering about are not located on sweet pudgy cheeks. No, these dimples are glaring at you after pressing, most likely after pressing with steam. Here's what's happening...

  • Dimpling will happen most often if your fabric was not pre-washed.
  • These dimples occur usually after using steam because your hot steamy iron is causing your fabric to shrink and warp a little bit.
  • Just like the dimples on the back of our thighs, these fabric dimples are not a problem. I repeat, they are fine and normal and everybody has them sometimes.
  • Once your quilt is finished, washed and slightly crinkled from everything shrinking a little, they will be completely gone.

Here's a pic of some of my dimples. They don't always pop up, but it's totally fine when they do.

The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

Week 4 Sponsor & Prize

Trace Creek Quilting is our sponsor this week! Woot! Woot! Who doesn't love free longarm quilting? Lilo, owner and head quilter at Trace, is so easy and wonderful to work with. She has quilted more quilts for me than I can count. She even quilted these original New Horizon quilts!

This modern ombre fat quarter quilt pattern is a good beginner quilt pattern and makes a beautiful scrap quilt. The sewing pattern also includes instructions for a limited-color version. suzyquilts.com #quiltpattern #modernquilt

One lucky winner will receive free edge-to-edge longarm quilting on their New Horizons throw quilt.

How to Win

  • Post a pic to Instagram. The photo prompt for Instagram this week is to post a picture of your sewing progress. Use #NewHorizonsQuiltSA in the caption.
  • You must have a public Instagram profile to participate.
  • Each photo posted is an entry and you can enter as many times as you want in a single week. Once the week is over, those posts do not count in the next week's giveaway. Every week we start fresh.
  • Your photo must be posted between NOW and 1:00 p.m. CST on Tuesday, July 27. The winner will be picked randomly from all qualifying posts and announced at approximately 4:00 p.m. CST on Wednesday, July 28.
  • This prize is open to internationally.
The New Horizons quilt along includes lots of extra instruction and tips in sewing this fat quarter friendly modern throw quilt. suzyquilts.com #quilt #modernquilt

7 thoughts on “New Horizons Sew Along Week 4: Assemble Blocks

  1. Miriam says:

    Okay, in your Live you mentioned an upcoming holiday pattern, and I’m stalking the new Rifle Paper holiday line… will the pattern be far quarter friendly???? Sorry, totally unrelated to this post, but you got me thinking/dreaming/wasting lots of time looking at pretty fabric!

    • Laura Hopper says:

      Hey Miriam! The holiday pattern will come out later this year, but it is fat quarter friendly and takes 16 fat quarters. Enjoy making your bundle!

  2. Fran says:

    I’m ready to trim! And there are no directions yet. Can you just briefly tell me how to do it?
    I have been quilting for years so just a quick note would help me. I’m thinking I need to trim to the outside of the inside V of the partial blocks?? Maybe there are directions for trimming from another pattern with blocks on point though. Please let me know if you can share that before the regular post becomes available. Thanks!

    • Laura Hopper says:

      Hi Fran! Step 9 on page 10 gives you information for trimming the top. You’ll have to wait until the last week of the sew along if you want any more tips as Suzy makes the quilt along with you and the posts are only ready at the beginning of each week!

  3. Molly says:

    Hey! Quick question.. I’ve just finished sewing my blocks and need to trim them up a bit. Approximately what size block should the 4 squares together create?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *