Bernie's Mittens QAL Week Five: Assembly

Welcome to Week 5 of the Bernie's Mittens Quilt-Along!  It's time to sew all those beautiful rows together!

There are only a few places that need to line up perfectly when you are sewing your rows together, but consistency is key to making your finished quilt look polished.  First up are the pluses in the middle of the quilt.  I line these up by folding the white sections in half in opposite directions and finger-pressing the center of each.

When I'm pinning, these two creases line up together.  Next, make sure the multi-colored pluses at the top of your quilt nest together in the center.  If you followed the pressing instructions in the pattern the seams will face in opposite directions to reduce bulk!

Once those two spots are pinned together, you can pin the rest of the length together with as many pins as you want.  Repeat with the other side of the plus after you've sewn the first side together and you'll have your pluses made!  Even if you aren't really a pinner (like me!), using pins on these long seams is completely worth it to keep everything aligned properly.

Add the spacer columns in the same way.  These have a set of nested seams at the top and a single nested seam at the bottom.  If your bottom seam isn't nesting properly, it means that your seam allowance wasn't a perfect quarter inch and it's easily fixable. It's apparent here because the center section is a single piece, not three pieces.  Pick the seam apart below your "medium brown" piece (gray in my version) and adjust as needed so the bottom section lines up.  Once the spacers are in, your quilt top is done!

I'll be back in two weeks to share my finished Bernie's Mittens quilt, but I wanted to leave you with some inspiration for finishing your quilt before I sign off.  My first two Bernie's Mittens quilts used the perfect match Chunky Knit panto, but I fell in love with this new Together panto the first time I saw it and decided to give it a try.  The cable shapes look like spades, which mimics my fabric.  I think this one works perfectly too!  All three quilts were quilted by my friend Lauren at Tekstil Crave!

And that's the quilt top.  I can't wait to see your versions!  Thank you for sewing along with me!

======================================

PRIZES:

I'm giving away two prizes for the end of this quilt-along.

1. Share any progress on a Bernie's Mittens quilt by noon on Monday, November 22nd to win a copy of the new Zephyr pattern that is being released Monday morning.

2. Share a picture of your completed Bernie's Mittens top (can be a flimsy or completely finished) by Sunday, December 5th (two weeks from today!) to win a prize package full of sewing goodies!  I'm still waiting for a few things to arrive, and I'll share a picture of the prize once they are here.

If you share a finished flimsy for contest 1 you'll automatically be entered into contest 2!

To enter, post them to Instagram with the hashtags #berniesmittensquilt and #berniesmittensqal and tag me @bluepipdesigns.  If you don't use Instagram, leave a comment on this post and I'll email you to get it that way.

If you do not want your finished quilt shared, you can still enter, just let me know not to share it when you show it to me.

======================================

SALE: 

It's a dual pattern release/Black Friday sale!  To celebrate the release of Zephyr and the American Black Friday "holiday" all patterns in my pattern shop are 20% off, no coupon code needed.  This is the best sale of the year because even my mini patterns are included (normally they aren't because they are such a good deal already).  Pick up Bernie's Mittens, Zephyr, or even the Perfect Pocket Advent Calendar!  Sale ends Tuesday, November 30th, 2021.

======================================

STAY IN TOUCH:

Stay in-touch with all things BluePip Designs by signing up for my newsletter.  I've been sending weekly email reminders about the Bernie's Mittens quilt-along, but with the quilt-along ending it is going back to a monthly bulletin about pattern releases and other things I've been working on.  Thank you for supporting my small business!