It’s April 4th already — that snuck up on me!

Agnes and Arthur turned TWO years old yesterday — they’ve grown up so beautiful! They’re so sweet, and they love back scratches. Arthur loves apples, but Agnes isn’t too excited about special treats. Agnes looks so much like her mother, but without the black parts, and Arthur looks more like Aunt Sassy, and a LOT like his daddy. Even tho they were orphaned so young, their Aunt Sassy does a great job taking care of them. They love her so much.

And here it is time to kick off the Mad Dash Sew-Along — are you ready?

Today, I’m gonna give you some introductory info and point you to some other things that will help you get through this a lot easier. And we’re gonna start cutting! Yes, we’re just gonna dive right in.

So here we go . . .

All of the triangle-square units in this quilt are made a tiny bit larger than necessary, and then trimmed down to the size needed. This gives you the perfect accuracy that you’ll need to make everything fit. I know trimming is a pain, but in this case, it’s very very worth it. It’ll make your life much easier as you make this quilt. So . . . to do that, I recommend a Bloc-Loc ruler.

The 4 1/2″ size for half-square triangles will work for everything in this quilt (and in lots of other quilts, so it’s not a bad investment). You can visit this post HERE where I talk about using it, and give you a link to a video that you can watch to see how it works.

Alternatively, if you already have a favorite method for trimming triangle squares that you’d prefer to use, then by all means do that.

Another thing that will help you immensely is to make sure that your 1/4″ seam is accurate. Here’s a quick little tutorial on how to test that and make sure that your seam allowances are spot on before you begin: Testing Your 1/4″ Seam.

To help you keep your pattern organized, allow you to access all the pages easily, mark things off when you’re done, and keep your place when you have to step away, I’ll show you how I set up my pattern in a binder for ease of use.

I grabbed a white 3-ring binder with pockets on the front and back (it doesn’t have to have pockets, but this is what I had on hand). The cover of my pattern slips into the pocket on the front, and the back cover goes on the back:

Then I three-hole punched all my pattern pages (I’ve left room in the pattern for you to do this, without cutting anything off), and put them inside the binder:

Next, I grabbed a clear Sheet protector, and put my labels in it. I don’t cut the labels apart until I’m ready for them — that way I don’t have to fish through a pile of little labels to find the one I need — I cut out each one as I need it. It’s easier to find them on the intact sheet.

I also cut out my templates to have them ready, and put them in the sheet protector pocket, too. It’s good to have a place to store them when not in use, so that you always know where they are when you need them (speaking from experience, here).

If you don’t want to destroy your originals, you can photocopy the label and template sheets and use them for cutting while leaving your originals safe for future use (cos you’ll probably wanna make several of these quilts, right? — hahaha!)

On the pattern itself, I made a decision about what colors will be my background, and what colors my block parts will be, then I highlighted those on the pages where I’ll most need to know that information (while cutting). So if you can find highlighters or crayons in your colors to help you mark, this might be helpful, or you can tape in a small fabric swatch to remind you which is which.

I’m using the pinks for my background, but the pattern shows the pinks as the block parts, so I need to constantly remind myself that mine is the opposite this time.

Opposite the page with the cutting instructions, I put a blank sheet of paper to use as a tally sheet. As I make a block, I put a tally mark on the proper section, and then I’ll know when I have all my blocks made!

I won’t lie — it’s gonna take some time to make the stockpile of blocks you need for all the sections, but then, too, you won’t have to have them ALL made before you can begin the assembly. Each section states what you need at the beginning of the assembly instructions, so as long as you have what you need for each section, you can forge ahead. I’m not gonna start talking section assembly here until May 23, tho, so this gives us plenty of time to work on a good stockpile of blocks to use by then.

And now, I’m still gonna talk about fabrics and colors for a bit, and show you how I cut mine.

When the cutting instructions call for a background and a block piece,  REMEMBER: This does NOT mean one fabric from each of your color groupings. This means two fabrics from the same grouping, but you have to designate one piece that will be the background, and one piece that will be the block pieces.

So here are the cut pieces for the first block of my quilt:

You can see that the pile on the left is designated as the background because it has an extra square (otherwise, they’re basically identical).

And here’s the finished block:

You need to make sure when you are sewing these units together that you have the triangle squares pointed the proper direction, and that your side pieces are turned correctly. I use my middle square as a guide, then lay out all my units around it. Once I make sure it looks correct laying on my table, I sew it together, making sure not to accidentally turn anything wrong while stitching. It saves a lot of un-sewing time and frustration, trust me.

As for the cutting, I cut out pieces for 5-10 blocks at a time, and use the lid of my project bin as a tray to contain them. I’m cutting my large blocks first, then I can use the leftover pieces from the large blocks to cut some of the smaller blocks from. If I still have leftover pieces, then I put those aside to be used later. We will have various filler pieces to cut for each section, and they can be used for that, so don’t get rid of them!

Here’s my first cutting session results. I will sew these all up before I cut more. That way I don’t get too many loose pieces floating around and cause myself a mess. So . . . cut a few, sew a few, cut a few, sew a few, and before you know it, you’ll have the stockpile you need.

Keep that tally sheet handy, make a tic mark every time you finish a block, and you’ll know when you’ve done them all.

And remember: the more variety in your fabrics, the better, so don’t be afraid to use lots of scraps and mix them up good!

There! I think that should get you started. Your homework is to read the first SIX pages of the pattern, to make sure you understand where you’re headed, and have everything decided on and ready to go. Then you can start cutting and sewing!

If you think of something else you’d like me to talk about, please let me know. If you have any questions, do NOT hesitate to ask — that’s what I’m here for!

I hope you aren’t nervous about this, and you can get started with ease now. Have fun, and I’m here if you need me!

PS: If you’re just now finding this, and want to join in, you can find all the information on this sew-along HERE.

And another thing: If you can’t get started now, but want to do this, these posts aren’t going away, and you can start whenever you’re ready, work at your own pace, and finish on your own schedule.