Hi everyone and welcome to Stitchin Heaven’s “Journeys” Block of the Month (BOM).  I will be here to guide you through each month’s process, but not without some help from my friends.  I was asked to participate in this BOM back in May.  I had already tested the pattern design by Deb Tucker.  In June I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I am so blessed to have friends that are helping me.  They are each taking a month and creating the units and taking photo’s as they go.  They are sending the photo’s to me so I can give you guidance here at “If These Threads Could Talk”.

Remember that there are video tutorials on our website (Studio180Design.net) for each tool.

Label, label, label! We cannot say it enough; you will want to be sure you label your completed units each month so that everything is easily identified.

Be sure to save the fabric left over from each month so that you have it in case you make a mistake.

In your pattern instructions, on the back of “General In formation”, you will find two fabric keys. One will identify the print number above a grayscale swatch. This swatch is what you will see throughout the pattern to identify the fabric when it is being used.

By now you have received your first month of Journeys from Stitchin Heaven. Uneven Chains is a great unit that is easily made using Studio 180 Design’s Four Patch Square Up tool. This month my special helper was Diane Marvin, a good friend and fellow Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor.

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For these Uneven Chains units you will be using Print 3 and Print 11. You will be cutting strip sets from each fabric. Following the cutting instructions and organize your strips into sets “A” and “B”.

Piecing Instructions

Step 1 – Stitch your strips together into Strip Sets A and Strip Sets B. Position two strips right sides together and align the long edges. Stitch with your best ¼” seam.

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Above is Strip Set A and Strip Set B.

Step 2 – Press your strip sets. In all strip sets, press the seams toward Print 3. A helpful pressing tip: whatever you are pressing toward goes on top.

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Step 3 – Sub-cut the strip sets. Make sure to use the correct sub-cut size for the strip set you are working with. Strip Set A is sub-cut at 2¼” increments and Strip Set B is sub-cut at 3½” increments.

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Step 4 – Lay out the pieces from Strip Set A and Strip Set B as shown in the diagram. Stitch an A sub-cut to each side of a B sub-cut.

Now add the second Strip Set A to the Strip Set B unit.

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Remove 2 or 3 threads.

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Step 5 – Press the units so that the seams spin. To spin the seams, lay the last sewn seam east to west on the mat, remove the two or three threads in the center on both sides that run north to south, and press so all the seams go in the same direction.

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Step 6 – Trim the units to size. Position the unit as shown on your cutting mat and locate the circle for the 3” finished size on your Four Patch Square Up® tool. The finished sizes are located above the words Finished Size Four Patches – Center. Position the circle over the seam intersection between a small square and the large square as shown. Make sure that the dashed lines radiating from the circle align with your seams. Trim the first two sides of the unit.

Step 7 – Rotate the unit 180 . Align the 3” finished size circle over the intersection of the remaining small square and the large square as shown. Make sure that the dashed lines align with your seams. Also align the 6½” clean up lines on the previously trimmed edges. Trim the remaining two sides. Once all the units are made, label them Unit A.

Once you have completed and trimmed 16 Uneven Chain units, label a paper plate “Unit A” Uneven Chains and set aside. Congratulations, month is done and you have learned to use the Four Patch Square Up tool.

And now, a special surprise for those of you who have read all the way through….

This message from Deb Tucker and Studio 180 Design:

Hi, Everyone!

I hope you’re all excited about your journey with Journeys! I’ve had such a thrill designing this pattern for you and working with Marie Bostwick to coordinate the quilt and the novella, and with Jason Yenter on the fabric. And many thanks to Deb Luttrell for coming up with the great idea for all of us to work together!

We are thrilled that Stitchin Heaven chose Jackie O’Brien to help you with your journey. Jackie was part of our first class of Certified Instructors 7 years ago, so we’ve worked together for a while. We wanted to do something extra to thank her for her participation in this and also to thank her for all of her contributions to Studio 180 through the years.

And we wanted to do something for you for your enthusiastic support for our first block of the month.

Here’s what we’re going to do. As many of you know, Studio 180 is all about education and skill development, so we’re going to give each of you the chance to get additional practice with your tools. Each month we will offer special pricing on two downloadable patterns that go with that month’s tool or other tools you have used in the BOM. We will post a link and a code each month in the Journeys FB group that gives you exclusive $9.00 pricing per pattern (over 20% discount). Jackie will receive 100% of the proceeds from your purchases as our thanks for a job well done. This is also a way for you to say thank you to Jackie for her help. We hope you find something in our offerings each month that excites you to use your tool on another project.