{Anchors Aweigh!} SoChick's 1st Annual Quilt Along

I had been thinking about doing a Quilt Along here on the blog for a little while now; I'm fairly new to quilting, so I wanted a quilt that could teach/reinforce some skills, but not necessarily a sampler quilt or a super-basic design.  I wanted a quilt that the novice quilter may shy away from, when in actuality the quilt was fairly simple to assemble, and one that any level quilter could be awesomely proud of.

I'm about 85% sure that this idea came to me when I was reading through my copy of Tula Pink's House of Quilts.  This gal designs some killer quilts, and although I can read the instructions and break them down to see the simplicity in it, they look rather intimidating at first.  I kept the idea on the back burner waiting for the perfect quilt to come along.

Enter, Anchors Aweigh:

Source: quiltingismytherapy.com via Erica on Pinterest

When I saw this quilt in a the background of one of Tula's Instragram photos from Fall Quilt Market... I was in love.  "What an awesomely complicated and completely beautiful quilt", I thought.  I already planned to add the fabric, Salt Water by Tula Pink, to my Fabric Shoppe, but when she released the free pattern for Anchors Aweigh... *happy dance*.

I had a feeling that this pixelated Anchor was not going to be as difficult as it appears at first glance, as is the way with Tula's quilts.  She has this way of making such stunning work, which looks super difficult, a piece of cake... or at least not nearly as complicated as one might imagine it to be.

Anyway, I knew this is what my First Annual Quilt Along needed to be... Anchors Aweigh!

This is my first ever Quilt Along!  My goal for this QAL is to encourage budding quilters to experience making a large quilt that they may otherwise shy away from.  Tula's pattern breaks this quilt top down into eight sections, so my posts for this quilt will also be broken down this way.  I will share tips for cutting all of your 2in squares (which is easier than it sounds, don't freak out), how to press your seams, piecing each strip, sewing your sections together and how to bind your finished quilt.  

At the end of this QAL you will have a completed Anchors Aweigh Quilt Top.  While I will share info on binding the finished quilt, I am going to leave the actual quilting up to you.  This is a large quilt which measures approx. 90 x 96 inches when finished, so you may choose to send it to a long arm quilter.  However, you can finish this quilt at home on your home sewing machine... yep, it's totally possible (keep reading).  

**My Quilt will use the Aqua colorway of Tula Pink's Salt Water collection, like the one above.  I do have a very limited number of Anchors Aweigh Quilt Kits available in my Big Cartel Shop.  My kits are for the Aqua colorway and include all of the fabric needed to complete your Anchors Aweigh quilt top, plus the binding fabric of your choice. (You will simply mention your option for binding fabric at checkout.)

  Remember, each Anchors Aweigh quilt will be unique to it's maker, choosing your binding is one way to set it apart, but also your backing fabric, purchased separately, and how you choose to quilt it, will make your quilt shine!  I encourage you to use Tula's Salt Water fabric as this quilt was designed with the collection in mind, but you don't have to make a blue anchor... choose from the Coral or Seaweed colorways to make your Anchor quilt fit with your personality!

*looking for a Quilt Kit in the Coral colorway? Email me at melissa(at)sochickhandbags(dot)com

{The Details} SoChick! Quilt Along

Start: February 18, 2013
End: March 25, 2013 

Each week we will tackle another strip set, with tips and skills needed for piecing, pressing, binding, etc.

Feel free to ask questions here on the blog, I will also set up a Flickr group for the QAL where you can upload photos of your progress and we can all discuss the quilt and ask/answer questions.

At the end of this QAL you will have a finished Anchors Aweigh Quilt Top; you will still need to have your quilt either finished by a longarm quilter, or on your home machine...

Enter, Craftsy.com:

I am happy to announce that Craftsy.com is generously offering a free online Lesson to one lucky participant of my 1st Annual Quilt Along!

{Via Craftsy.com}

Valued at $39.99, this is a great opportunity for learning a load of skills, as far as tackling large quilting projects on your home sewing machine.  I have this lesson and love how Ann breaks things down... even literally  breaking down the quilt and putting it back together!  Craftsy lessons never expire, you can learn at your own pace (even pausing, taking notes, getting back to the lesson several days later), ask questions and receive answers from your instructors!  If you haven't already, I encourage you to visit and sign up at Craftsy.com, you can read more in my blog about how much I heart them!

How the Craftsy Giveaway will work:

The final week of the QAL I will have a linky party set up in my final QAL blog post where you can link a photo of your completed Anchors Aweigh quilt top.  At the end of the given entry time frame I will randomly select a winner for the Craftsy Lesson.

My hope is that when all is sewn and done, you will have an Epic quilt to cherish and show off proudly proclaiming "I made that!"... seriously, everyone you know is going to have their socks blown off and they'll never know how simple your "awesomely complicated and completely beautiful quilt" really was!

I hope you'll join me!

Read about Prepping for the QAL: {Get Ready! Prep & Cut}

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Download your free Anchors Aweigh Quilt Pattern Here

Joining in on the QAL and have a website or blog? Proudly share the news with everyone with this button:

<a href="http://www.sochickhandbags.com/2013/01/anchors-aweigh-sochicks-1st-annual.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://sochickhandbags.com/SoChick_150pxQuiltAlongAd.jpg" alt="SoChickHandbags.com" width="150" height="150" /></a>

"See" you soon!

XxOo~ Melissa