Quilt-As-You-Go Block

The pillow on the right is the one that inspired my tutorial to show how to do a quilt-as-you-go technique to finish a quick project. This pillow was made using scraps to demonstrate the technique at my Monday quilt group.  After I got home I finished the back to complete the pillow.  For just grabbing random pieces of fabric to fit the side I was adding to, this turned out pretty nice... kind of wonky.

I then wanted to show what it would look like done with two fabrics... not counting the center.  The following is a tutorial to show the Quilt-As-You-Go technique for the block below. 


This blue and white block was trimmed down to 15" when done.  I started out with a backing fabric that was about 17" square. 
The back will be inside the pillow, so it does not matter if it matches anything.  I only was concerned that it was a light color that would not create a shadow with white being a major part of the block.  I cut the strips of fabric for the block at 2".  The batting was a little less than 17" square.

Start by laying the backing face down with the batting on top.  Put the square piece in the center of the batting. You can use whatever stitch pattern you choose to quilt the square in place.  I used the edge of the foot for my spacing.

The first strip right side down on the square.  Stitch with a scant 1/4" seam only to the edge of the blue and trim even with the edge.  Turn out the white and finger press.

Again, using the edge of the foot as a guide, stitch lines to quilt this piece.  There is room to stitch one more line but it is not necessary because the next row will cover this edge.

On the left it is a little hard to see that this is the second strip as it is white against the white batting. On the right, I flipped the piece over and quilted the lines.

Here is where the third side was added.  I did not show the trimming for the white pieces, but this is how I trimmed the strips to the correct length.  I squared up the end with the edge of the line underneath and cut with my scissors.

Keep adding pieces log cabin style and you are using the Quilt-As-You-Go technique.  I used a straight stitch, but you can get fancy and use a decorative stitch, or use a larger space between lines, but with the first pillow above being a little wonky, I wanted to show a more structured look with this block.

The first pillow above I trimmed to 14 1/2" which is what I thought would fit the pillow form I had.  It turned out that it was a little snug, so this time I trimmed it to 15" to give me a little more "wiggle room".

I hope to post a follow-up with this block finished as a pillow.