Checker Cakes Quilt Along: Week 1

Yay!!! Today’s the day! My Checker Cakes Quilt Along starts today! I’m SEW excited! This is my first time hosting a quilt along, and I am so thankful to everyone for joining me. If you haven’t got your free Checker Cakes pattern yet, click here. You can view the quilt along schedule here. If you’re joining us late, you can still sign up as long as the quilt along is still going. Sign up here.

This week we are going to be choosing our fabrics and making high volume/low volume pairs. I originally wrote this pattern to use up leftover layer cakes squares. My first Checker Cakes Quilt was scrappy all the way, both high volumes and low volumes. It’s mostly pink with a few grays and greens scattered in with scrappy low volumes because that is what I had at the time. I was using layer cake squares leftover from color schemes picked out by some clients for a few different commissioned quilts. I love how my first Checker Cakes Quilt turned out, but it’s not necessarily the colors I would have picked out myself. In theory, my favorite color is green, but I find myself drawn to blue and yellow quilts. I’ve always wanted to make another Checker Cakes (or two) with blues and yellows. So, both of the quilts I’m going to make with you in this quilt along have some blue and yellow in them.

When you choose fabrics for this quilt, pick fabrics that YOU like. It’s YOUR quilt, and you will enjoy making it more if you like the fabrics. Don’t worry about what you think someone else would pick. There will be all sorts of color schemes and print types posted on Instagram during the quilt along, and I am SEW excited to see them all. That said, I do have a little advise for you with choosing your fabrics and making your pairs.

Fabric Options

The leftover layer cake squares option that this pattern was originally written for is a little bit limiting. So, I’ve made a few more options to make it easier for everyone to participate. I will be making an Option 2 and and Option 5 during this quilt along.

Option 1) Use leftover layer squares like I did in my first Checker Cakes Quilt.

28 high volume squares & 28 low volume squares

Option 2) Use two layer cakes, a printed one and a solid one.

28 printed squares & 28 solid squares

***You could also use 36 & 36 for a bigger quilt that uses more of each layer cake. It would be 8 blocks by 9 blocks instead of 7 by 8 as instructed in the pattern.

Option 3) Scrapbuster/stashbuster. Cut your own 10″ squares.

28 high volume squares & 28 low volume squares

Option 4) Fat quarters

10 high volume fat quarters & 10 low volume fat quarters

This will give a slightly less scrappy look. You will have 4 extra blocks.

***Note: I have made some cutting diagrams for getting your squares from the fat quarters. I designed the diagrams to waste as little of each fat quarter as possible. So, each fat quarter will have (2) 10″ squares and a rectangle piece that will use a different cutting diagram for cutting your 9 pieces. If you prefer to only cut your pieces from 10″ squares per the diagram in the pattern, just use more fat quarters. You will need 14 high volume fat quarters and 14 low volume fat quarters, and you will cut (2) 10″ squares from each. You will not have any leftover 10″ squares if you do this, but it will give you a lot of excess from each fat quarter. This would actually be great for cutting strips for a scrappy binding. This will make more sense when you see the fat quarter cutting diagrams further down in this post.

Option 5) Mix and match between Options 1-4.

Choosing your Fabrics

Fabric choice is very much a personal decision. It doesn’t matter if someone else says certain colors do or do not go together. If you like the color combo, use it! Again, YOUR quilt needs to look good to YOU, unless you’re making it for someone else, then I suppose you should consider what they like. I have a reel on my Instagram where I go through a few fabrics and declare them a “yes”, “no”, or “maybe” for this quilt pattern. Each piece in this quilt will be cut to 3.25″. So, the scale of the print is a factor. You may want to avoid fabrics with large prints that will be unrecognizable after you cut them up for the quit. However, this can work to your advantage in some situations. What if you find a fabric with all of your favorite colors, but you don’t like the print? This might be a good time to use it because the small pieces can hide those ugly prints.

Making your Pairs

You will pair a high volume square with a low volume square. This pair will make two blocks that opposite match. One block will have 5 high volume squares and one will have 5 low volume squares. You can look at my pink Checker Cakes Quilt and find the opposite matches. You will need a total of 28 pairs to make a quilt the same size as the pattern directs. So, if you choose to use the Option 5 mix and match, just be sure you have 28 pairs.

Low volumes can be a little tricky. There are quieter low volumes and louder low volumes. The quieter low volumes don’t have bright colors or obvious prints on them. The louder low volumes don’t like to sit quietly in the corner. Check out the picture below. These are the fabrics I chose for my Option 5 mix and match version that I will be making. The fabrics in the top row are my high volumes, and the fabrics in the bottom row are my low volumes. Can you tell which low volumes are a little louder? If you find a few loud low volumes that sing to you, don’t feel like you have to leave them out. You can work with these, but you have to pair them carefully.

For these loud low volumes, I Iike to pair them with a high volume that makes it obvious which is the high volume and which is the low volume. So, pairing the low volume with the dark blue flowers with the red fabric seems like a good pair to me. I will be posting my pairs on my Instagram this week if you want to check them out.

Cutting your Fabrics

If you are using all layer cake squares (Options 1 and 2) you won’t have to do any cutting this week. I’ll be making an Option 2 with the fabrics above. Some of them could easily be considered low volumes if they weren’t paired with the stark white solids.

If you’re cutting your own 10″ squares from your stash or from fat quarters, you’ll cut those this week. It’s worth noting that it is definitely tempting to cut your squares to 9.75″ instead of 10″. You can certainly do this, and it will be the exact size you need to to get your (9) 3.25″ pieces. BUT, I like to go ahead and cut all of the squares to 10″. When you start making blocks, you will stack a high volume and a low volume square and cut them both at the same time. If you’re using layer cakes squares from multiple layer cakes or pairing them with 10″ squares you cut yourself, they may not all be perfect 10″ squares. They may not stack up perfectly. The extra quarter inch will give you a little wiggle room for these times when your 10″ squares don’t stack perfectly.

The diagram below shows how you can make the most efficient use of fat quarters. There is also a reel posted on my Instagram where I demo this. The (2) 10″ squares can be paired with any other 10″ square (layer cake squares or 10″ squares cut from your stash/scraps), and you can cut your 9 pieces as shown in the pattern. The leftover section can also be cut into (9) 3.25″ pieces, but you will want to pair them with other leftover sections so that you can stack the pair and cut them both at the same time. I like to mix up my pairs from the fat quarters and make sure no two pairs in the quilt are alike for a scrappier look.

The diagram below shows how you will cut that leftover piece from the fat quarter so that you can get your (9) 3.25″ pieces from it. I will post this again each week since we will be cutting pieces as we go. I’ll also post a demo of me cutting the 9 pieces from this section on Instagram when it is closer to time for week 2. Remember to only pair this piece with another leftover piece so that you can stack them and cut your high volume and your low volume piece at the same time.

Prize for this Week

Our prize for this week is going to be a FREE PDF pattern. It’s my newest pattern, Sound Waves Baby Quilt. It is quick and easy to make and a perfect gift for a new mom.

To be eligible for prizes:

– You must be following me @snugglebugstitching on Instagram and post progress pictures for the week on Instagram by Tuesday at 5:00 PM Central Time. You must tag me @snugglebugstitching in your posts and use the #checkercakesqal.

-I will announce the winner on Instagram and tag the lucky quilt alonger so that they know they’ve won. The winner will have one week to contact me to claim the prize. Any unclaimed prizes will be forfeited.

Each Week on the Blog

I’ll link to all of the other weeks near the end of each post. I will add each post here as I have them. You can also find this on the Quilt Alongs Page.

Week 1 – You are currently at the Week 1 post
Week 2 – Make first 10 blocks; tips for cutting, chain piecing, pressing
Week 3 – Make 10 more blocks; announcement for my next quilt along; extra surprise prize
Week 4 – Make 10 more blocks; Pressing questions
Week 5 – Make 10 more blocks
Week 6 – Make 8 blocks; some progress pictures from my quilt alongers
Week 7 – Make 8 blocks: a discount on longarming services from Rainy Day Stitching
Week 8 – Finish your quilt top