Checker Cakes Quilt Along: Week 2

Here we are at the start of Week 2! I’m so excited. I’ve really enjoyed seeing your fabric pulls, and I’m so excited to start seeing some blocks coming together. Keep posting those progress pictures on Instagram with the #checkercakesqal and tag me @snugglebugstitching.

Schedule Correction

The first thing we need to take care of today is a little bit of housekeeping. I confess that I made a mistake… The schedule that I checked over dozens of times before it made it into your emails and onto the Quilt Alongs page had an error… I originally had the blocks scheduled to make 9 blocks each for weeks 2-5 and 10 blocks each for weeks 6 and 7. I can’t believe it took me this long to notice, but I really shouldn’t have odd numbers of blocks scheduled per week. Since these blocks are supposed to be made in pairs, we should make an even number of blocks each week. So, I changed it to 10 blocks each week for weeks 2-5 and 8 blocks each week for weeks 6 and 7. I have corrected this on that Quilt Alongs page. If you are signed up for the quilt along, you will get the corrected schedule in your email in the morning on Wednesday 7/12. Here’s that corrected schedule so you don’t have to go back and pull the email up.

I have a lot of information for you today. It’s time to start making blocks! So, I have some tips for cutting your pieces, chain piecing, and pressing. I have an article for each. You can go to each with the links below. To make it easier to navigate, each topic has a link to the other two topics as well as a link to get back here to the main page. You’ll see those at the bottom of each page. I’ve also been dropping a lot of reels on Instagram so that you can see me demo things. Those links are all in the page for the topic they apply to.

Navigation

Cutting Your Pieces – The cutting diagram for the odd rectangle piece from fat quarters is listed here.

Chain Piecing

Pressing

Prize for this Week

Our prize for this week is going to be a fat quarter bundle. I cut it myself from my Kona Cotton stash. I like to call this bundle Pretty Princess. It was inspired by a T-shirt quilt I made. I used a lot of those colors in the backing and binding.

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.

I’ve got an extra prize next week, in addition to the one I initially had planned. The best part is that anyone who wants it can win this prize. There is NO LIMIT to how many people can win! The way to win this one will be a game, sort of a find it game. That’s all the hints.

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 – Gathering fabrics and making pairs
Week 2 – You are currently at the Week 2 post
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