Earth Day: Forest Floor GO! Crazy Quilt

The last few weeks have made it hard to keep track of what day it is...or maybe, each passing date has been extremely obvious to you. Whichever camp you're in, you might still need a reminder that today is Earth Day! In honor of our planet, we're here to inspire you with a quilt tutorial created by GO! Getter, Denise Looney of For the Love of Geese!

 

Hi everyone, it's Denise. Happy Earth Day! Today, I am going to walk you through cutting and piecing the new Block on Board (BOB) GO! Crazy Quilt-6” Finished block (55226). With the BOB die, this was such a quick block to make and looks more technical than it really is.

 

The fabric I chose to use is the new Mesa Verde Collection by Island Batik. This collection reminds me of a forest floor in the fall. Now I know it's spring and you can choose your own favorite spring fabrics but my home is all about the earth tones of fall.

Raid your stash and GO! totally scrappy for a true Crazy Quilt.

Let's get started.

 

AccuQuilt dies for this project


Fabric

  • One 10” square for each block you plan to make. My quilt has 16 blocks for a 34" finish (minus the Prairie Point border).
  • ¾ yard for sashing (if adding).

 

GO! Crazy Quilt Block Tips

AccuQuilt recommends mixing the pieces up prior to forming your blocks to avoid duplicates. There's a total of 10 patches per block and for the first patch I left the stack as it was. For the second stack, I moved the two top pieces to the bottom. The third stack, I moved the top three pieces to the bottom and so on.

 

Only place five layers of fabric on the GO! Crazy Quilt die. Most GO! dies allow for up to six layers, but with all the blades needed to make separate pieces, AccuQuilt recommends only five layers or less of any fabric at a time.

 

cut-squares

 

All seams in the block are ¼” and pressed open.

 

Click here for a GO! Crazy Quilt assembly instructions, a video and 3 free patterns.

 

Assembly

Chain piecing will speed the process and I was able to have all 16 blocks completed in no time.

chain-piecing

 

Again, you will want to download the block assembly instructions to make sure you're constructing the block correctly, but below are the general directions with pictures:

  • Join A to B
  • Join D and E
  • Join F to G
  • Join H and I

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  • Join C to AB
  • Join J to HI
  • Join JHI to FG
  • Join DE to HIJGF

 

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Join the two block halves. Decorative stitching can be done to individual blocks before joining them or the stitches can double as your quilting.

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There was a downside to decorating the blocks prior to joining: I had to square the blocks to 6¼” after because I didn't use a stabilizer. Hind sight! All those threads are a fright too. Next time I make this, I will definitely use the decorative stitching as my quilting and save time.

 

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Without Sashing

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With Sashing and Border

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Cut nine 2½” strips. You will use four strips for the outside border, two strips for the 6½” sashing (or in my case 6¼"), and three strips for sashing between the rows. Press seams towards sashing.

 

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Add a decorative border or not. The photo above reminds me of looking out a window and viewing a wonderful splash of natural, earthy colors.

 

3-4

2-7

1-7

 

Finish

I chose an all over loopty-loop quilting that adds so much texture to the finish. To cut the Prairie Points I used the 4½" square die. Not too bad for my first Prairie Point border.

 

Will You Make Your Own?

I would love to see yours and so would AccuQuilt. Don't forget to tag and follow @AccuQuilt on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and @fortheloveofgeese on Instagram or @4theloveofgeese on Twitter. You can follow my website too! Don't forget to keep checking back to see what we're all doing while Quilting Under Quarantine.