Anyone who knows me knows that I am just creative enough that I can’t follow instructions. Recipes? I always add something or put in a little more of this or that. So, knowing this about myself, I decided last month that I was going to do Then Came June’s Meadowland Quilt-A-Long 2.0.
I bought the pattern.
I found the fabric. I am using a fat quarter bundle of Lori Holt’s Granny Chic from Riley Blake. It is much more “old-fashioned” looking than my normal fare, but one day last fall I was at The Quilting Basket in American Fork and this fabric sample sang to me. Seriously. I just had to buy it. And it has been mocking me ever since.
So here we are at today. The first day of the QAL. I am supposed to iron and cut my fabrics. I think. I didn’t get the e-mail newsletter that I thought I had signed up for, so I signed up again. Anyway. . . it is cutting day. I was stressing about this part because I am not super accurate with my assortment of Olfa rotary cutters. It’s not their fault. Despite having tried every fix known to man, my ruler sometimes slips just a little and things get wonky.
And then. . . I saw that some quilt store in Omaha was having a “Cut your Meadowland with an Accuquilt” day last weekend. Several people had offered to pay the cutting fee to get the list of dies needed for the quilt, but there had been no response that I could see. I immediately thought, “I can do this myself!” (Right now my husband would be muttering “Of course she can. . .” if he were not at work.)
I started figuring out how to make the block with the 9″ Qube dies that I own. I bought my Accuquilt last spring at our local quilt show and I love it, but I haven’t really used it enough. I have been struggling with “quilting elbow” lately from cutting those 391 pillowcases, so I have been dreading cutting out Meadowland.I had just figured it all out when I got a message from Stephanie Jacobson. She figured out how to cut this pattern with the 8″ Qube and some other Accuquilt dies and put together a great handout. Contact information for her will be found below.
You need to understand that unless you have the 8” block set, your blocks are not going to come out to the 16.5” blocks that have been designed lovingly by Meghan for you. You can NOT use the 9”, 10” or 12” dies with the prescribed fat quarters, but if you wanted to buy extra yardage, you could do it.
If you have the 8” Qube set and you OWN THE MEADOWLAND PATTERN, you should contact stephjacobsondesigns through Instagram. Make sure you like her page. She came up with a brilliant list of how to cut the Meadowland using Accuquilt.
If you have a 6”, 9”, 10”, or 12” set, send a selfie of you and your pattern to me at OhKayeQuilting@gmail.com and I will send you my tips for cutting this awesome pattern with the Accuquilt. Please understand that I have only tested the 9” Qube blocks, but the instructions should work for the other sizes.
Here’s the naked truth. . . when it came down to the rubber meeting the road, I really wanted to use my fat quarter pack, so I chose to use the cutting diagram that came with the pattern. And it wasn’t that hard. Just a little scary. My rulers stuck like glue and my new Olfa blade cut through that fabric (even 6 layers) like a hot knife through butter. (impressed with that over usage of similes? Just you wait. . .)
