What’s the key to learning and improving your embroidery skills?  Practice!  The My Block Piecer Sampler Quilt block of the month will help you do just that!  Learn the ins and outs to creating in-the-hoop quilt blocks with My Block Piecer, one of today’s hottest techniques. You’ll get familiar with one-unit blocks, advance to two- unit block and three-unit blocks. You’ll learn how to create in-the-hoop blocks from the block library and original artwork files. Plus you’ll create borders – perfectly proportioned without the math!

Don’t have the software?  You can download a free trial by clicking here.  You’ll enjoy a fully-functioning software with only the “Save Function” disabled.  Once you’re ready to purchase the software, visit an Inspirations Dealer to make the purchase. After you purchase, you can duplicate the quilt shown here over the next 12 months.

This block of the month series will feature two lessons every month:

Software Lesson:  First Saturday of the Month
Sewing Lesson:  To be published the following Wednesday

This block of the month sampler quilt has unlimited potential: scrappy, monochromatic, jewel tone, batiks, or ultra-modern quilt.

All blocks are a 6” finished square and the border blocks are 3” x 6” finished.  You can make one of each block or make four for a larger quilt.

Quilt Dimensions

• Finished size: 24” x 30”
  
• We opted to piece our quilt without sashing. If you plan on adding 1” wide finished sashing, you’ll need 1/3 yd. of fabric for the sashing.
• Fabric requirements:

This is a great opportunity to use scraps or select your own palette. You could go for a bright sunny look as shown above or opt for medium and dark jewel tones.  The image below shows a 42″ x 54″ version. In this version, you’ll make four repeats of each block.  If you opt for the larger quilt, double the yardage of each fabric.

Of course, you can never go wrong with an array of blues.

Yardage calculations are based on ¼” seam allowances. We have slightly increased the amounts for each fabric to allow some wiggle room for cutting and seam allowance.

Special thanks to Nancy Stansbury for this Block of the Month Series.

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My Block Piecer Sampler Quilt
Block of the Month: Block 1 Peony
Software Instructions

1. Open MBP.
2. Click on Create a New Design.
   
3. If the units for the ruler on the design page show mm, Right Click on either one of the rulers on the Design Page, and Click on Inches.
4. Right Click on either ruler again and click on Grid Settings.
   1. Check marks by:
      1. Maintain aspect ratio
      2. Snap to grid.
   2. Set horizontal spacing to 0.25.
5. Click OK.
6. Click on the Block icon.
   

1. Enter Peony #2 in the Find box at the bottom of the window (DO NOT CLICK THE ENTER KEY). You’ll find Peony #2 under Foundation Blocks, Foundation Flowers. Remember to include the # sign as there are several Peony blocks in the Block Library.
2. Click on the Down green arrow, next to the Find box.
3. Click OK to place the block on the design page.

• In the Properties Window on the right side of the screen, click on the Transform icon.
  
  1. Have Maintain aspect ratio checked.
  2. Change the Width to 6.
  3. Click Apply.
• Click on the Select icon and draw a box around the entire block, OR Enter CTRL-A to select all of the block.
• Click on the Workflow icon.
  
  1. In the Hoop field, select a 200mm x 200 mm hoop or similar for your machine from the drop down box.
  2. Click the Auto Build button.
  3. Click on Sort numbers. Click Yes in the message box.
     
  4. The numbers have been sorted according to the order you will add them to the block.
     
  5. Click Preview. I’ve filled in patch 1 with green for easy detection. On your file, look for the green outline. Click Save, located under Preview.
     
  6. The software will automatically create a new folder with three files: the stitch file (select the format for your machine), the artwork of the block and the stitching instructions in PDF format.
     
  7. Close the file window.
  8. Close the Save window.
• Click the Cutter icon.
  
  1. Seam allowance default is .25”. Normally I change this to 0.4” or 0.5”, to make it easier to place the fabric pieces no matter which output format I choose.
  2. How you are going create the fabric pieces for the block, will determine which file format (hoop) to choose for the templates.
     1. If printing templates and using them to manually cut the fabric pieces, select the Paper Letter 210×279 from the Hoop field.
     2. If using the Scan and Cut, select Brother SCN 12x12”.
     3. If using the Silhouette, select Silhouette 12x12”.
     4. For digital cutting files, change the repeat from 1 to 4 if you are making the large quilt.
  3. Can Unclick Optimize Orientation if using a directional fabric (This will optimize how the pieces file on the paper.)
  4. Click Apply.
  5. Click Save.
     1. In File name enter Peony Templates.
     2. Click Save.
     3. The Following Files are created.
        1. Peony templates.pdf.
        2. Peony templates_preview.pdf.
     4. Close the files window.
     5. Close the Cutter window.
• Print the templates, or prepare your fabric and send the templates to your cutter.
• Load the design in your machine and have fun making this block.