A Quilted Sampler

I know my stitching friends are familiar with needlework samplers...but are you familiar with a sampler quilt? Sampler quilts are made up of an assortment design blocks - they are often used as a teaching tool for beginner quilters to help with skill building or for more advanced quilters to show off their skills or a variety of quilt blocks. The sewist makes a range of quilt blocks and then those finished blocks are pieced together to make a full quilt.

Several months ago, AccuQuilt asked me to create a sample for their GO! Value Die Sampler Quilt which features twelve 8" quilt blocks that can can be created with one cutting die (the GO! Value Die). This sampler quilt is perfect for a beginner quilter and/or a beginner AccuQuilt GO! user, as it is straightforward piecing of squares, triangles, and strips - and you get to try out a variety of quilt blocks. Although this quilt looks a bit complicated, it only uses three cutting dies: the GO! Value Die, the GO! Strip Cutter-4 1/2" (4" Finished), and the GO! Strip Cutter-2 1/2" (2" Finished) - and it really is simple, if you break it down block by block. It only uses six fabrics...and if you are unhappy with any of the individual quilt blocks, AccuQuilt has 72 GO! Mix & Match 8" Quilt Blocks available, so you can easily make adjustments. I made this quilt in a couple days, but you could do one block a day (or one block a week or month) and have it done in no time.

If you are in the market for a GO! Fabric Cutter, the new GO! Fabric Cutter Starter Set includes the GO! Fabric Cutter, the GO! Value Die (55018), a 6" x 12" cutting mat, a die pick, and a 20-page pattern booklet which includes the 12 block patterns and the GO! Value Die Sampler Quilt pattern I am featuring today...so you can start creating this beautiful sampler quilt right away. If you already have a fabric cutter and/or you would like to have the sampler quilt pattern, you are in luck - for a limited time, you can download the pattern, along with instructions for any/all of the 72 - 8" quilt block patterns for FREE...yep, I said free!..and that is A LOT of sewing inspiration...

You can find the GO! Value Die Sampler Quilt pattern here:
http://www.accuquilt.com/go-value-die-sampler-quilt-pattern.html

You can find each of the 72 - 8" block patterns and instructions here:
http://www.accuquilt.com/patterns/block-patterns/go-mix-match-quilt-blocks.html

You can read more about these quilt blocks and the sampler quilt on the AccuQuilt Blog:
http://www.accuquilt.com/blog/72-go-quilt-block-ideas/
http://www.accuquilt.com/blog/53-free-quilt-block-patterns/

Believe it or not, AccuQuilt has asked me to make four more of these sampler quilts, and I enjoyed the first one so much, I took on this huge job...so I will be creating four more. This quilt is a great size at 48" x 48"...maybe in my "spare time", I can make a fifth one for myself - it would make a great lap quilt! If you want to brush up on your piecing skills...or try some new quilt block designs...or perfect your triangle piecing, then I hope you will try making this sampler quilt - I think you will be impressed with yourself and how quickly it comes together!