***The Glad Tidings Quilt-along is now over, but the complete Glad Tidings pattern is available in my Etsy Shop.***
Welcome to Day 1 of the Glad Tidings Quilt-Along!
Today we're going to start with cutting. Admittedly not my favorite part of the process, but necessary to get to the fun stuff :). Because there are a lot of moving parts with this project—42 charm squares and 15 different blocks!—we'll be cutting only the background fabric today and cutting our charm squares as we move through the QAL. To help you stay organized, on the instruction sheet, I've designated the background pieces that you'll need for assembling the quilt with a little †. You can set these pieces aside until we assemble on Day 7 (12/19).
As I mentioned, we'll cut the charm squares as we go, but before we begin piecing on Day 2 (12/1) you may want to do some planning and decide which charm squares you intend to use for the various blocks. On the bottom half of the cutting instruction sheet, you'll find a list of how many squares you'll need for each of the blocks to help with your sorting. One thing to keep in mind—if your charm pack has a lot of light or low volume squares, you may want to reserve these for the pieced border to make sure that your blocks show up against your background fabric.
If you haven't had a chance to gather your materials yet, don't worry, we won't start piecing until Thursday so there's plenty of time to catch up. Jump in whenever you can—the instruction sheets will be accessible throughout December and the complete pattern will always be available in my Etsy shop.
Good luck with your cutting—you've got this!! I'll be back here on Thursday with Day 2 and instructions for our first blocks. So exciting!
—jen
