Welcome to part 3 of my String of Pearls Quilt Along. Everyone is making such wonderful progress! Be sure to visit my flickr group to see all the fabulous pictures everyone is sharing.

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For those of you just joining us, it’s never to late to start. You can sew at your own pace and use whichever fabrics you like!

Today we will sew all of our Pearl Blocks together to complete the quilt top. It took me a total of 9 hours of sewing for this lesson. Your mileage may vary. 🙂

Step 1 – Finishing the Pearl Blocks (4 hours)

Lay out a pearl unit surrounded by background rectangles so that you can see how the block sews together. You will be sewing the shorter bands to either side of a pearl unit first.

Chain sew half of the 2.5″ x 7.5″ black/grey bands to one side of 36 (7.5″) pearl units. Be sure to pin generously so you keep everything in proper alignment. If you need to trim the blocks as you go, that’s ok. Just be sure they are all the same measurement.

Hint: Stack up all pieces for all blocks in a pile next to your sewing machine so they are ready to sew. If you are sewing with darker fabrics, use a darker neutral thread.

Sew the rest of the black/grey bands to the other side of the block and press seams open. You should have 36 units that look like this:

Sew in the same manner for the top and bottom of the block. Sew the longer 2.5″ x 11.5″ black/grey bands to either side to complete a total of 36 blocks. Again, press seams open.

Repeat for a total of 36 blocks. Your blocks should measure 11.5″. It’s not a big deal if they are a little smaller or larger, so long as they are all the same size.

Step 2 – Sewing the Rows (2.5 Hours)

Now comes the creative part. Take a few minutes to arrange your blocks in a pleasing color order on a design wall or other large flat surface such as a table or bed.

Hint: to keep your blocks organized, take a picture with your camera phone. You can refer to this picture as you sew for block placement.

Sew the blocks together into pairs. Pin generously, starting at the little black intersections to keep everything neatly lined up.

Join pairs of blocks together to complete a total of 6 rows of 6 blocks each.

Step 3 – Complete the Quilt Top (2.5 hours)

Now you can decide whether you would like to press the seams in your rows open or to the side. I still prefer to press open because they lie flatter. I use a wooden seam roller to open the seams. Then I go back over the seam with a hot, dry iron.

Hint: If you decide to press your seams to the side, alternate pressing directions per row. For example, press all odd rows to the left and all even rows to the right.

Pinning generously, sew two rows together at a time. Then join larger sections until you have completed your quilt top. My top is a little larger than my design wall so I had to drape it over a bit. 🙂

Give your quilt top a final pressing and display prominently in your home so you can enjoy until it’s time to baste and quilt!

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Now it’s time to show me yours! Please share pictures of your progress on my flickr group: Christa’s Quilt Along. You can also email me pictures to christa@christaquilts.com and I’ll share some of them on my blog.

Quilt Along Schedule – links will be active at the completion of each step:

• String of Pearls Introduction
• Step 1 – Rotary cutting all the pieces
• Step 2 – Sewing all the “pearl” blocks
• Step 3 – Completing the quilt top
  
• Step 4 – Backing and basting
  
• Step 5 – Machine quilting #1 straight lines
• Bonus – Extra spiral quilting
• Step 6 – Machine quilting #2 swirls ‘n pearls
  
• Step 7 – Binding to finish

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Grab my Quilt Along button!

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