Sparklers Quilt-Along: Week 6
Welcome to Week 6 of the Sparklers Quilt-Along!
Before we jump in this week, I wanted to share a quick personal note. I know I haven’t been as present on social media lately, and part of that is because the last few weeks I’ve been dealing with quite a bit of exhaustion.
Since being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s last October, and also navigating perimenopause and constantly shifting hormones, I’ve been on a journey to support my gut and thyroid health. Recently, though, the fatigue has been heavier than usual, and I’ll be honest — it’s been discouraging at times.
After trying more natural approaches over the past six months, I’m starting to look into getting a little additional support as well. I’m not giving up — I know this kind of journey takes time to figure out what works for each person, and I’m continuing to learn as I go. I just wanted to share a little of where I’m at right now.
That being said…. Can you believe we made it to the final week?
If you’ve made it this far — I am so proud of you. Finishing a quilt is no small thing, and this one is extra special because you’ve created it step-by-step alongside so many other quilters, with fabrics from so many other quilters!
What We’re Finishing This Week
- Add your borders
- Quilting
- Prep your binding
Adding Your Borders
When it comes to borders, I’ll be honest — I’m not always a huge fan, and I often choose to skip them. It seems like quilters tend to either love borders or leave them off altogether. But for this quilt, I really felt like it needed something to frame it out and ground the design, and the border does exactly that.
Borders are also a place where you can really let your personal preference guide you. You can make them thinner, wider, or even add multiple borders — there’s no right or wrong here.
That said, you can follow the pattern as written, skip the border altogether, or adjust it in a way that fits your style.
When I sew my border strips together, I join them together using a straight seam, but I always decrease my stitch length (to about 1), so the stitches don’t pull apart when I press the seams open (to reduce bulk).
Quilting Your Quilt
At this stage, you’ll want to decide how you’d like to quilt your project — whether you’d like to quilt it yourself or send it out to a long-arm quilter.
For many years, I quilted all of my quilts myself — primarily to save money, but also because I wanted to know I could do it. (It’s a great skill to work on!) More recently, I’ve been sending them out, mostly because of time. Both options are great, and it really just depends on what works best for you in this season.
For this quilt, I chose to send mine to Abby at Latimer Lane Quilting, and she quilted it using the Crosshatch Sparkle pattern. I always love seeing how quilting adds that final layer of texture and brings everything together.
Binding
For my binding, I used THIS Nantucket Summer Navy Stripe by Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms. I’m a sucker for a striped binding, and I LOVE how this one tied the quilt together. However, I think THIS Summertime Navy would also be a cute binding, if you like stripes, but want something that is slightly different than your typical stripe.
When I sew my binding strips together, I prefer do a diagonal seam, which reduces bulk.
If I have time this week, I’ll try to get a video for you on how to match stripes on binding. It’s not hard, I promise!
Show & Tell
I would LOVE to see your finished quilts (or even just where you are right now)!
Share in the Facebook group or tag me on Instagram — it’s been so fun seeing everyone’s quilts come together, and I can’t wait to see the finished pieces.
Thank You!
Thank you so much for sewing along with me.
It truly means a lot that you would spend your time making this quilt — and allowing me to be a small part of that process.
And if you enjoyed this quilt-along, I have another fabric swap planned for May that I would love for you to be part of. I’ll be sharing more details soon!
Julia
