Summer Sampler 2018: Shenzhen block

It's Monday, which means another block is here for the Summer Sampler 2018 quilt-along! Block #2 is "Shenzhen" by Angela Pingel. This fun and simple block recalls some of the design elements from the first week, Water Well by Katie Blakesley.

But first, a little background! Summer Sampler 2018: Summer Road Trip is a quilt-along where all the blocks are travel-inspired. We're making one block per week, starting now and going through September. Angela's block was inspired by a Chinese architecture. You can read more about her inspiration here.

So let's put another star on our world-travel map ... this time it's China! This is only the second stop on our world tour—want to join us? Click here to subscribe to Summer Sampler 2018.

And now are you ready for this week's tips and tricks? Every Monday I'm blogging a few little pieces of advice for making that week's block.

With its narrow strips, making the Shenzhen block will probably feel like deja vu to last week's. But actually, I think this block is even easier to sew than Water Well, because the block is sewn in quadrants rather than 12.5" long strips. Still, while the piecing skills are beginner level, it's very easy to screw up this block by sewing the wrong pieces together—or sewing pieces to the wrong sides of other pieces. The pieces are small and there aren't huge size variations among them, so it's all too easy to grab a piece that's the wrong size or the wrong color. I had to tear out seams three times while I was making this block, because I wasn't paying close enough attention while I was sewing, so I kept messing it up!

So Tip #1 is: Go slowly, double-checking that each piece you add is in the right location, and don't turn your brain off while you're sewing this one. 😂

Tip #2: The most challenging part of the actual piecing of this block is lining up the seams when you sew the quadrants together. As with last week's block, I pressed all my seams open, but this is a case where pressing seams to the side so they can nest together might make more sense for some quilters. The pattern includes information about which direction to press your seams so that the seams will nest and give you more accurate results.

Okay, I think that's it for this week's destination! If you want to join us, click here to subscribe, and if you're already quilting along with us, be sure to hashtag #summersampler2018 to show us your progress. Have a great week!