It’s time again for Fat Quarter Shop’s Perfect 10 Sampler Quilt Along, Week 5, and this week I have a few tips to share with you as we feast on the Dutch Chocolate and French Vanilla blocks! Did someone say “hot, creamy, drinks with a dollop of whipped cream?” Yes, please!

I loved these two blocks. Every week I mention how quickly they go together, but this week seemed even quicker because of a few shortcuts easily incorporated.

With the French Vanilla blocks (we made four), I stacked my printed layer cake fabrics, made all the cuts at one time through the stack, shifted the fabrics and was ready in just a few minutes to take everything to the sewing machine. Fast!

Dutch Chocolate has probably been my favorite block so fat in this quilt along, as far as cutting and assembly! I love half square triangles, especially when I can use my Speedy 8 method which I’ve written about so many times in the past. You can read about the Speedy 8 HSTs method in more detail in this blog post from the FQS Snapshots QAL.

A 10-inch square is a bit bigger than needed to use the Speedy 8 method, but I didn’t bother to trim any excess and left my three squares full size.

Next, I cut three 10-inch white squares and drew lines on each with a Frixion marker.

Now it was time to stack a white square on a print square and head to the sewing machine where I stitched a seam a quarter inch away on either side of the diagonal lines.

When done stitching, I cut on ALL the drawn lines. This gave me the eight HSTs I needed from each print.

Now it was off to the press the blocks, then return to the cutting mat and square up each block with my “can’t live without” Bloc_Loc ruler. Seriously….can’t live without.

From there, I followed the remaining instructions to assemble the block. Easy, easy blocks this week!

Resources for the Perfect 10 QAL

• Perfect 10 Book  by It’s Sew Emma
• Perfect 10 Ruler from Creative Grids
• Perfect 10 Book/Ruler Combo
• Layer Cake precuts:  Smitten Layer Cake by Bonnie & Camille
• Smitten Navy Floral Lawn fabric for the backing
• Smitten Navy Dot fabric for binding
• Moda 9900-98 (white) background fabric
• Perfect 10 Combo Pack
• Pleasant Homes Ruler Pal
• Creative Grids 2½” x 6½” ruler
• Bloc_Loc HST rulers
• Alphabitties
• Frixion markers

Who’s Quilting Along

• Cynthia of Dream Quilt Create
• Gina of Thread Grafitti
• Heidi of Buttons and Butterflies
• Jennie of Porch Swing Quilts
• Kim of Persimon Dreams
• Melanie of A Bit of Scrap Stuff
• Pam of Pam Kitty Morning
• Sinta of Pink Pincushion
• Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio

Quilt Along with us using #FQSPerfect10

Let us see your Perfect 10 Sampler blocks  on Instagram or Facebook using #FQSPerfect10 ! Here’s our schedule for the next several weeks. I hope you’ll join us!

October 9, 2018 – Banana Block and Birthday Cake Block
​October 16, 2018 – Buttered Pecan Block and Coconut Block
​October 23 – Coffee Block and Cookie Dough Block
​October 30 – Cookies ‘n Cream Bock and Cotton Candy Block
November 6 – Dutch Chocolate Block and French Vanilla Block
November 13 – Lemon Sorbet Block and Mint Chocolate Chip Block
November 27 – Neapolitan Block and Peaches ‘n Cream Block
December 4 – Rainbow Sherbet Block and Rocky Road Block