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I've been trying to think of a way to describe the way I learned how to join QAYG projects without sewing a sash between the blocks. Obviously, it's explainable but I saw it on Quilt in A Day, Eleanor Burns' show eons ago. Trying to draw it is another thing entirely. It could involve more hand sewing so it depends on the look you want.

You do your blocks, quilting it as you go. Then you begin to sew the blocks together, RST, top pieces, only; folding the backing and batting away from where you will sew. (You can sew the front and the batting at the same time, you'll just go back and trim the batting when you're finished.) Press the seam.

Fold the batting down to cover the top/front seam, if you haven’t sewn it Trim the batting pieces so they lay flat, if needed. You may find you only need to trim away one side. You only need one layer.

Then you fold down one side of the backing and make a 1/4" fold with the other backing and lay it across the seam area. You can either hand sew that piece in place or you can sew it with your machine.

When it is time to sew the rows together, you repeat the process. You can do a complete row and then join other rows, or putting four blocks together at one time seems easier.

I’m sure some of you know this method and some don’t. I figured it might be time to repeat it.

Paus, that is my favorite method for QAYG, if you cut precisely and make your fold correctly you can use the machine to sew that last seam without it being to noticeable, but I really prefer to do it by hand. Ohhh and it is important not to sew all the way to the edge when sewing blocks together as you need the seam allowance to attach the rows together or you'll be pulling out the trusty seam ripper...LOL...been there done that!

And here's the way the front and back look when finished. I really do like this method, better than adding the sashing. A little more work, but.....

Ohhh, hi, Kentucky Sunshine. Glad to see I'm not the only one that likes this. I've done several baby/snuggly quilts this way and unless I needed that extra sashing, this is the way I went.

Thank you for the refresher - wish I had seen this yesterday! Anyway, so do you leave a larger seam allowance on the backing - how much?

Elainetoo, you don't have to cut the backing larger. When you lay the backing down over the seam and then fold the other backing all you are really doing is using what you would have used to create a seam in the first place. And if your sewing has changed your seam allowance, you have a fudge factor because of the part you simply laid over the front seam.

Nothing's going anywhere because it's already been sewn together while you were making the block.

I like that better than adding strips. i did one with strips on the back. at times in doing my rows, i forgot how i handled the strips earlier and found they didn't line up well when they were all put together. at least it was the back!

An extra step might be to press the 1/4 inch seam allowance on your backing before you sew your top sections together, then the backing seam is all ready for you to hand or machine stitch and is straighter than the wavy hand folding in.