Slab Version of the Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong 2026

In my need to share and inspire, I made three versions of this year’s Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong blocks. Thus, 3 quilt tops.

In my need to use up the growing mess of solid scraps I made a lot of slabs out of those scraps. Then I used those slabs as one of the fabrics in my blocks.

It all came together even better than I imagined it would. The resulting quilt is so colourful and dynamic. It served as great experimentation of what you can do with slabs and ways to make things work a little easier for yourself. For example, pressing direction really matters when it comes to slabs. Because I paired my slabs with Kona Snow, my instinct was to always press towards the slabs, so that I had no shadowing in the seam allowances. However, that doesn’t always work with slabs. You have a lot more seam allowances to contend with so always pressing towards the dark could be challenging and sometimes result in a lot of unevenness. So I will just double check my pressed seams for any shadowing before I quilt and it won’t be a big deal at all.

This quilt was put together in the order that the blocks were made, in rows of 5. Because I designed the quilt as we went, I was often thinking of the overall composition as I did each block. Same goes for playing with the relationship between blocks. For example, if I felt a section was getting too dark, then it was time to switch to the Snow being the dominant feature in the block. or vice versa.

Quilting on the home machine will require two things - a very simple backing and a plan that keeps the needle moving forward only. With all the extra seam allowances slab blocks can cause one to skip stitches and over the years those two things can help prevent or, at least, manage the potential. Now to just decide on thread colour and a backing!

So much fun playing.