We made it to the end of the road on this sew along project. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have! I also hope you learned a few quilting tips along the way. If you have just found this blog and say to yourself “what did I miss?”, click on last week’s blog post: Week 9, and you will find block 9 and links to all of the previous weeks. In this post, I will share my finished quilt top and provide a link for the finishing instructions. This setting is optional, so feel free to create your own setting if you do not like mine. I will also provide some tips for on-point settings for quilts to help make this setting easier for you to achieve. At the end, there will be information on the grand prize drawing. I will be including all the names from all the weeks, including those of you who comment on this week’s post. So let’s get started!
2021 Block of the Week Quilt Top
Here is my setting for the 9 blocks we made over the last 9 weeks.

What do you think? As with a lot of my patterns, I like to add a secondary design element. That’s what the black checkerboard blocks and setting triangles achieve. For these finishing instructions, click here: 2021 BOW Finishing. I hope you like it! If you are not a fan of on point quilts, feel free to use your own setting or you can use the setting for the 2020 block of the week quilt. Those instructions are here, the blocks are just different, of course.
Creating an On Point Quilt Setting
First I will share an overview of how you set blocks on point and then I will use this years BOW quilt to demonstrate the piecing steps.
Setting Triangles – Unlike quilts made from blocks that are set normally, on point block quilts need what are called setting triangles. Setting triangles are cut from squares. There are side triangles and end triangles.

For our block of the week quilt, we are piecing the side setting triangles but it’s a good idea to know this step when all your setting triangles are not pieced.
When I write my patterns for on point set quilt tops, I do the calculations for these triangles for you and tell you what size squares you need to cut them from. However, if you are making a pattern with a straight setting but decide you want to do an on point setting, you will need the formulas for those calculations. So here they are:
Side Triangles – You take the finished size of your block x 1.414, then add 1 1/4″ to that number. For example, if your finished block is 6″, here is how the formula works:
6″ x 1.414 = 8.48″ (round this up to the nearest 1/8″ to 8.5″)
8.5″ + 1 1/4″ = 9 3/4″ square needed.
This square is then cut diagonally twice for 4 quarter-square triangles. For the above quilt, there are 12 side triangles, so you will need three 9 3/4″ squares:

End Triangles – You take the finished size of your block/(divided by) 1.414, then add 7/8″ to that number. Example:
6/1.414 = 4.243 (round this up to the nearest 1/8″ to 4.25
4.25 + 7/8 = 5 1/8″ square needed.
This square is then cut diagonally once for 2 half-square triangles. You need 4 end triangles, so you will need two 5 1/8″ squares:

Since our side triangles are pieced, I will take a little detour here and give a brief tutorial on making those before we continue with the piecing of the full quilt top. In our pattern, you will be making a 4 patch unit and use two quarter-square triangles to complete the side triangle. The photo below is the first triangle laid out next to the 4 patch unit:

When you stitch a square and a triangle together like this, line up the 90 degree corners (where I am pointing). The point of the triangle will overlap. Don’t cut that off because that helps us achieve 1/4″ seam allowance above the 4 patch unit of our finished setting triangle unit. In the photos below, you will see the rest of the steps:



As you can see in the last photo, the stitching line for the second seam crosses at the other point made when you attached the first triangle. When you press the unit and flip it over, you will see there is 1/4″ above the top of the 4 patch unit created by these triangles so you will not cut it off when this side triangle is pieced into the quilt top.

Laying Out and Piecing the On Point Quilt
So now that you have the setting triangles made and the end triangles cut, you can lay out your quilt top using a large floor space or design wall. Here’s my 2021 BOW quilt blocks and triangles arranged and ready for stitching:

Unlike regular quilts where you join straight rows or columns, this type of quilt has its rows joined diagonally. I like to piece the end caps on the upper left and lower right first (where I am pointing in the photos below)


I join the side triangles to the block first, then I join the end triangle. I use a ruler to make sure I have the point of the end triangle in the center of the block before stitching (photo below right). This assures me that my end piece will be centered evenly to create a end cap “triangle”.


Next, I stitch all the other rows diagonally and join those rows for the quilt top center.


If you have carefully matched up the seams of the rows when piecing, you will have a nice square quilt top (or rectangular if you are doing a pattern for a rectangular quilt). Notice the triangle points still visible in the photo on the right? Those can now be trimmed off if you like.
So, I hope this brief on point setting tutorial will help you in finishing your 2021 Block of the Week quilt! Now for the grand prize! It’s a copy of my book, Blooming Patchwork, a Quilt-in-a-Day Triangle Square-up ruler, a package of binding clips and my newest pattern, Spinning Spools!


The drawing will be on Monday, June 21st. Good luck! ***GRAND PRIZE WINNER! Congrats, Donna Schulz!***
Happy Quilting!
Deanne