Sunday, July 15, 2018

12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop - Day 2!!! And Giveaway Alert!!

Hi, all!

Did you enjoy the projects from yesterday's bloggers?  Well, I promise that you'll enjoy today's just as much!!!  Today our first blogger is Joanne from Everyone Deserves a Quilt.  Joanne is a prodigious quilt maker, and I think that if everyone deserves a quilt, Joanne is determined to make sure that happens!  And next up is Jan, also known as The Colorful Fabriholic.  I got to meet Jan in person at the AQS quilt show in Paducah one year, and she's as lovely in person as she is on her blog. She's also a book author, which I had the honor of reviewing in this post.   So go see what's going on with them, then come back here and find the next set of instructions for the quilt-along quilt, "Rejoice"!  And heads up - one of them has a giveaway going on today - don't miss your chance to enter!


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And now we're ready for day two of the quilt-along!  Above, you can see this quilt in a different color way - I used two close shades of blue prints and pure white for this one, and I've been told by several people that it looks like "Frozen"!  I hadn't thought of that when I was making it, but it really does.  My main purpose was to come up with a wintry quilt without using "Christmas" colors.  This one is much more subtly colored.

Today we'll be making the half-square triangles (HSTs) that will go into Block A.  For a visual reference, here's a diagram of Block A.


We will be using the 8-at-a-time method for making the HST units that make up the corners of this block.  We need enough for twelve blocks, which means we'll need 48 HST units.  

Step 1:  Pair a white 10" square with a red 10" square.  Make 6 sets of these.


Step 2:  Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the white squares; repeat from the opposite corner.


Step 3:  Stitch a scant 1/4" from each side of the diagonal lines.  


Step 4:  Cut the square in half both vertically and horizontally.  Imagine the points of the compass and cut N/S and E/W through the center of the block.


Step 5:  Cut the resulting blocks in half along the diagonal line you drew in Step 2.


Step 6:  Press toward the darker fabric, being careful not to stretch the block out of shape.


Step 7:  Square up the HSTs to 4.5".  Now, I know you may be getting tired by now, and want to skip this step. Trust me, this is one of the most important steps in this quilt. The trick to HSTs is to square them up so they are all the same size.  Otherwise, you'll end up with some larger than others and your quilt won't go together well.  So drag out that rotary cutter and square those puppies up!  (If you've got a Bloc-Loc ruler, it's pretty simple and quick.)


And now you should have a beautiful pile of neat little 4.5" HSTs...


...and an equally cute little pile of trimmings!  Birds love these for their nests, or you can put them in a pretty little jar and admire them as quilt-y art.  I have a friend who weaves, and she likes to add them to her weavings, so I save them for her.

And here's the list of bloggers for the hop,  in case you've missed any...


Saturday, July 14th

Selina @ Selina Quilts

Sunday, July 15th


Monday, July 16th

Jamie @ L'Fair Quilts

Tuesday, July 17th

Sharon @ Vrooman's Quilts

Wednesday, July 18th

Marian @ Seams To Be Sew

Thursday, July 19th

Danice @ Homespun Hannah

Friday, July 20th


Saturday, July 21st


Sunday, July 22nd

Anja @ Anja Quilts
Moira @ Quilted Snail

Monday, July 23rd

Brenda @ Songbird Designs

Tuesday, July 24th


Wednesday, July 25th

Brandy @ Pampered Pettit

And that's it for today!  If you haven't already, be sure to check out today's bloggers and enter in the giveaway offered on one of their blogs - you might get lucky!  See you tomorrow for the next step in the quilt-along!

Hugs!

Sarah

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for the kind words Sarah! I've got to get started on my quilt along project. I pulled fabric but haven't done the cutting yet. Yikes! I don't want to get to behind or I may end up with another UFO and that would not be good. :-) Of course I feel like I want to stop what I'm doing to make some of those Christmas Tree pot holders that Jan showed today. They will use up a bunch of my holiday fabrics and be great gifts. Thanks again for organizing this! It's already wonderful, as usual.

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  2. I really like that quilt in blue.

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  3. Sarah, thanks for your kind words and for all your hard work to organize 12DCIJ.

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  4. What a beautiful quilt! It is gorgeous in the blues.

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  5. Your quilt along quilts are so cute!!! I can't wait to see all the versions other followers will be making. Thanks for all your hard work in pulling this together so soon on the heels of the H2H challenge.

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  6. A wonderful way to make all those HST's! Great links, too!

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  7. I love your quilt in blue! Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

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  8. And already I'm behind in the QAL. But I bought the Tri Recs ruler. LOL

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  9. I thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas Blog hop. I found some wonderful new quilters to follow. Thanks for organizing it!
    Susanpshaffer@gmail.com

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