Welcome back to the Hop! Have you got your dancing shoes on?
Because we've got some more great stuff to dance about today! Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter and Anja of Anja Quilts have great ideas to rock our Christmas crafting, and I for one can't wait to see what they are! I'm already so inspired by the ideas that have been shared, and have multiple projects that I must. make. RIGHT. NOW. How about you?
Sunday, July 14th
Monday, July 15th
Tuesday, July 16th
Wednesday, July 17th
Thursday, July 18th
Friday, July 19th
Saturday, July 20th
Sunday, July 21st
Monday, July 22nd
Tuesday, July 23rd
Wednesday, July 24th
Thursday, July 25th
And remember, too, there's a giveaway! FIGO Fabrics has donated a fat quarter bundle of their new Christmas line, Wintertide...
...and one lucky reader will get to take it home! All you have to do is fill in the form below with your full name and email address (don't worry, I won't use it for anything beyond notifying you if you win!). Entries will close on Tuesday, July 30th, and I'll announce the winner here on Wednesday, July 31st - New Year's Eve in July!
Be sure to click "Submit"!!
You get an entry for visiting the stops on the hop, too, so drop by each new day's blog posts, enjoy the post and leave a comment (comments make us happy!), then fill out the entry form on their blog too. If their blog hop post doesn't have an entry form feel free to come back here and leave an entry after checking out their "gift" for you!
So get hopping, folks - then come back here to see today's step for the quilt-along...
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Today you'll be working on the sixth block for your quilt. Does yours look like mine, or are you a "corners first" person? Whichever you are, keep at it - you're in the home stretch! If you need the block construction instructions again, you can find them here.
And now for the next steps on my medallion version of this quilt! I decided I wanted a checkerboard border as the next round, so my next step was to decide what size it should be. I waffled around between 2" squares and 1" squares, but when I drew out a sample of each size, it was definitely the 1" squares which pleased my eye the most. But 1" squares! Oh my gosh, the horror of the thought of sewing over four hundred 1.5" squares almost stopped me in my tracks. But then I realized that I could do strip construction pretty easily. I found two reds in my stash that worked well together AND worked with the reds in the quilt, and cut 1.5" WOF strips...
...and sewed them together in pairs along the long edges. Then I cross-cut the strips to yield lots of little two-patch blocks. (TIP: Use a shorter stitch length when you plan to cross-cut, so your stitching holds well.) I was pretty sure that two sets of strips would yield me enough 2-patch units to make one edge of the border, so that's how I did it, rather than doing all of them at one time. I told you I have a short attention span, right?
Then came the chain piecing - LOTS of chain piecing! But because I was only working on one border, it wasn't too boring. After sewing them together in pairs and pressing, I took those 4-patch blocks and sewed them together into 8-patch blocks, pressing once again. Then I sewed all the 8-patch blocks into a long strip, pressing after I finished the strip. And see how nice it looks with the rest of the quilt?
I did manage to get two more sets of these borders done before I had to write this post...
...and I'm really pleased with how they are looking. I want to put another skinny white border between the checkerboards and the trees, and another white border on the outside, so that's my next step. That will be my task for today.
I hope you are enjoying your own progress on this quilt - see you tomorrow!
Hugs!
Sarah
I was with you on the blocks but not all of the borders--I'm piecing as fast as I can! The checkerboard border is perfect!
ReplyDeleteI love how this is turning out!! The soft colors are beautiful, and the trees and checkerboard border add a perfect touch!! I always look forward to Christmas in July!! Thanks for all the work you do to bring it to us!
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is growing nicely! Off to check out today's contributors...
ReplyDeleteI've ordered a 45 degree ruler from Amazon. Hoping it arrives next week.
ReplyDeleteReally love seeing this quilt growing!
ReplyDeleteHi again Sarah! Oh goodness, I just love that red/white striped fabric. Could you possibly have selected a better pairing? No, not possible. This is just going to be the best(est) quilt ever. ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the 12 days of Christmas postings. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeletegorgeous, simply gorgeous.🎄⛄🎄
ReplyDelete