Saturday, July 20, 2019

12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop and Quilt-Along, Day 7!


Hi, all!

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?

For your convenience, let's share the line-up once again...

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...

*******


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

8 comments:

  1. 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!

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  2. I 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!

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  3. Your quilt is growing nicely! Off to check out today's contributors...

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  4. I've ordered a 45 degree ruler from Amazon. Hoping it arrives next week.

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  5. Really love seeing this quilt growing!

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  6. Hi 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

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  7. I am enjoying the 12 days of Christmas postings. Thank you so much!

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  8. gorgeous, simply gorgeous.🎄⛄🎄

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Comments make me smile!! If you want a PDF of a pattern, PLEASE leave your email address in your comment, or email me directly at salliesue57 (at) gmail (dot) com!