12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop and Quiltalong, Day 3!

Hi, all!

Welcome to Day 3 of the 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop and Quiltalong!  Have you been inspired to jump into your Christmas makings yet?  My list keeps expanding, I just need to carve out the time to get started.  Where are my minions?

Oh well, maybe if I'm good Santa will bring me some for Christmas!  In the meantime, we've got more Christmas goodness to check out today - Jamie of L'Fair Quilts is the next stop on the hop, and she's got something extra special for us.  After all, Christmas is the season not only of giving, but of eating, right?

And here's the schedule for the rest of the hop...

Wednesday, July 14th

Joy of Days Filled With Joy

Thursday, July 15th

Moira of The Quilted Snail

Friday, July 16th

Jamie of L'Fair Quilts

Saturday, July 17th

Bonnie of In Stitches With Bonnie

Sunday, July 18th

Joanne of Everyone Deserves a Quilt

Monday, July 19th

Kate of Katie Mae Quilts

Shasta of High Road Quilter

Tuesday, July 20th

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Wednesday, July 21st

Leanne of The Devoted Quilter

Thursday, July 22nd

Kathy of Kathy's Kwilts and More

Sandra of MMM Quilts

Friday, July 23rd

Carole of From My Carolina Home

Saturday, July 24th

Joanne of Everyone Deserves a Quilt (Part 2)

Sunday, July 25th

Karrin of Karrin's Crazy World

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Above you will see Block #1, which is a variation of a Snail's Trail block.  You'll be making twelve of these for the 60" square quilt.  It's a versatile little block that you can do a lot with simply by changing up the coloring!  I'm glad to have this one in my wheelhouse now.  Sorry for the picture - can you believe I forgot to take a picture of the finished block before I assembled the quilt?  Yep!  

Today we'll be assembling two components of this block - the sides and the flying geese you see at top and bottom.   We'll start with the sides.  NOTE:  I highly recommend chain piecing whenever you can, then pressing the whole step before moving on to the next.  It makes this all go much quicker!

Step 1:    Take pieces 1:F and 1:G and lay F horizontal in front of you, with G placed vertically on the right end, matching the lower corners and edges.  Draw a diagonal line from the upper right to lower left where they overlap.  Stitch on that line.

Flip it over and be sure it forms a straight line and not an L-shape (don't ask me why I know to do this...) and then proceed with the rest of the pieces.  You will make 26 of these pieces.  Trim the seam and press it open.

You can set these pieces aside for now.  FYI, they are longer than needed and will be trimmed after the block is assembled.

Now we'll move on to the flying geese blocks.  For this block you will need pieces 1:E and 1:D.

Lay the pieces out as shown.  

Lay the green triangle on the right side over the white triangle, aligning the points and lower and right edges.  Stitch the seam with a scant 1/4" seam.  Chain piece all the white triangles, then press the seam open.

Now you will repeat the process for the left side of the triangle.  Chain piece and press the seams open.  You will make 26 of these flying geese units.

Now it's time to square them up!  Please don't skip this step - it will make everything come together so much easier in the end, and you'll be happier with your finished quilt.

I used my favorite ruler to square these up.  As the finished size of the unit is 3.5" x 6.5", this was an easy choice!  I placed the block with the white triangle facing down, and lined up the diagonal lines on the ruler with the sides of the white triangle.  There wasn't much to trim, but I did it anyway (because I know how much easier it makes everything later!)

Then I flipped the block over and lined up the bottom of the white triangle with the 3.5" line on my ruler.  The point of the triangle should line up with the 3.25" mark on the top.  One swipe across the top of the block to trim it even, and you're done!

Congratulations!  You've finished today's portion of the quilt-along.  Feels good, doesn't it?  Come back tomorrow, when we'll work on the center portion of the block.

Hugs!

Sarah