Day Twelve of the Twelve Days of Christmas in July!

 

Hi, all!

It's finally arrived - the last day of this year's 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop!  I hope, like me, you've been wonderfully inspired with great ideas.  Maybe, like me, you've also had a chance to walk down memory lane in your Pinterest or blog feed! I will confess - I even found pictures of an annual quilt I made for Lilli that I had completely forgotten about!  

Today we have a chance to hop over to Karrin's blog, Karrin's Crazy World, as she shares some of the gifts she has been making - there should be lots of inspiration there!  And we've reached the end of our quilt-along and it's time to assemble those blocks - finally!!  

Let's go!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

It's time to put this baby together!  Are you ready?  If you haven't already laid out your blocks, it's time to do that.  

Stitch the blocks together, and you're done!  I know everyone has their own way of assembling a quilt - some do it in rows, some in columns, some in block sections.  I usually take two side-by-side columns, stacking the blocks on top of each other from top to bottom, then take the two stacks to my sewing machine. I will chain piece the pairs together, then sew the cross seams.  Off to the ironing board to press the seams and it goes back up on the wall.  Then it's on to the next pair!  This quilt has an odd number of columns, so I will just sew those blocks together in a strip.  Then I go back and sew the columns together, matching the seams as needed.  To me this feels faster than sewing together one row after another - maybe it's a mental thing, but it works for me!

Your top is now ready for quilting as you desire.  Don't put off that binding, either, unless you've got elves to do it for you!

I can also see this quilt done as a holiday themed quilt for other special days with the chain and/or background in different colors with an appropriately themed design in the center.  For example, imagine it with a heart in the center for Valentine's Day, or a flag or star for 4th of July.  The possibilities are endless!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

I hope you've enjoyed this blog hop quilt-along, and gotten a good jump on this year's Christmas plans! Many, many thanks to everyone who helped this year!!

And if ideas are just running rampant in your head, consider being part of next year's 12 Days of Christmas in July Blog Hop!  I'll be glad to put you on the list and you'll have a whole year to plan (plus you can buy your seasonal supplies after Christmas, when they go on sale!)

Hugs!

Sarah