♪ Angels we have heard on high

Sweetly singing o’er the plain

And the mountains in reply

Echoing their joyous strains ♪

Welcome to the Block 6 Release Party Day of the I Wish You A Merry Quilt-A-Long.

Here she is sweetly singing ♪ Gloria in excelsis Deo. ♪

I’ve personalized this pattern a wee bit. She’s got a new “do” and some eyelet edging on her gown, She’s also sporting a halo.

You’ll find this pattern at Sandra Healy Designs here. All the patterns are free until January 16th, 2018. So don’t delay, download your pattern today. Sandra’s also offering a 20% discount in her shop at Sandra Healy Designs until October 25, 2017. Just use the coupon code MERRYQAL20 when you check-out.

I learned a few tricks to make this angel a bit easier to put together.

I don’t have a lightbox. In order to trace the applique portion of the pattern, I taped it on a window and then held the Lite Steam a Seam 2 over it with the yellow lines side facing me. Then I held the Steam a Seam over the paper and just traced the lines moving the Steam a Seam as needed for the next part of the applique. Make sure to leave about half an inch of space between each part.

2. This pattern has lots of applique pieces with rounded edges. To make the rounded edges nice and smooth, I turned my prepared fabric applique piece while I cut holding the scissors in one place. This helps to make the rounded edges round and make nice crisp lines. It does make a difference. It is so much better than holding the fabric/paper still and moving the scissors cutting up and down. Having a really sharp scissors also helps. I also have a scissors that I only use for applique. The blades do get gummy and I clean them off with rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab.

O.k. This wasn’t the best pic to highlight this point. But it’s really hard to hold the scissors in one hand, and the fabric in the other hand, and the camera in another hand when I only have two hands!

3. I chose NOT to use a stabilizer this time. I used one when I made the ornaments and look what happened here. I’m still picking out the remnants. I think this angel block turned out well.

This looks so much better than the back of the ornament block. but that one will look nice, too, once I finish picking out all the paper. The block pulled in just slightly on the bottom but still finished very close to 12.5″. This was probably because of the bias tape edge of the eyelet lace trim. After thinking about it, I could have trimmed this bias edge away in the back before stitching it down.

4. You can also see in the pic above that I used a piece of lightweight iron-on interfacing on the underside of the face. this is so that the embroidery thread French knots do not pull through the front.

5. I also found that the sewing machine needle will get gummy from the Steam a Seam although the package says it doesn’t. To remedy this, either clean off your needle when done with rubbing alcohol or use a needle that you save just for applique.

6. Finally, I encourage you to personalize your block to make it unique and to reflect a bit of yourself in it. Add some fun embellishments. If you look at Sandra’s pattern, you can see that I changed the angel’s hairstyle and added a halo. I also added a bit of eyelet trim to the bottom of her gown.

She just got back from the hairdresser and is sporting a new “do.”

I appliqued the feet first. Then stitched down the gown leaving the trim flying free.

I think those toes are so cute just peeking out from under the gown.

What can you do to make your angel block unique?

Here’s how all my blocks look together. The gray, red, white, and yellow are all the same fabrics in each of the blocks. They just look different in the pics.

Find info on where to get the pattern and see my Block 3-Santa’s Belt here, Block 4-Christmas Memories (ornaments) here, and Block 5-Snowman here. I am still working on blocks one and two, so you see, there’s still time for you to join along. You can find the pattern for block one-snowflake here and block 2-tree farm here.

That cute snowman pattern that was released two weeks ago is catching the eyes of everyone! In fact, my snowman above was featured last week on Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers. That was really exciting. So, Mr. Snowman, this one’s for you!

I’ve been enjoying seeing all the unique snowmen being posted on the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Facebook page.

Grab your fabric and sew up an angel today. Then post the picture on either Sandra’s party link on her blog or on the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Facebook page or tag # #iwishyouamerryqal on Instagram to win some prizes. Remember you have until October 9th at 11.59 PM to link or post your pic to be entered to win. Thank you to Island Batik for supplying the prize for this block.

The next two blocks will be released on October 10th at 12:01 AM Eastern time. The remaining blocks will be released every other Tuesday with the final block set to post on December 5th giving you just enough time to finish your quilt before Christmas.

At the end of the QAL there will be a link to download a picture of your finished quilt. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must make a quilt top using all twelve of the QAL blocks by January 16th, 2018. Thank you to all these sponsors for prizes.

Meet the rest of the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Hosts as they reveal their version of this block:

Pretty Piney
Sparkle On
JANDA Bend Quilts
Snowy Days Quilting
Cwilt
The Inquiring Quilter
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats You are here. Thanks for stopping by.
Slice of Pi Quilts
Sandra Healy Designs Here’s the creative designer behind this sixth block in the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long. You’ll find the pattern here on her site as well as a full tutorial.
SandyStar Designs
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Quilt in Piece

Coming soon on Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats:

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of the Listed Loot

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of What Was Added to the List (a.k.a. The Big Splurge)

Tu-Na Quilts: The Reveal of My 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop Fabric and a Bit More About the Designer

Tu-Na Quilts: A Few Words from Tu-Na Helper

Tu-Na Quilts: It’s All Out of the Bag (A Wrap up of the 2017 Quilt MN Shop Hop)

Tu-Na Travels: Visiting the Quilted Ceiling in Valley City, ND

What I Learned Today:

There’s a lot of creativity in the quilting world. Looking at all the blocks on the I Wish You a Merry QAL Facebook page makes me want to start about 4 more of these quilts.
It’s easy to get behind even with fun things. I am behind in posting the remaining posts of the Quilt MN Shop Hop and my Valley City Quilt Shop as I was busy preparing the post for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival. But they will be coming.

Question: Are you sewing along with us? If you aren’t, what color fabrics would you choose?

Thanks for stopping by and do come again.

Karen, Tu-Na Quilts

At this time, I have no affiliation with any of the shops, products, companies, or services that I mention here on Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats.

Linking to:

Block 6 Linky Party at Sandra Healy Designs

BOMS Away at What a Hoot Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilt

Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

Moving It Forward Monday at Em’s Scrapbag

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt