Coming Soon: You won’t want to miss this one!! Our creations are guaranteed not to include calories; unless, of course, you make them for real. Then all guarantees are voided. I’ll be back on the 7th to show and share. Here’s the line-up.
It wouldn’t be Christmas (or a Christmas quilt) without a star.
My version of block 11 is still coming. I’ll be back in a day or two with it. I hope you’re enjoying the hop. (Edited: The block is finished. You can read about it and see it here.)
In the meantime, you’ll enjoy seeing the versions from these hosts and find the pattern for block 11 here.
What I Learned Today:
Question: Are you prone to making mistakes or do they slap you in the face every once in a while revealing that you are only human, too?
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen
I finished Block 2, Christmas Tree Farm, for the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long almost two months ago but haven’t been able to write about it.
I’ve purchased small yellow star buttons to add to the tops of the trees after I’ve quilted the top.
This cute block pattern was designed by April at Janda Bend Quilts and can be found Continue reading
Today’s charming Christmas Lantern block is designed by Diane of Cwilt. You’ll find the link to her free pattern on her blog here. Don’t delay. It’s free only until January 15th so download it today. Continue reading
If you guessed Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, you are right. Most everyone knows that song. If not, you can listen to it here. But did you know it originally started as a poem and was published by the Montgomery Ward department store? This poem, written by Robert May in 1939, was included in a coloring book and given to children when they came to visit Santa.
Today’s block can be identified just by looking at his nose. This Reindeer Games block was designed by Bobbi at Snowy Days Quilting. You’ll find the link to her free pattern on her blog here. Don’t delay. It’s free only until January 15th. Continue reading
Welcome to my stop on the Art with Fabric Blog Hop. Thank you Alida of Tweety Loves Quilting for hosting this event. Be sure to stop by the other artists displaying their creations today. The list is below.
I grew up on a farm. When I read that the theme for this Art with Fabric Blog Hop was Mother Earth, visions of fields came to mind. My parents have now retired and moved off the farm but my brother and his boys now work the land. They raise wheat, corn, soybeans, canola, cattle, kids (the human kind), and sunflowers. Continue reading
In the spirit of giving, we give you another free pattern today. But don’t delay in downloading your patterns, as they are free only as long as the quilt-a-long is going on.
This block may look challenging to some of you. But it goes together easily just follow the directions. I used the pictures a lot to tell me if I was on the right course or not.
Sola, at Alice Samuel’s Quilt Co., created this super cute pattern. You can find the pattern on her blog here. Don’t be overly worried about it. I’ve got a couple of construction tips for you to help you along your way and so do my fellow hosts listed below.
First, the pattern makes two identical present blocks within the block. At first, I thought I’d only make one present for my square. I should have done that and once finished I would have realized how easy they were and then gone on and made the second. Instead, I cut out for both presents and tried sewing them up together. I highly suggest cutting out and sewing up only one at a time. Why you ask?
I accidently cut two of those white with red pieces that were to be set aside. This meant that the remaining piece would now be short and I would have to start over.
Next, when sewing the angled edges together, baste them in place along the seam line and then check. If the ribbons don’t match, you can easily remove the basting and try again. Why you ask?
I machine basted just thru the ribbon seams to see how they lined up. It took me about six tries on each present before I got it right. Ripping out only this much saved me a lot of time. I use this technique a lot when matching angles.
I will add the ric rack bows and gift tags after the top is finished and quilted.
I’ll use fray check on the ends of the ric rac. I had to find a way to sneak some ric rack into this block.
I think the bows and tags really dress up this gift and also help create the 3-D effect.
I hope I’ve inspired you to grab your fabric and sew up a couple of presents today.
Then post the picture on either Sola’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 23rd at 11.59 PM to link or post your pic to be entered to win.
Thank you to Warm Crochet for offering this prize. In addition, they are also offering a discount code to all QAL participants. Use the code “ChristmasQAL” to get 10%OFF your purchase. Thank you also to Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for offering a pattern for this giveaway. You can find her shop here.
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.
Here’s all my blocks so far.
Find info on where to get the pattern and see my Block 3-Santa’s Belt here, Block 4-Christmas Memories (ornaments) here, Block 5-Snowman here, and Block 6-Angel here, Block 7-Poinsettia here. As you can see, 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.
I’ve got a start on the tree farm. I’m starting to see a secondary theme emerging. Do you?
Meet the rest of the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Hosts as they reveal their version of this block
Look for Block 9 to be released on October 24th.
My Art with Fabric Blog Hop post on Wednesday (I hope you’ll be back to check it out as I’m really excited about it)
A visit to the Quilted Ceiling Quilt Shop in Valley City, ND.
A look at all the Quilt MN Shop Hop loot
What I Learned Today:
Question: What was a unique gift you gave or received? I made a jar of reindeer noses (malted milk balls and sour cherries) and gifted them to our neighbors at our AZ house a couple of years ago. They all enjoyed them. I should do that again.
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
I Wish You a Merry QAL Linky Party at Alice Samuels Quilt Co.
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
WIPs at Silly Mama Quilts
Did you know there’s a song about a poinsettia? It starts out:
♪ Percy the puny poinsettia
Is hanging his bloom in dismay
If they had just kept him wetta
He’d be a houseplant today
Folks liked the other plants betta
Now he’s alone on the shelf
Even a plant with no uncle or aunt
Shouldn’t spend Christmas Day by himself ♪
If you’re interested in finding out what happens to Percy, you can listen to it here.
The seventh block in our I Wish You A Merry Quilt-A-Long just happens to be a poinsettia. However, this poinsettia definitely isn’t puny and it sure is cute.
The pattern can be found here at SandyStar Designs.
You will have fun sewing this one. Ohhh, the possibilities! I wanted to use just one color for all of the petals but wanted to make a definition between them. Voila, ric rac to the rescue. I plan to use ric rac in many of these blocks. I liked ric rac as a little girl and still do. I think I’ll start a campaign to promote the use of ric rac again. There used to be so many colors to choose from at the store and now the selection is rather limited. So let’s start using more ric rac.
Adding the ric rac, took a bit of thought. I started by machine basting the ric rack onto the piece that I wanted it to lay flat against.
Then I pressed the seam open.
Check the picture below to see how I easily squared the half square triangle/quarter square triangle pieces.
I aligned the diagonal line on my square ruler along the seam line as noted by the black arrows. I made sure the cutting line on the right side of the ruler would fall exactly at 3.5 inches at the place where the quarter square triangle seams joined as noted by the red arrow. This is very important as it ensures the square will be cut accurately and each quarter square triangle will be the correct size helping tremendously when matching seams.
Sewing all that ric rac in the seams produced quite a clump in the middle. It was so thick when I joined the final two seams that I didn’t even try to sew through it. I didn’t want to break a needle but I tried to get as close as I could to the center.
Once all the seams were sewn and pressed, I cut away the center making sure there would still be plenty of block that would be covered by the appliqued circle.
Reducing this bulk, helped the appliqued center lie flat.
I used a vintage thread spool to trace around for the center part of the poinsettia.
I often look for items to trace around especially round things.
That’s how I made my pretty-but not puny-Poinsettia.
Are you making a Poinsettia this week?
Grab your fabric and sew up a poinsettia today.
Then post the picture on either Sandy’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 23rd at 11.59 PM to link or post your pic to be entered to win.
Special thanks to Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter for supplying a pattern for the giveaway. You can find her pattern shop here.
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.
Here’s all my blocks.
Find info on where to get the pattern and see my Block 3-Santa’s Belt here, Block 4-Christmas Memories (ornaments) here, Block 5-Snowman here, and Block 6-Angel here. As you can see, 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.
Meet the rest of the I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long Hosts as they reveal their version of this block
Look for block 8 to be released today also! You can find my version of Block 8 here. Block 9 will be released on October 24th.
A visit to the Quilted Ceiling Quilt Shop in Valley City, ND.
A look at all the Quilt MN Shop Hop loot
What I Learned Today?
Question: Does your Christmas decorating include buying Poinsettia plants? Do you use ric rac?
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Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Linking to:
I Wish You a Merry QAL Linky Party at SandyStar Designs
Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River
Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
WIPS at Silly Mama Quilts
The Art with Fabric Blog Hop is starting Monday. My day to post my project is Wednesday so please stop on back to see it then.
You might be wondering what this blog hop is all about. Participating bloggers were invited to produce a quilted/sewn project using a well-known or lesser known work of art as our inspiration piece. You can see the last several years entries here.
The theme this fall was Mother Earth. So what did Tu-Na decide to make for her quilted art piece. You’ll just have to return on Wednesday to see.
Here’s the schedule:
Monday, October 9th, 2017
Thanks for stopping by and do come again.
Karen, Tu-Na Quilts
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats 