Home again!  Back in my creative cave!

And back with my sewing machine!

I’ve had a lot of time to think about the Merry Quilt-A-Long while I was on my travels–mainly about the color scheme.   Although this is a Christmas quilt and there is a plethora of beautiful holiday fabrics, I’ve decided to do this one in solids.  It worked fine with the first two blocks and they are both very pretty.  Hoping the rest of the patterns work as well with the solids!

Here’s block one and two finished!

For block one from Quilt ‘n Piece, I used a red Kona cotton for the background.  I was concerned with the red showing through on the white snowflake so I used a white velveteen from Robert Kaufman that I had ordered for a Christmas project. (Which I’m procrastinating on.)  The velveteen is much thicker then quilting cotton and was perfect for this block.

This is an applique block which I love.  I kind of sort of followed the instructions.  When I make applique pieces, I first iron the heat ‘n bond lite on the back of the fabric then trace around the pattern, cut out then iron onto the block.  That’s not quite the way this tutorial does it.  But my method works and it’s easy.

This is a finished 12″ block but I cut it out to 13″ and then drew a border with a disappearing ink fabric pen to mark the 12″ square.  Next I fit the pieces into the marked area.

The center is a little wonky because I “ironed” the piece and the fabric moved.  Dumb–I know better!  For the blades, I placed them in the correct arrangement then pressed straight down with the iron.

I was undecided about using the “quilt as you go” (qayg) method because the finished size is easy to quilt on my sewing machine. But then I considered that the last block won’t be released until December 5th.  I don’t think I’d have enough time to get it pieced, pin-basted, quilted, and bound before Christmas.  Using qayg, I’ll just need to join the blocks, put on the backing, pin baste, then add the binding.  Not quite as time consuming!

For the Christmas Tree Farm block from Janda Bend Quilts, I used the metallic fabrics that I had left over from the “down the rabbit hole” for the trees, a Kona cotton that came from the same fat quarter pack that the red came from for the trunks and white Kona cotton yardage I had tucked away.

The tutorial gives the choice of piecing the trees—-patterns are included–or paper piece it.  I chose the second method because I like paper piecing and it is very accurate for the tippy top of the christmas tree.

Pin-basted and ready to quilt!

For the Snowflake, I used a satin stitch around each piece.

For my metallic Christmas Tree Farm, I followed Quilt ‘n Piece’s example and quilted a little Christmas tree pattern on the blank blocks.  Kinda cute, right?  And it was easy!

Here’s a close up of the metallic trees. So shiny!

These were both fun and easy blocks.  I’m looking forward to the next ten!

It’s not too late to join up.  Just go to Slice of Pi Quilts and follow the instructions.  It’s all free!

What’s not to like?