Christmas Quilt Along - Making the blocks

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It's certainly nice to see all the action happening over in the flickr group. Everyone is posting photos of the fabric selections they're using and the color combinations are great. I can't wait to see all this fabric get worked up into a little quilt.

Are you following me on twitter yet? Because I'm tweeting about all the fun we're having and special blog posts. Yes, I've thrown in a few other secret blog posts throughout the day, but the only way to know when I've posted something new is to follow me on twitter.

Lets get down to making our block. Before I start if you have your own way of doing something and it not the way I've told you to do it then by all means do it your way. Were here to have fun and the quilting police will not come knocking on your door because you didn't follow my instructions.

Please read all instructions before you begin.

Making our Blocks

I have heard a few of you say I have no fear, but let me tell you I can be a scaredy cat when it comes to riding roller coasters I always crouch down in the seat, hold on to Thomas' arm and have my eyes shut. I hate the first hill, but love the rest of it. I know the first hill is the best part, but I still do it. So with that in mind lets put on our big girl or boy panties and get to making some circles. I'm jumping up and down because I love them so much. They used to scare me.

I'm using Dale Fleming six minute circle and yes, you can make these circles in 6 minutes or less. This is from her Pieced Curves so simple book and Dale did a segment on HGTV showing how to do the six minute circle.

You will need.

• 2 - 6" squares of freezer paper
• 16- 6" background squares
• 16 - 5" charms
• glue stick
• Iron

Fuse 2 - 6" squares of freezer paper shiny side down with a dry iron. Draw a 4" circle on the freezer paper with a 1" margin around it. Cut out the circle with paper scissors.

With the shiny side down, using a dry iron fuse 6" background square to the pattern.

Cut out on the inside of the circle, leaving about 1/2" seam allowance. Clip seam allowance to 1/8" from the pattern. Do not clip to closely to the pattern, or you will have a hole on the front of your block. Please note: Picture was taken after I made about 14 circles. That is why there is glue showing

Using your glue stick around the opening of the paper pattern. Then using the tip of your iron for fingers to press and hold the clipped seam over the edge of the pattern. Use dry iron to press seam. Note: the sole plate of the iron never got dirty from the glue, even after I made about 20 circles.

Apply glue on the edges of the clipped seam, You might wish to protect your work surface.

Place 5" charm on background circle then iron dry.

Peel the fabric from the shiny side of the pattern first, Then using your fingertip on the font side peel the paper away from the seam. Any area that is not tacked down can be re glued to the background fabric. I had to steal the photo as I forgot to take a picture of this step

Iron again to to create a sharp crease at the folds. The crease is your sewing line. Press this really good. I can't stress this enough. Spray with water and iron on very firm surface.

Using the open toed or zipper foot sew one thread to the right of the center of the crease. Your clipped seam should be on top, pointing to the right of the needle. Don't pull the fabric too tight. You should see a slight hump in the fabric.

Trim the circle to about 1/4". Then press seam toward circle to give you a look of hand applique.

Repeat above steps to make 15 more circles. I used the same 6" pattern for all 16 blocks and didn't have to make a new one each time.

Helpful Hints:

• If you're having trouble seeing your stitching line, highlight the circle with a colored pencil after you iron the pattern the background fabric to give you a more defined stitching line. I was able to press mine really good and saw the stitching line.
• Add more lighting to the left of sewing machine, also helps to see the stitching line.

Our blocks are over sized and need to be trimmed down to 4 1/2" square. I trimmed 3/8" away from the outer edge of the circle to ensure I didn't cut any of it off. Which give me a small frame all the way around my circle.

Trim all 16 circles to 4 1/2" square.


Using a scant 1/4" seam allowance, sew the 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangle to either side of your circle blocks.

Set seams and press towards rectangles.


Using a scant 1/4" seam allowance, sew the 8 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangle to top and bottom of your circles blocks.

Set seams and press towards rectangles.

Block should measure 8 1/2" square. Square up if needed

Repeat for all 16 squares. You will have 8 red blocks and 8 black blocks.

With a line drawn on the wrong side of the 3 1/2" squares, position the green squares on the red 8 1/2" squares as shown.

Stitch on the drawn line.

Set seams, press green square back upon it's self to ensure square is alined correctly, then trim to 1/4"

Block should measure 8 1/2" square. Square up if needed

Repeat for the 8 red blocks.

Remember, to take some time and check out our sponsors web sites. If it was not for them I could not bring you this quilt along.

See you back here at 12:00pm (CST) where I will teach how we put it all together.


Don't forget that you must post your finished photo to the flickr group before the end of the day on Monday, July 11, 2011 (midnight CST) to be eligible for a grand prize drawing of a $100 gift certificate courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop

Until next time,