Little Bits of This & That

Rows of ribbon....

It's time for some more sewing on our Winter Nights sew along...are you enjoying this as much as I am? I hope so! I can't wait to get this quilt sewn together and quilted so I can use it on my sofa....and I would love to keep it for myself but I think it will end up being shared and loved by many here at my house.

Today we are going to sew the ribbon blocks together to form the rows that go between the blocks. 

Grab your Winter Wonderland book and turn to page 34.

The first thing we are going to do is sew two of the small Ribbon block's together.

 

Make 23 of these Ribbon One blocks. 

Now sew one small and one large Ribbon block together.

Make 8 of these Ribbon Two blocks.

For one of the Ribbon rows, we will be sewing four small ribbon blocks together with three Ribbon One blocks. Make sure you have them all going the correct direction. It's much easier to fix now than after we sew all the blocks together.

Make two of these rows.

For the second Ribbon row, sew three small ribbon units together with one Ribbon Two block, two Ribbon One block and one Large ribbon block. Again double check that the units are going the correct direction. Better to rip now than later!

Make three of these rows.

Next week we will be sewing the whole quilt top together...can't wait!!

I have some exciting news! Coming August 1st is the Winter Wonderland Sew Along!

You will need the Winter Wonderland Book and your favorite Christmas fabric. We will be sewing the Sleigh Bell Sampler which is the quilt on the book cover. If you would like a kit of all the exact fabrics I used, you can find it HERE. I am sew looking forward to sewing this with you and I hope you will join me!

Be sure to use the hashtag #verysherrichristmas and tag me @sherfalls when you post on Instagram so I can see how your quilt is coming along! Or you can send your pics to my email and I will share here on the blog and on Facebook. Thanks!

P.S. I want to show you Susan's progress on her quilt...I love her fabric choices and she is doing such a great job!

 

 

 

A little extra Winter Nights

I have been having a lot of fun with the Winter Nights Sew Along and thought it would be great to have a matching pillow when I am done with the quilt. So that is just what I have done!

If you would like to make one too, here is how I did it.....turn to page 33 in the Winter Wonderland book and we will get started!

You need~

48 half square triangles from Winter Nights Part 2.

One fat 1/4 for background.

3/8 yd for the main star fabric.

One fat 1/8th for the star center accent fabric.

1 1/4 yd for backing.

20" pillow form.

22" square of muslin.

22" square of light batting.

From background fabric~

*Cut (4) of unit B.

*Cut (4) of unit C.

*Cut (2) 2" X 12 1/2" strips.

*Cut (2) 2" X 15 1/2" strips.

From the main star fabric~

*Cut (8) of unit H.

*Cut (4) of unit I.

*Cut (8) of unit J.

*Cut (4) 1 3/4" squares.

*Cut (2) 1 3/4" X 18" strips.

*Cut (2) 1 3/4" X 20 1/2" strips.

From star center fabric~

*Cut (1) of unit F.

*Cut (8) of unit G.

From backing fabric~

*Cut (2) 20 1/2" X 32 1/2" rectangles.

 *Sew up one of the star blocks as show in the book on page 34 & 35.

Let's begin~

*Stitch 2" X 12 1/2" background strips to both sides of your star block. Press.

*Stitch 2" X 15 1/2" background strips to both sides of your star block. Press.

*Grab 48 of your favorite half square triangles that we made from the star blocks in the sew along.

If you didn't make the half square triangles in the sew along, you can get the instructions for them HERE.

*Now stitch together (2) of the little half square triangles.

Make 24 of these.

A quick note...I re-ironed 24 of the seams to the other side so they nested together better when I sewed them.

And then I ironed the center seam open.

Stitch 6 of these units together and stitch the unit rows to the sides of the star block.

Stitch 6 more units together with (2) 1 3/4" main star fabric squares.

Stitch these pieced strips to the top and bottom of the star block.

Stitch 1 3/4" X 18" main strip to sides of star block. Press.

Stitch 1 3/4" X 20 1/2" main strip to top and bottom of star block. Press.

 

Layer your star block with the muslin and light batting.

Quilt as you wish.

I used a squiggly line that is a specialty stitch on my machine.

 

When you are done quilting, baste around all the edges of the star block and trim excess fabric/batting.

 With wrong sides together, fold 20 1/2" X 32 1/2" backing rectangles in half. (Now measures 20 ½"  X 16 1/4".)

With right sides together, pin backing flaps to pillow, overlapping folds and matching rough edges.

Stitch around pillow.

Option if you want squared up corners~

Before turning your pillow right side out, (right sides together) match the side seam with the other side seam.

Stitch across corner, 1/2" down from the point.

Repeat with all other corners.

Trim excess from all corners.

Turn pillow right side out and press.

Insert pillow form.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Ribbon block day!

Hello! Another step in the Winter Nights Sew Along and today we are going to sew up the blocks for the ribbon sashing. Last week we cut all the units needed for the blocks.

Let get rolling....so turn to page 34 in the Winter Wonderland book.

Start by stitching a B unit to both sides of the L unit and press the seam toward the L unit.

Then stitch an A unit to the top of the B/L unit and press the seam toward the B/L unit.

Make 71 of these ribbon blocks.

The next step is to sew an A unit to both sides of a K unit.

Make 11 of these units.

That is it for now. Next week we start putting it all together. I can't wait to have this quilt on my sofa and it will be hard to share it!

I would love to see how your quilt is coming along. Please share your progress on Instagram using the hashtag #winternightsqal. Or send me your picture and I will share on Instagram and Facebook. Thanks!

Another fun Sew Along will be starting in a few week so I thought I would give you a heads up about it. That way you can start to gather your fabrics that you will need.

We will be doing the Sleigh Bell sampler with some very special bloggers and it will start August first. Hope you will join me in the fun! If you want to have a kit for the Sampler quilt, you can find it HERE. And it has the exact fabrics I used in my quilt! More information coming soon on the Sew Along.

 

 

Winter Nights....star block day!

It's time for more sewing on our Winter Nights quilt...are you ready?

Today we get to assemble all the star units into blocks. I love this part!!

Turn to page 35 in the Winter Wonderland Book and using the top diagram, assemble the star blocks.

Stitch (2) corner units together with (1) star point unit.

Make 2 for each block.

Stitch (2) star point units other with (1) F unit.

Make 1 for each star.

Stitch star rows together to for star block.

 
Make 12 star blocks...one from each fat 1/4.

I can't wait to see this quilt done! So for next week, let's get the next step cut out so we can start sewing right away.

Grab what is left of your fat 1/4's and your background fabric.

Cut (93) units of A and (142) units of B. I know it says in the book you need 190 of unit B but we used up 48 of them in the star blocks and this is what we need to for the ribbon blocks.

Then RANDOMALLY cut 11 units of K from the left over fat 1/4's.

And 71 units of L from the left over fat 1/4's...I love scrappy!!

See ya next week for the ribbon blocks! Feel free to hashtag it up using the #Winternightsqal so we can all see how you are doing!

P.S. You can also find me HERE on Facebook and HERE on Instagram.

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Nights....part 2!

Happy Tuesday to you! Are you ready to sew some more on our Winter Nights quilt?

Grab your Winter Wonderland book and turn to page 34 for the next steps in our sewing. We will be sewing up the star point units today.

We will be using the Fabric I squares along with the Fabric B rectangles to make flying geese units. You will be make 4 of these flying geese units for each of the 12 star blocks.

I like to "feed" the flying geese units through my sewing machine like this~

It gives the feed dogs something to hang on to right away as the pieces go through the machine and there is less chance of the fabric being sucked down the hole under the needle like when you start with the corner point.

On a fun little side note....I made 1/2 square triangles from the left over corners of the flying geese. I will be using these to make a little project that I will be revealing to you soon.

To make the little extra 1/2 square triangles, I took my ruler and drew a line 1/4" from the center on the back side of the Fabric B squares.

I like to use a Frixion pen to draw my lines because the pen marking disappear when you iron them...just line magic! I love this pens!

Then we will stitch on both sides of the drawn line.

Be sure that your drawn line is toward the outer corner. Cut on the drawn line.

Fold the triangle back and press toward to Fabric B.

Repeat with the other corner of the Flying Geese units.

 

Then trim up the 1/2 square triangle to 1 3/4".

Set the 1/2 square triangles aside for now and I will be back soon with the project that we will be using them in. 

Now let's finish up those Flying Geese units.

P.S. Please use the hashtags #winternightsqal and #thisandthatpatterns so we can all see your progress! And I would love it if you would tag me @sherfalls too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's get started....

Hello! Today I am starting my very first sew along with the Winter Wonderland book and I hope that you are sewing along with me!

Grab your book and turn to the Winter Nights pattern on page 33~

I am very excited about this! I love this quilt and think it looks great out of the wintery blues and creams. But I have wanted to see it cut from fat 1/4's so it's really scrappy. I just love scrappy quilts! I will be using bright and summery fabrics for a totally new look. Just because it's a Christmas book doesn't mean we can't use different fabrics and make the quilts for other seasons too right?!?

I have cut out all the units needed for the star blocks~

And today I am ready to sew. We are going to start with the corners of the star blocks.

Let's start with sewing units C and J together. You will be sewing a colored square together with a background square making 4 for each block. (4 from each fat 1/4 and that is 48 total.)

 

I love chain piecing. It helps me to keep my units organized. I am less likely to loose pieces, it saves thread and makes it easier to carry my pieces to the ironing board. I start with pressing my pieces flat.

 

Then I open the units and press to the dark side~

I LOVE my little thread clipper. It's one of my favorite things and it sits on my ironing table so that clipping the units apart goes quickly. There is no change of me clipping the fabric...just the thread. I have had days when the scissors get a little crazy and end up cutting off a corner, then I have to re-do the whole unit. This little thread clipper saves me from that!

Once you have all your units pressed, we are adding the H unit to them.

Again, I layout one unit so that it's easy to double check that I am sewing the units the right way and that they are going through the machine the same way every time.

 Then off to the ironing board for more pressing~

All done and ready for the next step!

 

I am loving this already and can't wait to see it done....I will be back next week for more sewing!

P.S. You can follow along with me on Facebook and Instagram. Let's use the hashtag #winternightsqal so we can all see each others progress! And be sure to tag me @sherfalls.

 

 

 

Winter Nights....

Are you ready to start the Winter Nights quilt along? I hope you are joining me!

The pattern can be found in the Winter Wonderland Book. So let's turn to page 33 and we can start cutting. If you need a book, it can be found at your local quilt shop or you can order one up from The Fat Quarter Shop.

Here is the Winter Nights quilt~

It's a great quilt to use up some of those fat 1/4's you have been saving.

I am using the Prairie fabric from Corey Yoder of Moda Fabrics. Loving these bright and sunny fabrics. I can't wait to see how this quilt turns out!

Today we are going to start out with the star blocks. I will be cutting one star from each bright fat quarter. The star centers are going to be cut from the light prints.

So let begin...from EACH of the 4 light fat 1/4's for the star centers cut (3) F units and (24) G units.

I am using the cute little Alphabitties from the Fat Quarter Shop to mark the units as I cut them to keep all my pieces in order...love these little letters!

Then from background fabric cut (48) B units and (48) C units. This is all we need for the blocks. The rest that is listed in the book is for the ribbon sashing so we will be cutting  that later.

From EACH bright fat 1/4, cut (8) H units, (8) I units and (4) J units.

 

I saved what is left of the bright fat 1/4's to be used in the ribbon sashing that we will be cutting and sewing later.

I will be back on Tuesday so we can get to the fun part....sewing!

Click  HERE if you want a little cheat sheet for the cutting.

You can follow along with me on Facebook and Instagram. Let's use the hashtag #winternightsQAL and I would love it if you would tag me @sherfalls so I can see your progress too!