June 18th, 2018 Log Cabin Blocks

We're in for a lot of fun sewing in the next few weeks. We will be sewing Christmas Cheer by Cotton Way.  The pattern can be purchased here. The fabric we will be using is Vintage Holiday by Bonnie and Camille. The kit can be purchased here. I will not be posting measurements of the pieces. You will have to purchase the pattern to find this information.

Welcome to our second row. I hope everyone was able to work on the stars in the last couple weeks.
We're moving on to the log cabin blocks this week.

I cut out all 8 of my log cabin blocks at the same time, so I could chain sew them all at the same time.

I made mine an organized scrappy look. Here is what I used. I sorted through all of the fabrics and sorted by colors, all of my whites together (minus the white/silver stripe), all of my pinks together, all of my greens, and all of my aquas together.

I then cut strips of all my fabrics of width specified in the pattern...I used 17 strips of white, 8 strips each of pinks, 8 strips of green, and 8 strips of aqua. I usually cut one or two strips off each of my fabrics, until I reached the desired numbers.

Once I had these cut, I cut these to length. (You will have a little scrap left over. I just placed the scraps in a bag for use later.)

I also cut a strip of my red fabric and cut to the exact size.

As I cut my fabrics, I placed my Alphabitties on each set.

After I had all of my pieces cut, I arranged them according to the diagram on the pattern.

I then picked up A and B and started sewing. You will always want the new piece on the right.

Sew A and B together and press.

I always pressed to the piece I had just sewn to the block. Continue around the block, making sure that your new piece is on the right of the block and the previous strip you just added is on the bottom.
Here are pics of the process. (Sorry for picture overload.) Pressing after each seam.

Here is the back of the finished block, all pressed.

You will soon have 8 beautiful blocks.

I then stacked in two piles and sewed my blocks in twos, then fours.

As I was sewing my blocks together, I pressed to my M fabrics.
Your finished row should now measure 72-1/2". If it is a little longer, deepen your seam a smidge, if your finished row is shorter, you'll have to rip (I'm sorry) and take a smaller seam.

I then added another of my sashing strips cut to length to the bottom of this row and sewed.

I got so excited when I got this far, that I had to sew it to the star blocks.

Finished and I'm loving how it is going together. These are easy blocks to sew together and they are made easier by keeping everything marked, laying the block down after pressing and making sure the block is still rotating in the correct position.

Post your work on our Facebook page and if you have any questions, at any time, post those on there also.

Sew Along Star 6-11

We're in for a lot of fun sewing in the next few weeks. We will be sewing Christmas Cheer by Cotton Way.  The pattern can be purchased here. The fabric we will be using is Vintage Holiday by Bonnie and Camille. The kit can be purchased here. I will not be posting measurements of the pieces. You will have to purchase the pattern to find this information.

We are now in the second week of making the star blocks. How are you doing with them?

I grouped all of my A pieces with my flying geese and sewed them all together. You will need to press your seams away from your flying geese. Sew your flying geese units to your C pieces. Sew all pieces to make the star blocks.

You are now ready to attach the filler strips. I sewed a filler strip on the right side to 13 of my blocks. Then I sewed all of my blocks together. Attach your end strips to the ends on the left and right side.

Your row should measure at least 72-1/2". I found the center of my row and measured to the end of the left side. My row was oversized, So I trimmed to 36-1/4". I did the same from the center to the right side and trimmed to 36-1/4".

I went a couple steps further. Remember the sashing strips and top border I was using as leaders and enders? I took the first set of sashing strips and cut to the 72-1/2" length, and sewed to the bottom of the row. I then took the top border and cut to the 72-1/2" size. I then sewed to the top of the first row.

Why wait until the end of the project to sew all of the rows together, when we have a few minutes to sew them now.

Here's Julie showing us our first completed row.
Post your pics on our Facebook page.

Next week, we'll start working on our Log Cabin Blocks. See you then.

June 4th Sew Along

Good morning and welcome to Prairie Point Junction's Christmas Cheer Sew Along!
We're in for a lot of fun sewing in the next few weeks. We will be sewing Christmas Cheer by Cotton Way.  The pattern can be purchased here. The fabric we will be using is Vintage Holiday by Bonnie and Camille. The kit can be purchased here. I will not be posting measurements of the pieces. You will have to purchase the pattern to find this information.

My name is Deb and I'll be sewing along with you. I'll give you hints along the way and try to make everything easier, so you'll have a quilt ready in time for Christmas!

First - I hope you're excited and ready to go. I put a rotary cutter blade in for smooth sailing and I've wound a few bobbins. (There's nothing worse than having to stop sewing in the middle of a project because you've run out of bobbin thread.)

Second - I went ahead and cut the sashing strips and labeled them. These will make great leader and enders, so you don't have to cut your thread all of the time. I like leader and enders, so I don't have so many threads on my quilt and I don't have a long tail of thread. When you are coming to the end of sewing, instead of cutting your thread, I'll sew, for instance, two of my sashing strips together, then I'm ready to start sewing the next part of the block. I'll trim the thread between the part of the block I've already sewn and the sashing strips, leaving the sashing strips under the sewing machine foot. Once I start sewing the block again, I'll trim the thread for the sashing strips. Easy Peasy...

I'll be posting block information every other Monday.

June 4th  -         Row #1  -  Star

June 18th  -       Row #2  -  Log Cabin

July 2nd  -        Row #3  -  Santa Hat

July 16th  -       Row #4  -   Heart

July 30th  -       Row #5  -    Peppermint

August 13th  -  Row #6  -  Gift

August 27th  -  Row #7  -  Friendship Star

September 10th  -  Row #8  -  Tree

September 24th  -  Row #9  -  Checkerboard

October 8th   -  Row #10  -  Stocking

October 22nd  -  Putting the Rows Together

If you want to work ahead, you'll know what we are going to be working on next.

For more information, please read here.

I have also cut my binding strips. If you have an extra half hour sometime, get your binding sewn and pressed. It saves time at the end of your project or when it comes back from the quilter and you wonder where you put the binding fabric.

I place all of these items in a box and keep everything close by.

Okay...on to the Star block.
I cut strips of what I will be using for the Star block. For B and D, I cut mine an 1/8" to 1/4" bigger, so I can trim when I get the geese blocks finished.

Here are the fabrics I chose for my C squares.

You will need a total of A=56 pieces
                                      B=56 pieces
                                      C=14 pieces
                                      D=112 pieces
Don't forget to cut your filler and end strips.

I cut just what I needed for my C squares, less waste and more fun...I did fussy cut a few of my center squares. I found what size I needed for my C square and divided this number in half. I lined the center of the ornament up with these lines and cut my square.

As I was finishing up each cut, I placed my Alphabitties on the cut fabrics. These are a great tool to have and makes figuring multiple pieces so much easier. You can find your Alphabitties here.

Following the directions, place a red D star point on your B rectangle. Sew...Trim...Press...

Add other square to the opposite side...sew, trim and press.

I am always left with a somewhat nice looking flying goose.
The way to make it look soooo much better, is to use my Quilt In a Day Flying Geese Ruler for appropriate size. Trim to appropriate size. (If your ruler is slip sliding all over, I use a short burst of my 505 Spray on my Geese Ruler and let it dry. It will be tacky and hold better and then I wash off when I'm finished with a little bit of soap and water.)

The perfect flying goose. You'll need four for each star.
Lay out your flying geese units, along with A and C.

I start sewing rows together. When I get to the middle row, I will sew (if at all possible) with the goose on top. That way I can keep an eye on the center of each goose, so nothing is cut off.

This is an easy block to press also. I press after each row is sewn. Here is a pic of how I pressed my block the first time around.

Everything will line up ever so nicely...Sew your rows together and you have the first block finished.

Only thirteen more to go, but it won't take long.

I am chain sewing all of my flying geese. This way there is very little thread waste and saves time sewing one at a time. I'll trim them all up and get them sewn up into blocks.

If there are any questions, get on Facebook and give us a shout. We also want to see your progress, so send us those pics.

See you in a few days with a couple more short cuts to finishing faster.

Even if you only have 10-15 minutes, you'll have time to sew a few seams, trim, or press...

Deb