Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long - Building the Block Sides

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of 4 of the $75.00 Gift Certificate grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread and Fat Quarter Shop ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Here is the schedule


Feb 26 - Building Block Sides
Mar 5 - Building Block Corners
Mar 12 - Piecing Top and Grand Prize Linky
April 2- Star Light Star Bright Parade and Grand Prize Winners


Before we get to this weeks assignment, we need to pick a winner for the Star Centers Assignment.  It is so fun to get to see these blocks starting to take shape!!!  The winner who will receive a $25.00 Gift Certificate from Southern Fabric is . . 

#28 - Lesley Foye!!!! - Congrats :)

  

So now, onto this weeks assignment ;)  If you are just finding this QAL, it's never to late to join in the fun :)  You don't have to sign up or anything, just start following along with the weekly assignments ;)

THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT - BUILDING THE BLOCK SIDES

Yippee, I am so excited.  Seeing your stars was so fun and now the block really starts to come together!!

Alright, to start go to your now slightly smaller pile of HST's for your first (or only) block.  You should have 24 HST's now.  For today's assignment you will need the 16 HST's in the black box.  Those are the (16) Diamond Fabric/Background HST's.  The other 8 HST's put aside back in those zip-loc baggies keeping them grouped as a block.


To those 16 HST's you will be adding your Flying Geese. You will add the 8 Geese of the matching Diamond Prints to your HST's.  There will be 4 with the Diamond Print as the goose and 4 with the Diamond Print as the sky ;)


You will be making 4 sides per block.  So for each side you will need to layout 4 HST's and 2 Geese, 1 of each kind, as shown below.  You can sew these together in rows, or columns, but I prefer columns so that is that is how I will be showing it, but if you like doing it a different way go right ahead :)


Quick Note before we start sewing -Just like when we sewed the stars, each time I sew a seam I lay my pieces back out into the layout above, it just keeps from having those little oops moments.  I highly recommend chain piecing your 4 sides, and you can assembly line piece all 4 sides for all of your blocks as well.  Just remember to layout the pieces on top of one another so that you are only ever looking at one side on top, and it has layers of sides beneath it and take care when clipping your threads to always stack your pieces back up in the same order.

Okay, lets get to sewing.  Place the bottom pieces onto the top pieces with right sides together and aligning raw edges.  Pin if you are worried about the pieces slipping.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the edges.  *see next picture for sewing note.


And just like the Stars, when sewing the 1/4" seam you have a little guide in your seam allowance that will ensure you a perfect point.  On your Geese unit, the thread will make an X in the seam allowance. Sew your seam directly through the middle of that X and it will give you that nice perfect point.


Clip your threads and then press the seams open.  I like to press these open to avoid bulk.


And now you have 3 columns or vertical rows :)  They should look something like this :)


Now we are going to sew those columns together.  Place the right hand side column and the left hand side column onto either side of the center column with right sides together.  Align the center seams and pin them in place.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edges,  *see next picture for sewing note.  Press the seams open.


And again, we have a great guide for perfect points.  The print fabric will make a little V in the center seam allowance, sew your seam directly along the bottom of that V and it will give you that wonderful perfect point.

And your side is complete!!   If you are doing multiple blocks and were assembly line piecing, enjoy all your side units.


If you were doing one side at a time, just repeat the process so you have a total of 4 sides per however many blocks you have in your project :)


And that's it!!    And now you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prize is sponsored by Green Fairy Quilts and a huge thanks goes out to them for their support of the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks prize is 4, yes 4 Charm Packs from Green Fairy Quilts.  That is going to be some fun choosing for one lucky winner!!!  Oh, I just love Charm Packs!!!



    
So what do you have to do for a chance to win the charm packs?  Simple . . . Just link up your Block Sides :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Wednesday morning as I will be announcing a winner in next weeks post :)

If you don't get your Sides done by next week you can still link it up :) (just not in time for the prize :) The linky will remain open until the end of the Quilt-A-Long.  So if your out of town, or just had a busy week, no worries!!!  Just link up when you can :)

And don't forget to add your Block Sides to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  I can't wait to see them all :)

So let's get sewing!!  Oh, and if you have questions, don't hesitate to email me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com.  Have a Happy Quilting Day!!
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5 comments:

  1. Hey Melissa,
    I'm not giving up on this quilt, but we're in Australia right now. The trip wasn't a for sure thing until the week before we left. It's a business (and pleasure, because how can you go to Australia and not get pleasure out of it?). So, I have a lot of catching up to do when we get back next week!
    Still going.... :)

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  2. I haven't given up either. Running a business and life have gotten in the way, but I am hoping to catch up this week!

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  3. Sadly, other quilting obligations have taken precedence this week, but will be back on the linky next time!

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  4. Wow, Flickr really chopped my photo! Plugging away!

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  5. Heh. I keep forgetting to link up! And, I have decided to make a 2nd one now.

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Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I just love hearing from you!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Melissa