The day has finally arrived...the borders are made (yes...I mitre connect my borders...I'm a wacko that way!).  I was kind of a little worried about this pattern calling for a white border...the same as the sashing...until I began to look at it as an opportunity to do a little something FUN with the binding to show off the fabric line just ONE more time!  I'll get to that in a bit...

Back to the situation at hand...

My borders went together like a well executed plan...

Don't you just LOVE when that happens?

Here's the proof...

Gracious BE...I LOVE it bunches...how about YOU?

So back to my plan for the binding...

Remember...I had mentioned that I still have a nice little leftover stack of fabric from my original 12-1/2 yard cuts?

Well...I picked out 6 of them...my favorites from the Reds and the Greens...because I figured that would pop the best in a binding plan.  I then cut each strip into 4 pieces..and once again mitre connected them all...and YES...that's alot of mitre's!

These little sections are about 9.5" long...so the fabric changes ALOT...which is what I was looking for!

I love the way it looks...so far...

 And just because I am OCD and crazy like that...I rolled my binding so it looks real pretty...

OK...now I have to make the plan on how I am going to quilt it!

So let me think...

Kathleen 

 Another day...another step closer to a finish with my Merry Little Christmas Quilt!

I LOVE it when a plan comes together!

Here you will see my Sweet Ruby Jane (aka my Janome Horizon 7700 sewing machine) sewing right along...strategically adding the sashing borders between the rows of 4 patches I made earlier last week.  When I sew the sashing rows together I like to place the pieced 4 patch units on top...so that I can see all the seams as I approach them at the needle.  This allows me to be sure I am not "pushing" the seams in the wrong direction (basically opposite the way I pressed them to be!).

It's a WIN WIN situation!

After sewing each sashing row to the 4 Patch Row...I take the strip to my ironing station and press to set the seam...and then press towards the sashing (which in my case is WHITE).

My design wall is filling up with all the beautiful rows...

 And here's a quick pic of some rows of 4 patches with the sashing rows in between them!

Gracious BE!...I LOVE it Bunches...

How about YOU?

Quilt ON!

Kathleen

I am moving right along with my Merry Little Christmas 4 Patch Quilt...Gracious BE!  I love this fabric line so much! 

How about YOU?

I decided to assembly line sew the 4 Patches to the white fabric strip and then cut them apart after I filled a strip up...I was able to attach 6-4 Patches to the strip with a small seperation between each one to allow for an accurate squaring up.  

After stitching the 4 Patch onto the strip...I took it to my ironing station...I pressed to set the seam and then pressed the seam allowance towards the 4 patches...it just seemed like the ease of construction at this point...so I went with it.  My thought process in quilting is to press towards the direction of the area that will produce the FLATEST end result.  

Ensuring that your blocks lay FLAT...is first and foremost important in quilt construction...when adding sashing in between the blocks or rows of blocks also requires that area to lay FLAT after you have pressed it.  

If for some reason your blocks or rows do NOT lay flat after pressing...your problem is directly THERE.  Do not move on thinking you will "quilt it out" or your long armer will "quilt it out"...because this is not the case.

Just some "food for thought".

Here you will see a close up of one of my 4 Patches sewn onto the sashing strip and then squared up to make it pretty pretty pretty.  It's a plan...and it works so darn GREAT!  

Just a little reminder...I wait to "square up" my blocks to the sashing strip AFTER they are press towards the 4 patches as this will provide you with the most accurate squaring up results.

I have been using this method for accurate block and sashing construction for nearly 20 years...and I really like the finished end results I get.

Give it a try...

Let me know what you think!

Quilt ON!

Kathleen

After doing a little lurking around on the internet...I stumbled across this cute little pattern layout (for FREE) designed by Andy Knowlton and it was simply PERFECT for my 12-Half Yard Cuts.  It wasn't necessary for me to reinvent the wheel so to speak, by writing my own pattern when this one was spot on!

Here is where I found the pattern layout...www.abrightcorner.com

Be sure to check it out!

I started off by making my scrappy 4 patch units shown above...I made 63 of them!  And Boy Howdy...did they whip up quicker than one would think!  There was mindless sewing happening here...only paying slight attention to not having two of the SAME fabric prints in one 4 Patch Unit.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

In case your wondering...I have a nice little stack of leftovers from each of my 12-Half Yard Cuts to make something else that will definetly make my little heart sing!  My mind is already in overtime!

Check back later to see what happens next...

Quilt ON!

Kathleen