Here it is the first day of September.  It has been a long journey of getting a working computer but finally last week I am up and running again.  In the meantime, my vacation from tech encouraged some time away with my beloved hubby and we spent some nights in the woods, just the two of us and beautiful starry skies.  There is something mesmerizing about looking up at the night sky far away from the hustle and bustle of life...the quiet, a little too quiet at times, and the Milky Way filling the sky as far as one can see.  We had some perfect summer nights.

I also took advantage of abundant harvests and canned a lot of jam from our apricot tree followed by wild huckleberries and then some blueberries we were given.  I may yet go out and pick blackberries as well.  I tried something new with my apricot jam and added in Earl Gray tea to one batch and some lavender from my herb garden to another.  Both are really quite tasty.

I was never able to post last month's block 5 on the blog due to my computer issues so let's start this month with a look at that one.

And here is the one that is going into my baby quilt.  I worked to get the fussy cut rabbit in the middle.

Now for Block 6.  I heard from some of my pattern testers that this was their favorite block for this quilt so far.  All of the techniques in this block we have used in previous blocks so nothing new just more good practice.  I will mention that try as I might not all of the seams will lock together the way I like which means we have a few rather bulky seams to deal with.  So remember, sew slowly over those seams as it does help to keep things lined up.  A stiletto to help guide those bulky seams under your needle will also be beneficial.

Every once in awhile I come up with a new streamlined way of doing things.  This time I laid out several of these Half-square Triangles in a row and trimmed the first two sides at the same time.

The I rotated them all to trim the last two sides.

  I don't know if it actually saved any time but it felt more efficient.  Here they are ready to be sewn together into the Corner Units for our block.

I love it when seams go together so perfectly, and these diagonal seams do just that. 

Because of the way I have pressed these I again have seams that perfectly match with one going one way and the other facing the opposite direction.  This allows them to "lock" together as I sew.  I rarely use pins and having that seam on top facing towards the top of my unit helps to "push" them together as I sew.

These units are looking good.

As I mentioned, we do not have any new techniques but I want to remind you to sew with the top little square pointing away from your needle.  These little things do help.

We need to join our Flying Geese units together...

I sew with them arranged so that I can see the point.  This way I can make sure that as I sew my needle will land right at the tip of that intersection (the "X" made by the seams.)  This is where having that 1/4" seam allowance is so important since I want to achieve sharp points as I have in the photo above.

When it comes to the center unit I want to remind you to sew just to the right of your drawn line and not on top of it. 

As I mentioned we will have some bulky seams that do not lock together well-the seams ended up facing the same direction.  One way I try to deal with them is to flip the seam up and place a pin through the remaining layers to hold them together.

Then as I come to it I flip the seam back down and just before I get to the pin I go ahead and remove it carefully, while my needle is in the down position.  When my needle is in the down position I can make little adjustments as the needle acts as a pin holding things in place.

Here is how my baby quilt version came out.  The pink show brighter in real life. Since we do have those bulky seams I recommend pressing the final two seams open rather than to one side.  I finger pressed the seams open before taking it to my ironing board.  The pressed the back of the block on those open seams before flipping to the right side for a final press.  All in all the block lays pretty flat with that technique.

And here are blocks my testers submitted.  I am hard pressed to choose a favorite.

You can download all of the blocks in this series in my shop.  They will be free until January 1, 2021.

Let me close by taking a moment to thank those who have checked up on my during my absence.  Your care and thoughtfulness was such a blessing.  And for those posting photos and comments on my Facebook pages; how truly wonderful it is to see my designs being made into such beautiful quilts; I am always amazed and honored when I see each one. 

So, thank you and...
Happy Quilting!!

I love Christmas.  It is one of my favorite times of the year.  So when Carole at My Carolina Home suggested a Christmas in July event to all of us I was all in.  Thank you Carole for putting this together and keeping us moving forward with this fun project!
 My grandmother came to this country from Sweden.  I have grown to appreciate many of the traditions that come from my Swedish heritage.  There is a simplicity inherent in the decor that draws me in.  And well, I do love a red and white color scheme which makes me feel a bit of connection to still to my ancestors.  That was the inspiration for my collection of Christmas ornaments.

These little ornaments measure 3" x 3" when finished.  Do not let the small size intimidate you.  There are some tips and tricks to working with small blocks and I will share those with you.  One of the things that really helps is to starch your fabrics before cutting the pieces out.  For my samples in the photo above I used a Batik fabric for the red and found that the stiffness of Batiks lends itself well to these small blocks.  I did not have to use any starch for the Batik, just my regular quilting cotton I had for the white fabrics.  
Today I am sharing the Sawtooth Star ornament with you as my gift for our Christmas in July Pattern Parade.

The other tip I have for you to help in putting these together is just to sew slowly.  I mention in my pattern that I use a shorter stitch length-that too will help.

This one has some bulky seams so you may wish to press the seams open.

The finishing instructions in the pattern give details about quilting and binding.  I have also have a couple of videos for those steps as well.

I am blessed with some pretty amazing pattern testers.  So first of all know that these patterns have been thoroughly tested for accuracy.  Secondly they often do wonderful things with the patterns they test.  Take a look at how Susie made her blocks into a cute little table topper.

Isn't that adorable.  (All of the blocks are available for purchase as a set in my shop.)  She added a middle square of fabric from the Winter Whimsy collection from Henry Glass -which I will warn you is hard to find but still available.  I have some ordered now, lol.  Susie cut the sashings and outer border 1 1/4" (finish width is 3/4"). 
Then used a 2" binding strip to finish her quilt.   

You can download a free copy of just the Sawtooth Star Ornament by clicking on the link below (it will be free until the end of July 2020:
Nordic Christmas: Sawtooth Star 

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my blog.  It is a delight for me to be able to share my love of quilting with all of you.  If you would like to stay in the know about what I am doing consider signing up for either my Newlsetter or Blog Upates in the upper right of the this page.

I hope you have fun visiting all of the rest of the quilters taking part in our blog hop today.  The links for everyone are below.  And a big thank you once again to My Carolina Home for hosting this wonderful hop.

Table Toppers, Home and Kitchen
Inquiring Quilter
Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Cooking Up Quilts
The Quilted Diary
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Morning Glory Designs
Scrapdash
Days Filled With Joy

Small Projects
Geeky Bobbin
Sunburnt Quilts
Tamarinis
Tuning My Heart Quilts (that's me)
Prairie Sewn Studios
Puppy Girl Designs
Ladybug Buzz
 Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio

Traditional and Modern Quilt Patterns
Ms P Designs USA
Quilt 2 End ALZ
Patti's Patchwork
Cotton Street Commons
Brown Bird Designs
From My Carolina Home
 

Thanks again for visiting.
Have a blessed day and...
Happy Quilting!!

Today's block was another fun find.  The block dates back to the early 19th century when weaving was a large part of life and is called Flying Shuttles.  The original block was made from turkey red, dark red, and white fabrics so I decided I would recreate that color scheme using my scraps.

Click on the link below for a copy of pattern.
Passing the Days pdf files

I hope you have a great weekend and
​Happy Quilting!

PS.  I am so far behind right now as life has been a bit crazy since I originally made this post on June 20th!  I will be getting back to the blocks as soon as it settles down.  In the meantime I want to share an upcoming event with you.  The Christmas in July Pattern Parade and Blog Hop.  I am excited to be a part of a group of designers in the quilt industry who will be sharing some fun projects on July 15th with all of you.  There is sure to be something for everyone-projects both small and large, patterns from traditional to modern.  

Here we are, another month gone by.  I hope you enjoy reading about our next brightest star in the sky: Arcturus when you get your copy of the pattern.  This one actually goes together pretty quickly with the techniques I show you this month.

First we will be using the Quick Corner Triangle Method. The keys to this method are to make sure you have drawn an accurate diagonal line that goes from corner to corner and to sew just along the outside of the drawn line rather than right on top of it.

I want to take a moment and show you why I sew along the outside of the line.  The square on the left I have sewn on top of my drawn line.  The square on the right I have sewn just to the outside. (If you look closely you can still see the drawn line I used as my guide.

When I press the resulting triangles notice that the one on the left, where I sewed directly on the line does not quite cover the square underneath.  The one on the right covers it perfectly.  It always amazes me how just that little needle width of our stitching line can make such a difference.

Now, back to our Corner Unit...before proceeding to trim away the excess I finger press the triangle to make sure that it does indeed cover the square underneath. Since it does I will trim away the two layers underneath to get rid of the extra bulk.

Sometimes however, things still do not work out perfectly and you may see a bit of the square underneath.  There is a little trick we can do so that this unit will still be the correct size for the block.

If I trim away just the top layer of fabric and leave the base square intact it will ensure that my square ends up with the correct measurement.  It adds an extra layer, but it is not too much bulk for our finished quilt.  

I always double check to make sure that my block stays square as I add each triangle.

The other unit that makes this block go together so nicely is the Quarter-square Triangle.  We start out by just making two Half-square Triangles which, if you have been sewing along with me for any length of time, we have gotten pretty good at by now. 

This is the fun part...lay the two HST's so that the seam locks together and the dark sides of the two are facing opposite each other.

I then sew them with the seam pointing towards my needle.  This is just an added measure that helps push those two seams tightly together as you sew.

Once my units are pressed I trim to size using the diagonal line on my ruler to keep things squared up nicely.

And with just those two types of units we are ready to put the whole block together. 
I challenged myself with some fussy cutting to make
my baby quilt version of this block.

As usual my pattern testers delighted with their fabric choices:

To get your copy of this month's block click on the link below:
Star Light, Star Bright pdf patterns

I do want to encourage you to share a photo of your finished block with me on my Facebook Sew Along page at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/tuningmyheartsewalong/
For more fun projects to keep you busy until Block 5 comes out check out the blocks I have been making and sharing for my Passing the Days project:
​Passing the Days pdf patterns
And stay tuned for a Christmas in July blog hop coming the middle of this month.
​I hope you have a blessed day and...
Happy Quilting!!

What is it about being on the inside looking out?  We spend a lot of time looking out the windows onto our backyard.  I stop many times during my day just to see "who" has come by for a visit, and right now that means hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the new fawns.
When I saw the block I chose for Day 93 it reminded me of a window.  I really thought the name of the block lacked any kind of imagination though-it is simply called "New Pattern" and appeared in Peterson's Magazine in....wait for it...1857!

I decided to use a varriety of blacks for my dark fabric just because I am using up scraps.  That did mean I needed to be careful when I laid out the pieces to make sure I had the blacks matched properly.

I also went with a gray-on-gray print for the light fabric.  I liked the fact that it gave the impression of looking out at a garden.  However, if I had chosen a brightly colored print instead I think it would have been too much for the block and taken away from the overall sense, which is really quite peaceful.

And looked who showed up out my window.

Click on the link below to get a copy of today's block:
Passing the Days pdf Patterns

I hope you enjoy your day and wish you
​Happy Quilting!