A NOrdic Christmas: Week 2

Did you have fun with the first block in this series?  If you missed it, just click on the photo below and get your copy of the pattern.  You can also enter to win the Bloc Loc ruler again this week by leaving a comment below about your favorite Christmas Color Scheme. (so that is two entries you get!)  The winner of the 3/4" x 1 1/2" Flying Geese ruler will be announced next Friday!  I will be using this ruler to make some itty bitty Flying Geese soon.

Week 1 Pattern

This week's mini quilt is the Churn Dash block.  Despite its tiny size it goes together easily.  Be sure and check out my videos on how I quilted mine, and how I do the binding found later in this blog post.

Get your copy of this free pattern here: Churn Dash Ornament pdf
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To begin, draw a diagonal line on the back of the B squares.  Sew1/4" from each side of the drawn line and then cut along the line. Press towards the A side.  Starch is your friend when making these small blocks!  I sometimes give them another spritz as I press.

Laying your ruler so that the diagonal line lines up with the seam line trim the Half-square Triangles to  1 1/2" x 1 1/2" 

Next sew the C and D strips together into a strip set.  Lay the ruler along the seam and cut four 1 1/2" squares from the strip set.

Lay out all of the pieces as shown.

Sew together into rows, pressing as indicated in pattern.

Join the rows together, matching the seams and pinning as needed.  I place a pin when my seam points away from my needle.  I do not sew over the pin, but stop when I come to it and remove it before sewing over the seam.  Sewing slowly over these seams helps to keep the seam nice and straight.

When I have a seam that is facing towards the needle I do not use a pin. As I sew this seam is just naturally pushed into the bottom seam and they line up quite nicely.

In my directions I said to press towards the top and bottom rows.  I also tried out opening up these seams.  The block was a bit flatter than pressing the seams the other way, but there was not really a noticable difference in the end.  So do which ever you prefer.

I have made a couple of videos to show you how I quilt and bind these little cuties.   Ignore the title screen of the first one-it says flying geese because somehow the editor (that would be me) missed that in processing the video.

Have fun and Happy Quilting!