Christmas in July Pattern Parade

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.

For this block I used my favorite method of making Flying Geese; the No-waste method.  If you are unfamiliar with this method it can feel a little odd so let me walk you through the process.
You will lay two of the smaller squares on the large square and draw a diagonal line down the middle.  Then sew 1/4" from each side of that drawn line.  I sew with the top square facing as shown to keep things nice and smooth as I sew over them.

Once sewn you need to cut them apart on the drawn line and press towards the small triangles.  You will end up with two units that look like this.

Lay the remaining small blocks on top of these units and repeat sewing 1/4" on each side of the drawn line.

Cut apart on the drawn line and press towards the small triangles.  And just like that we have four Flying Geese.  I love the Bloc_Loc rulers for trimming these.  If you need to trim with a regular ruler I made a little video to show you how to trim a perfect Flying Geese for the size needed in this block.

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!!