Nordic Christmas: Week 7

This week I am wrapping up my little mini blocks with not one, but two blocks for you.  The first one is a Log Cabin.  This is the first quilt block I ever learned to make, it is pretty simple to master, but the tiny size of these makes them a little trickier.  I recommend you starch, starch, starch, and take your time.  Having the fabric a little stiffer made these go together nicely.  I did change the seam allowance on this one-it really needs to be 1/8".  My presser foot has a little indentation that makes it easy to see where that is-also since this is a small seam allowance I am using a small stitch length of 2.2. The arrow in this photo shows this up close.

​I chose to make more than one, which is pretty quick to do with the strip piecing method that I am using to make these.  So let's get started.  The hardest part is the beginning where you need to place that small red square on the strip and sew.  Even though I am strip piecing I found that I still used a scrap of fabric for a leader, with that tiny seam allowance I had issues with the fabric bunching if I did not.

Here you can see how I pressed these.  I started with pressing towards the red square but for the rest of the pressing I always pressed towards the strip. (I am making two here)

Here I have trimmed these little units off of the strip.

Then I place the trimmed units onto the strip and sew.  It is important to pay attention to which way you lay the units onto the strips.

To trim I lay the ruler so that I have a line along the seam line which will keep everything nice and square.

As I mentioned the main thing you need to watch is the direction that you place your units onto the strip.  To keep myself from getting confused I lay them next to each other.  The piece at the top of the unit is the last one I sewed, so when I flip it to the wrong side on top of the strip that needs to go towards the bottom. If you do this each time all will be well.  Remember the last strip you sewed onto the unit goes towards the bottom when placed onto the next strip.

And I have two log cabins-I think I may make some more and put them into a mini-quilt.

I said I have two ornaments for you this week and the second one is truly my gift to you.

This one goes together really quickly and if you use the no-waste method for making Flying Geese as shown in Week 4 you can whip out 4 of them in no time at all.
Here I show how to make just one Flying Geese unit.  In the directions I mention sewing just to the outside of the drawn line-here is what that looks like for me.

I trim off the extra and press as directed.  Then do the same thing on the other side.

My little Bloc Loc ruler comes in handy once again.  If you need assistance with how to trim with a regular ruler those directions are also found in Week 4.  Basically you need to line up your ruler as shown to trim a perfect unit on the right.

Then you just add the white square to each side of the Flying Geese unit for the top row.

Join the bottom row sections and then sew it to the top row to complete the block. 
I always aim for the tip of the of the point as I sew-this gives me a sharp point on the other side-indicated by arrow.

This has been such a fun project and I am enjoying seeing all of your creations too.  Take a look at these cuties that have been posted to my Facebook Sew Along group page:

Helen's Woven Heart

Helen

Michele's

Michele's Collection

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To get your free pdf patterns for this week's ornaments
Click Here  
​You will find all of the previous blocks there as well.

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I had my Christmas music playing while I wrote this post and this is a song that came up-the first time I had heard it this year.  It got my feet to tapping and put a smile on my face so I want to wish you all a Mele Kalikimaka with the help of one of my all-time favorites, Bing Crosby.

Merry Christmas!