I Wish You a Merry-Quilt-A-Long: Santa's Belt
It's time for the next installment of I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long, and this week, we get two blocks! If you haven't seen it yet, you can find the other block right here. Haven't heard of the quilt along? It's not too late to join! My quilt along page has all of the information you need.
Up first for this week is Santa's Belt designed by Laura Piland of Slice of Pi Quilts. Click here for the block pattern. You'll want to download it now, because it will only be free until January 16, 2018.
My Tips
I love the simplicity of this block! I enjoy piecing, so I had a lot of fun making this one. As with any pieced block, it helps to double check your seam allowance before you start. That way your sections will all come out the same size.
To test your seam allowance, simply sew two 2 1/2" squares together and press to one side. Your new rectangle should be 4 1/2" long. If it's shorter than that, make your seam allowance narrower. If the rectangle is bigger than 4 1/2", make your seam allowance wider. By measuring the unit size instead of the seam itself, you will ensure that everything fits together beautifully when you make your block.
For pressing this block, I chose to press everything in the center section towards the gold buckle. On the two sides, I pressed towards the belt. This allowed my seams to nest when I sewed the three sections together.
Those are the only tips I have this time around. I told you it was an easy one! Now I'm just excited to see the variety in everyone's blocks.
More Pretty Blocks
Speaking of variety, did you know that there are 9 other ladies hosting this quilt along with me? Each of us made our own blocks, and they are all unique! I just love this one by Jennifer of The Inquiring Quilter. She used prints in her block, even for the black, and it looks fabulous. I especially like the flecks of gold in Santa's suit.
Did the teaser convince you? I definitely think it's worth it to check out all of the hosts' blogs to see what they did with the block. Not all of us chose fabrics as subtle as mine and Jennifer's.
Abbie at Sparkle On
April at JANDA Bend Quilts
Becca at Pretty Piney
Bobbi at Snowy Days Quilting <---- That's me!
Diane at Cwilt
Jennifer at The Inquiring Quilter
Karen at Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts
Sandy at SandyStar Designs
Sherry at Powered by Quilting
Vanda at Quilt in Piece
Prizes
Now let's talk about the prizes! We have two more fabulous sponsors for this block. To be eligible to win, share your completed Santa's Belt before block 5 is released. The official deadline for submissions is 11:59 pm Eastern Time on September 11, 2017. Enter by sharing your block in our Facebook group, on Instagram with the hashtag #iwishyouamerryqal, or by joining the linkup on Laura's post.
The winner for this block will receive a 6 month subscription to Make Modern magazine, as well as the pdf pattern of their choice from Beth Sellers of Cooking Up Quilts.
But that's not all! Make Modern is generously offering 25% off all single issues and bundles for quilt along participants from now until March 1, 2018. To get the discount, enter MerryQAL2017 at checkout. Note that this discount is just for single issues and bundles, not for subscriptions.
We also have a fabulous grand prize package. Here's a look at the wonderful sponsors we have lined up for that. To be eligible to win the grand prize, post a completed quilt top that includes all 12 blocks by 11:59pm Eastern Time on January 15, 2018. The final block will be released on December 5, so you'll have plenty of time. It doesn't even have to be quilted!