It’s almost time, y’all! Turn on the Christmas music, pour yourself something warm and clear off that cutting table, because our Winter Sew Along kicks off on Saturday, November 14!
This time we’re making Christmas Bleu, and I can’t wait to see these beautiful blue stars come together in your sewing rooms. We’ll be working with 9 blue prints to build 9 big, gorgeous star blocks, some light and some dark. It’s the kind of quilt you’ll want to curl up under all winter long!
Don’t let those stars scare you. We’re breaking it all down into bite size pieces, and I’ll be right there with you with a new video each week. I also planned this one around the holidays. You get two full weeks to starch and cut because of Thanksgiving, and we’re taking Christmas week off. By January 15, you’ll have a finished quilt top and a whole lot of bragging rights!
The Schedule
Here’s what we’re doing each week. Save this page so you can come back to it!
| Week | Dates | What We’re Doing |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-2 | November 14-27 | Starching and Cutting Fabric: I’m giving you extra time to do both starching and cutting since we’re coming up on Thanksgiving week. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! |
| Week 3 | November 28-December 4 | Strip Sets and Half Square Triangles: This week we do steps 1-3. You have enough fabric to make up to 4 HST at a time, or use foundation paper piecing if you prefer that over the pattern’s instructions. I’ll be showing all 3 methods. |
| Week 4 | December 5-11 | Block A and Star Assembly: Steps 4-5. Make 4 of each of the 9 blue prints, for a total of 36 units. |
| Week 5 | December 12-18 | Star Block Assembly: Steps 6, 7 and 8. When you build your center square, pay close attention to the colors. You’ll use light center squares on the dark star blocks and dark center squares on the light star blocks. Note: you’ll need one extra 2 Ā½” dark blue square from one of your prints for one of your light star blocks. |
| Christmas | December 19-25 | No video this week. Merry Christmas! |
| Week 6 | December 26-January 1 | Outside Sashing: Steps 9-12. You’ll have 9 complete blocks that measure 22 Ā½”. |
| Week 7 | January 2-8 | Sashing Strips and Row Assembly: First we make the sashing strips. They’ll be used vertically to join the blocks into rows. |
| Week 8 | January 9-15 | Quilt Top Completion: Time to make the horizontal sashings, using the strips from last week and adding 2 Ā½” squares in between to create the sashing between the rows. That finishes your quilt top! Don’t forget to take a victory lap and give it a final press before sending it to your longarmer! |
What You’ll Need
Get these gathered up before November 14 and you’ll be ready to roll!
- Starch
- Iron
- Fresh rotary blade
- Rulers
- Thread
- Pins
- A clean machine (yes, it’s time!)
- Foundation Paper (HST) H400, if you’re using triangle paper for your HSTs
Come Stitch With Us!
The best part of any sew along is the people! Join our Facebook group, Leslie Quilts Sew Alongs, to share your progress, ask questions and cheer each other on.
I want to see your stars on Instagram too! Tag @Leslie_Quilts and @LaurastarUS so we can all ooh and aah over your blocks. You’ll be entered into a giveaway with Laurastar US for a Laurastar Lift every time you post on Instagram and tag us!
Want Me to Longarm It?
Once your top is done, I’d love to finish it for you! I’ll be using Glide Linen thread, and you’ll get to pick from 6 pantographs. Just let me know!
I’m so excited to stitch through the holidays with you. See you November 14. Happy starching!
Leslie š
