Welcome! Today is my stop on the Quilting Gallery Glorious Autumn Quilter’s Block Party and I can’t tell you how excited I am! I would like to take a moment and thank Michele for all of her hard work putting all of this together for us, due to her hard work of gathering some AMAZING designers there are 45 free block designs available for you! In addition to 45 new block designs, Michele has also arranged Quilter Super Deals, so make sure you head over to Quilting Gallery and check them out. While you are over there make sure you check out my Designer Profile, you can see a picture of the first quilt I ever made! I haven’t been able to share it before because I never took pictures until this summer!!!
On with the block making! My block is called Mirrored Diamonds (pdf of tutorial: Mirrored Diamonds Tutorial):
The cool thing about this block is that in order to make one, you actually make two! Two blocks for the price of one!
You will start by cutting the following: (the fabrics on the left are for your QSTs, the fabrics on the right are for HSTs)
Next you will want to pair up your fabrics that will become your eventual Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs), prepare them for sewing by drawing a diagonal line corner to corner. Sew ¼” one either side of the line. Note: when you construct QSTs the first step is always to make Half Square Triangles (HSTs).
Time Saving Tip: Chain piece all of your HSTs and QSTs, and then snip them apart before you cut them in half!
Cut them along the line that you drew and press to the side. You will have 16 HSTs that are destined to become QSTs:
Next take your squares measuring 4 1/8” and draw a line corner to corner as you would for HSTs (for my block this is the solid orange and the stripe fabric pictured). Then you will want to center the already made HSTs (which will become your QSTs) on the square right sides together. You will want to make sure that you are making an X. The seam from your HST should cross the drawn line diagonally; you DO NOT want them to line up!!!
Sew ¼” one either side of the drawn line on the 4 1/8” square.
Note: I was using smaller measurements when I sewed these two blocks (4.25 for the QST fabric, and I found that going to a larger size made a world of difference). That is why mine seem a touch off, yours will not if you are cutting your QST fabrics to 4.5”.
Again, chain piece these to make the process go by faster, snip them apart, cut along the drawn diagonal and press to the side. Then you will be ready to layout your blocks!
Not keen on this design, you can play with it and switch it up. There are endless possibilities. Here are 4 blocks I have made with this design.
If you totally love the mirrored image design, here is an example of a quilt that could be made using the first two blocks pictured above:
If you decide to sew this block, make sure you upload it to the Flickr Group so everyone can check it out!
Make sure you take the time this week to check out the other two amazing designers that are presenting block on Wednesday and Thursday:
Wednesday, Nov. 14
Soma – Whims and Fancies
http://www.whimsandfancies.com/
Thursday, Nov. 15
Mickey … It’s a Fiber Life
http://www.itsafiberlife.blogspot.com/
Now just for coming by and having some fun with me today! I have a fun giveaway for you! I am giving away 2 charm packs, so there will be 2 winners!
Enter using the Rafflecopter below and Good luck! I will leave this giveaway open until Monday, November 19, 2012 at 9 pm Pacific Time.
Thank you so much for stopping by today!!!
Love the block!
Favorite holiday tradition-
holding and hiding all the presents ( from family and friends) for under the tree on Christmas Eve. So it’s a total surprise when everyone waked up.
We do new pajamas on Christmas Eve also!!! I love it!
That is definitely a unique block, very eye catching, love it! awolk at rogers dot com
PJ’s on Christmas Eve. Been doing it for years!
Making Oliebollen and Apple flappen for New Year’s Eve. It’s a traditional Dutch treat, in which for the first one, dough with raisins is fried in oil, and the second one is apple slices swished thru a doughy mixture and then dropped in the oil to fry also. Heavy smell in the house, but oh so good…
Thanks for the chance to win, the block you have posted today is beautiful!
vicki B.
My family and my sister’s families meet at my Moms for Christmas Eve. This holiday belong to her only. We have chips and dips, a hot beverage and then exchange gifts. We were opening gifts one at a time as we went around the circle but she finally decided that is was taking too long and we now opens presents, still in our circle, but everyone now takes one present only and then open together. It’s all in fun and your making Mom happy. You always come up with the most amazing block and you have done it again for all of your followers. I enjoy your blog and look forward to visiting every day just to see for myself what you are up to now. Thank you for the free block pattern and the chance to win one of those charm packs.
Sandi T.
sandit1@sbcglobal.net
My favorite holiday tradition is to open one gift on Christmas eve. The gift is picked by the person opening it. We have a lot of fun with it, especially if the individual opens a gag gift.
I guess our favorite holiday tradition is when hubby and I make fudge, white trash and bake cookies together. Used to be with the kids but they are all gone so he stepped in:) Really love doing it together!!! We also still pop popcorn and string it every year. Sometimes with the in laws if they are here or the kids:)
My favorite winter holiday? I love visiting family!
I always loved Family Christmas cookie baking! Love the block design! 🙂
My favorite holiday tradition is my whole family just spending the day together. Now we end up bowling on the Wii at my parents’ house all afternoon and then after dinner we end up watching movies (or falling asleep!)
Stargazing on Christmas Eve! With giant mugs of hot cocoa and a ton of quilts!
I don´t know, but asking my husband he said:”Hate snow”!!!!
Gun, Sweden
Getting our Christmas tree and letting the kids decorate it with the ornaments they made, complete with the stories of each ornament.
Great block! Love to spend Christmas Eve sledding with my nieces and nephews! Thanks for the chance to win!
Fave Christmas tradition is the midnight service on Christmas Eve in our local church then back home for mulled wine!
on christmas eve we would go to christmas eve service. come home for dinner, gather in the front room with the tree, we would have cake (I made a white lamb cake) we would sing happy birthday to Jesus. my husband would read the christmas story and we would all talk about it. making sure that the kids knew chirstmas was about the free gift of Jesus. then we would open our gifts.
Our family bakes LOTS of cookies and passes them out to family, friends and neighbors. Everybody seems to love getting cookies.
Our tradition is on Christmas Eve my family comes to our house and we have a meal. We do appetizers only food. It’s fun to try lots of different foods all in one meal. 🙂
I love your block! That is so cool how it is simple to make, but looks complicated! 🙂
HI! SUCH A NEAT BLOCK!
THANKS FOR SHARING THE INFO+THIS GIVEAWAY!
I really like your block. Thanks for the give away. I would love to win.
Mines eating peanut butter candy.
Thanks for the tutorial. My favorite tradition is decorating the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas carols. Thanks for the giveaway!
Love your Blocks…very different!
I make all the Kiddo’s & Grandkiddo’s PJ’s for Christmas every year…..am up to 16 pr. this year! 🙂 We always read the Christmas Story (Bible) on Christmas Eve…and then The Night Before Christmas too.
Thanks for chance to win your Drawing! 🙂
I love making & eating holiday cookies! Thanks for the give-away!
Love the block – especially the 2-for-1 part of it!
We all sit around the table with hot chocolate and everyone makes a new ornament for the Christmas tree. We have a very “eclectic” tree.
First, I want to tell you how much I love your block. I think it would be great in Christmas colors.
Our Christmas tradition is to make peanut butter balls as a family to share with familoy and friends as gifts, this is a once in a lifetime deal.
Thanks for a chance at your giveaway.
My favourite winter holiday is Christmas and I love going to church with my whole family on Christmas day, and then having more family over later for games and special food – the kind you only have once or twice a year.
My heritage is Dutch, and we also celebrate Sinterklaas’ arrival on Dec. 5th – we put our shoe under the Christmas tree, and, if we’ve been good, he’ll leave us candy. (So far, I’ve always had candy in my shoe!)
I enjoy Thanksgiving. We always have family and wonderful food! Thanks for the chance to win.
I collect penguins, so my husband and I always start looking for all the new penguin stuff that comes out every year.
We do a family trip through the Botanical Gardens to see the “Galaxy of Lights” — it’s been such fun for years, but this year will be even BETTER — because our grandson is nearly 3 and will be totally captivated by it!! 🙂
We don’t really have any winter holiday traditions. Due to the mother in law’s religion, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas at home. I know, it bites. I still try to make the huge dinner with turkey and all the trimmings, but it has to be done either before or after the actual day, not on it.
well i love [putting up the tree. thanks for the chance!
so that is what you have been up too. really neat block.
We drive to our NC mountains to a choose and cut Christmas tree farm to get our tree.
The one tradition I have tried to carry on is for the family to go to the local Christmas Tree Farm which I have gone to myself since I was a small child. My Mom and Dad took us to this same farm owned by the same family as owns it now. I carried on that tradition and all three of my boys went there each year for their entire childhood and one of my boys has carried it on with his own family since he stil lived closeby. Another of my boys has moved back near home and I’m sure will probably go there himself with his family now too. I just love going to this farm because it’s such a great family tradition for my family as well as the owner’s family. The kids running the farm now are the same age as my own children and they used to run around with them each year at the farm playing.
Great pattern. I love xmas baking listening to all the oldie christmas carols. Thanks for the opportunity on the draw.
My favorite holiday tradition is attending the Christmas Eve service at our church.
I just complete 12 sampler blocks in autumn colors. I need a few more blocks to make the quilt larger – your beautiful block is just what I need! Thanks for the tutorial and the giveaway.
I have a new favorite holiday tradition, – making a new quilt for our grandson – that is the best new tradition of all!!!
Thank you
sandyb720 at gmail dot com
My favorite holiday tradition is baking Christmas cookies and having my whole family share in the festivities and fun.
We also have the tradition of new pjs on Christmas eve. We also like to walk or drive through the neighborhood to see all the lights.
favorite holiday tradition is for all the family (from my mother to my grandnieces and all inbetween) to get together around Christmas time for a huge family dinner and exchange presents
Christmas Eve is the time we get to spend with all of our kids–6 of them plus their spouses–and have spaghetti dinner. Then, its open presents!!! 🙂
I love the block, looks like a twisted braid! Every year I decorate the tree to look like you just brought it in the house dripping ice, all icicles and snowflakes, some hand blown glass from Mt Rainier. TIA! B-)
Yay HST’s! We also get pj’s 🙂 But my favorite thing is my dad making from scratch caramel that is pretty much perfect. The recipe has been worked on for decades. We just, ahem, regift any other caramel we receive during the holidays.
Hi!! Very pretty block!!! Thanks for the fun!!!
Hi!!! My favorite part of Christmas is when everyone gets together and puts the angel at the top of the tree and turns the lights on for the first time!!! Sometimes we do this after Thanksgiving dinner!!!
How cool is that,two blocks for the price of one?! Loving the second set myself 🙂 Thanks for the sweet tutorial.
My favorite winter tradition is to go see all the grandkids on Christmas morning. Thanks for the giveaway.
Our favorite tradition is attending the Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church.
Well funny you say that, so do we until last year! Everyone is grown except my grandson, so I had him a little gift to open! My husband says ok it is time and brings me a pj box! Every year I would get 6 pairs of pj, including my own and last year he has mine! So this year it is back to pj’s on Christmas Eve with our family. I felt aweful even though I had told them all no pj anymore. At least this way I know everyone has a good pair on for the morning.
I always let the kids open one present on christmas eve and it would be the present they got for each other. That way they learned the spirit of giving and could enjoy their gift without it getting lost in the santa gifts.
Debbie
I like that idea Debbie
My favorite tradition is opening one present on christmas eve.
Love your block Thanks for the chance to win
My favourite tradition is going up north for Christmas dinner
That was always a tradition at our house. Another was, we were able to open one gift on Christmas Eve. And it always turned out to be a book, to keep us occupied when we were too excited to sleep. I love that, and don’t think it is a coincidence that my mom raised a family of readers.
These days, I always give books to our nieces and nephews for Christmas. Birthdays are for toys and “fun stuff” but on Christmas they know Auntie Beth sends a book. I’m happy to say that they are all book-lovers, too, so nobody groans when the box arrives.
I love to give books to my family as gifts. My favorite place to shop for christmas books is borders of like book stores. I love it when they have thier sales.
Very lovely block! 🙂
Gracias por esta oportunidad y por este precioso bloque.
Besos desde Manresa (Barcelona)
What a cool block. Thanks for the tutorial and give away.
We like to give a present on Christmas eve. For some reason that is the most exciting present out of them all. Cute block. Vivian
Wonderful block! We do Christmas Eve pj’s too– it’s even more fun now with my own kids. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
Love the blocks! My favorite tradition is….I don’t really have just one. Maybe it’s too early and my brain isn’t working properly. :O)
Wow! this is a very versitile block, thanks for sharing it.
my favorite holiday tradition in my family is getting together to make Gingerbread houses. I started this tradition in 1974 from a recipe from a magazine and it has survived all these years to include not only family, i.e. kids, grandkids, great grandkids and friends of the family. I am 70 now and really enjoy getting together as this tradition has grown and reinvented itself as the kids and grandkids continue the tradition of getting together to create memories
My favourite Christmas tradition is joining with other friends for a cookie swap. Thanks for the chance to win.
2 new christmas decorations for the tree each year!
since i moved into my little house oh so many years ago, i’ve been taking pictures of the winter birds at my feeder on christmas eve day … lots of pretty local birds and a surprising number of odd birds.
Totally love the look of your block. So different. We dont’ have any traditions. My husband and I are all that get together for Christmas. We don’t even buy each other gifts.
I love the block! Thank you for sharing! (and the chance to win!)
new Christmas ornament to add to the tree
My favourite Holiday tradition is getting a new piece of crystal to put on my tree, then into my kitchen window so I can have rainbows every day that the sun shines! (I haven’t bought one for myself yet..they’ve all been gifts from family & friends!)
What a great block and tutorial Melissa!
We love to drive around the neighborhoods to see all the decorated houses! The grandkids love it.
My favorite holiday tradition – Watching It’s a Wonderful Life with my husband on Christmas Eve.
I love your comment about your dad’s quote. 😉
Su bloque es hermoso.Mis neuronas están oxidadas y a primera vista me costo seguir su patrón ,el traductor a veces me lo dificulta..Pero deje mis hijas durmiendo y lo comprendí perfectamente .Gracias por las fotos.Estoy de acuerdo con usted Michele hace un trabajo increíble .
Soy seguidora fiel de las 2.
Cariños.
Though now I truly love everything about the real meaning of Christmas, when I was a child, I loved the fact that we bought the Christmas tree on my birthday, two weeks before Christmas!
What a great block thanks for the giveaway.
I love your block.It`s wonderful.I love christmas traditions , decorations and food and most spend somedays with family.