I Wish You a Merry Quilt Along: Last 3 Blocks

The final block has been released and I've finally finished them all!  I Wish You a Merry Quilt Along has 12 blocks and they've been released every two weeks since August.

One of the great things about this quilt along is that we are encouraged to make the blocks our own.  I've done some minor adaptions to various blocks, but I went a little farther out of the box with block 11: The North Star designed by Kathleen McMusing.

I've been planning to make 4 extra blocks so I can get a 4 x 4 setting.  I made a list of possible things to include, and my list was *way* longer than 4!  So as we've gotten closer, I've looked for ways to incorporate things from that list into the original blocks.  When I saw the North Star, my first thought was to put it on top of a tree with lights, as lights is one thing I really want to include.  But I couldn't get the placement of the star figured out and the scale would have been really far off.  So I put my North Star on a mug of hot chocolate!

I used the paper pieced pattern for the star points and reduced the to 50%.  I took my inspiration from the In From the Cold pattern by Kate Spain.  This is essentially mug #3.  I love how it turned out!

Block 12 is a string of Christmas lights.  Lights were one of the things I was hoping for so I was really happy to see this one.  This was my first time making and using bias tape.  I did not enjoy making it, but it did bend/flex quite easily. This is one of my favorite blocks!

I did make the original block 8 which was the presents block designed by Alice Samuel's Quilt Co but I wasn't crazy about how mine came out. 

Version 1

So I made a different present.  I modified a tutorial to be the correct size. But it was too...messy looking and not distinctly a present. 

Version 2.  I wanted to like this one!

I left it around for a few days hoping it would grow on me, but it didn't.  So I created a simpler present and found that the third time was the charm. 

Final Version

 

 

 

 

I am now working on joining the blocks.  The quilt as you go method that I'm using involves some hand sewing, so this will sadly not be done by Christmas day.  Our celebration with Husband's family is Christmas Eve day so my time will not be spent sewing.  Still, I've really enjoyed the quilt along and love the project so far, even if it won't be done for the big day.

Wishing everyone a joyful holiday!  Merry Christmas!