Piece & Quilt Blocks for December

Today I’m sharing the Piece & Quilt blocks for December. These are the last blocks of the Piece & Quilt Sampler QAL hosted by Fat Quarter Shop. We’re using the beautiful book, Celebrate With Quilts, which has all of the instructions to make this sampler quilt. You can find all of the quilt along details here.

Let’s take a look at the Piece & Quilt Sampler blocks that were assigned for December. As always, I have a few tips to share that I found while making my blocks.

Remember, I won’t be giving specific measurements or cutting instructions. You need to purchase the book, Celebrate With Quilts, to get the full instructions if you want to follow along.

Album Star block

This is the second Album Star block in this sampler. We made one in May in a different size. I love the plaid in the corners of this one.

The same tips from May can be applied here. The QST’s in this block can be made oversized and then trimmed to the perfect size. I started by making HST units with squares of two different main colors paired with the same background color. Then I placed two of the HST’s right sides together, nesting the diagonal seam and making sure that opposite colors faced each other. Then you draw a diagonal line that is perpendicular to the seam and stitch 1/4″ on each side of that.

Trim to size using your favorite ruler. My personal favorite is the Tucker Trimmer ruler or a Creative Grids square ruler. The photos below are from the May version of this block.

I’m showing the front and back of the block below. I usually press my seams to one side, but on this one I pressed some to the side and the row seams were pressed open.

Building Block

This block is made up of 9-patches in the corners. It’s nice to have simple piecing mixed in with more complex blocks.

I strip-pieced the 9-patch units instead of cutting individual squares. This is always a faster and more accurate way to make these units.

Below you can see the front and back of this block. I pressed all the seams to the side and I “twirled the seams in the 9-patch. This helps it to lay flatter.

Union Square block

I love the Union Square block! It’s also deceptively simple to piece and color placement can give it a whole different look.

I didn’t take any progress photos of this block. I think I was just enjoying the piecing so much that I didn’t remember to take pictures. Below is the front and back of this one.

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Now it’s time to sew all the blocks together. Next month, we’ll tackle the HST border and then the final border. Are you excited? Me too!

Remember to post a photo of your blocks on Instagram and use the hashtag  #piecequiltsamplerqal so we can all see. Plus, this will enter you in the giveaway each month!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for reading!