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Nicola

Snow-day sewing: Holly Wreath block

It snowed last week! It was a total thrill to open my curtains and find the garden magically transformed. And as my commute involves walking across the garden - and not driving on icy roads - I now find snow as exciting as I did as a five year old.



I've written before about the serendipity of snow when I was taking photos of the Holly Sprig Christmas project that I'd made for the Moda Bakeshop back in 2017, so I wasn't really surprised when, by total coincidence, I received a couple of emails about it.



In the intervening years, both I and Moda have updated our websites and some of the links to those old projects don't work too well now, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to post an updated tutorial.


{Please note that I've tweaked it a bit to work with all of my Petit FOUR projects, which work with a 14" finished block}


 

To make a 14” square finished block you will need...

4 3½” squares and 4 2” squares of dark green print fabric

4 3½” squares and 4 2” squares of light green print fabric

8 1½” squares of red print fabric

¼ yd of background fabric

 

Please read through the pattern before you begin, assuming a ¼” seam allowance and a fabric width (WOF) of 42”


CUTTING:

 

1.        From the background fabric cut as follows: -

CUT

SUBCUT

1 2½” x WOF strip

8 2½” x 3” pieces

3 1½” x WOF strips

2 1½” x 14½” pieces


2 1½” x 12½” pieces


16 1½” x 2” pieces


4 1½” squares

 

MAKING THE BLOCKS:

 

1.       Mark a diagonal line on the back of the light green 3½” square and pin - right sides together - to a dark green 3½” square. Stitch ¼” away from each side of your marked line, cut along that line and press the two half square triangles (HSTs) towards the dark green fabric.

2.       Trim the HSTs to 3” square. {I do this by marking a 3” square where the 45º degree line meets the corner of my ruler with low-tack washi tape}


  3.       To make the berries, join a 1½” x 2” white piece to a 1½” red square, as shown below left, pressing towards the red. MAKE 2

4.       Join the 1½” white square to one of the berry units, as shown above right, again pressing towards the red.

 

 5.       Join the berry units to one of the HSTs – to the top first and then the side – taking care with the placement and pressing as directed (>).

6.       Join a 1½” x 2” white piece to a 2” dark green square, then join a 2½” x 3” white piece, taking care with the placement.

7.       Repeat step 6 with the 2" light green square REVERSING THE PLACEMENT.

 8.       To assemble the block, join the three pieced units and the remaining HST in two rows of two, pressing  the seams open. MAKE 4

9.         Finally, join the four blocks together – rotating them to form a wreath – and add 1½” x 12½” background pieces to the sides and 1½” x 14½” pieces to the top and bottom pressing away from the wreath.


Your block should measure 14½” square


You can turn your block into a cushion by following the Festival Cushion tutorial here and download a PDF version of this block tutorial below.



 


Now that we've had some snow, it's impossible not to feel Christmassy and although I usually wait until December until I hit the mince pies, a few days here or there won't matter will it?


with love from the studio,


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