Christmas Fence QAL Top Finished

I have been a busy beaver getting this top finished.

  I learned a few things along the way too that I thought I would share with you. 

 I wasn't thinking about the fact that the lines needed to line up across from the sashing! 

 I would not be happy if they didn't at least mostly match up! 

 So here goes. 

 First I sewed the sashing on each of the blocks like this.

I sewed it to each right side except for the last block. then it was time to sew the blocks together, remember you have to match the side sashing lines so they will look like they hook together. 

 First I tried lining them up, pinning and flipping to check then sewing.

Not too bad.  Then I tried by lining them up by holding it up to the light and lining them up like this.

It also worked ok.

I got all the blocks sewn into rows next was to sew on the horizontal sashing.  I sewed it to the top of each row and one on the bottom row.

Now came the tricky part. 

 I needed to line up those little segments again. 

 I was not happy with the results from the other two methods above. 

 They were all right but not as consistent as I would have liked so I tried another way

 (sheesh, how may ways are there to do this anyway??)

First I lined the little strips up like this.

I held my finder on the spot on the top fabric and 

stuck a pin on each side from one seam through to the seam on the other side. 

 I did this on BOTH sides.

You can see where the pins go through to the other side. 

 If they didn't line up then I moved them until all was lined up.

Then I put a center pin in. 

 Then it was time to pin all the intersections and sew them! 

 I found that this gave me the best,most consistent results.

.  

Obviously, you can use whatever method works best for you! 

 If anyone has other suggestions for making these things line up 

feel free to share them in the comments! 

 I am always open to better ideas.

After I sewed the rows together, I sewed strips to the sides too. 

 I'm not sure how many I ended up using in total. 

This would also vary depending on the size quilt you are making too.

If you can't use 1 1/2 strips to make your sashing for one row you will also need more strips.

 I was able to cautiously cut the selveges off so I could use one and a half strips together 

 and that worked for each row. 

 That means I cut 14 strips to sew to the horizontal rows. 

 There were 4 additional strips, 2 for each side. 

 You will also need to cut enough strips to cut the 10 1/2" segments 

for the sashing in between the blocks. 

 All the strips are 1 1/2" wide.  

Now I bet you want to see the finished top right? 

 Here is it!

Top half

Bottom holf

Whole quilt top

So there you go.  This top is finished.  Now it's off to the quilter with it. 

How are you progressing with your Christmas Fence??

~XOP~