Sunny Stocking and Norah *Christmas* Quilt Sew Along
You can choose to make one or both. I will post links to templates and tutorials in this blog post. You can also search past Norah and Stocking blog posts by typing Norah in the search bar for the Norah posts, and Stocking in the search bar for the Stocking posts.
All of our tutorials and templates are free for you to use. However, our tutorials and templates are not free to copy, duplicate or replicate to be distributed as your own. They are not to be sold to a magazine, or a publication. Nor to be duplicated in a pattern as your design. If you use our Sunny Stocking tutorial and design, or our Norah Quilt tutorial and design, please credit Sunny Day Supply. Sadly, our free tutorials have been sold by quilters to magazines for personal gain.
NORAH QUILT -
The Norah Quilt was originally made for my friend's new baby, Norah. A couple years later, a few friends mentioned making a Norah Quilt with me and so the Norah Quilt Sew Along was born!
It's a very simple idea. Take a traditional log cabin block and make it a quilt! To make it even more interesting change the center and make each of the 4 sides of the quilt a single color or shades of a single color. So grab your 4 colors and let's get started.
We will begin with the center. In a traditional log cabin block, the center square represents the fire in the home and all of the logs wrap around the center. The Norah Quilt has an offset center. I began with a 2" square, and rather than wrapping the next strips around the center, I added strips to only two sides. Refer to the diagram for the beginning square and the subsequent logs or strips.
You may choose to make your strips or logs larger. Simply adjust the measurements to make the center unit the size you want. I cut my strips 2" wide.
Once the center unit is complete, I begin at the top and add a neutral color strip to the top of the center unit. Then working in a counterclockwise direction, add neutral color strips to frame the center unit.
Now you are ready to start adding the 4 colors chosen for the sides. Begin at the top of your center unit again, and add the first color. Move in a counterclockwise direction and add another strip color for each side. The color blocking gives the Norah Quilt a fun effect! Play with the placement of the colors!
Keep adding strips until your Norah is the size you desire. I usually end mine at about 60-ish inches square. It's the perfect size for a throw quilt.
TIPS!!!
I have a few tips for the Norah Quilt, and I have learned a few tips from the amazing quilters who have made a Norah over the years.
The first tip is how to keep your Norah flat. Many trips around the center of the Norah can result in warping. I have had a couple that were fairly puffy in the center, but I was still able to baste them flat before quilting.
Each strip of each side of the Norah is like adding a border. When adding a border to a quilt, a measurement is taken at both ends and one in the middle. You take an average of those measurements and cut your strip to that measurement. I saw a brilliant and easier way to manage this from Michele Eickerman. Simply lay your strip across the center of the quilt and smooth flat. Cut the strip even with the center. Pin the strip at the ends of the quilt and the center, then stitch! Michele Eickerman is an amazing quilter! You can follow her at @meickerman on Instagram.
Another tip comes from my friend, Jenni Jones. Jenni leaves a strip tail at the beginning and the end of a side and carefully trims the strip even with the sides of the quilt. You can find Jenni's account @sewlavenderstitches on Instagram!
Squaring up the sides each time you add a strip helps keep everything straight. You can easily square up sides by using a wide acrylic ruler and making sure you have the two perpendicular sides along a straight edge before trimming.
I would suggest that every once in a while, use a tape measure and measure the ends and the middle of your Norah. Hopefully, all three measurements are about the same!
Another tip to keep your Norah square and flat is to press each strip as you add. And press carefully, use a dry iron and press rather than iron back and forth. Pressing rather than ironing back and forth will keep the strips from stretching.
Pin your strips. Pin at the ends and in the middle. Ease in any fullness.
You may want to use wider strips. Wider strips will grow your Norah faster! Or you may want to begin with 2" strips and gradually increase the width of your strips as your quilt gets larger.
Add in fun fussy-cut pieces in the strip! I love to add text to my Norah, even if it is a single word fussy-cut and pieced into a strip. My favorite is the word "SEWING", or "PATTERN". If you are making a Christmas quilt, using Christmas texts would be sweet!
As your quilt gets larger you will need to piece together strips to get the needed length. Try to piece these strips in different ways. In other words, don't always add a piece to the end of the strip. Add in the middle or at the beginning, too. You may even want to piece early in the building of your Norah so the pieced strips look random throughout the quilt.
Don't feel like you have to give your quilt an ombre effect on each side. I find it very interesting to scatter shades of the color throughout a side. If you would like your quilt to have an organic feel, it's not necessary to begin with a light shade and add increasingly darker shades as the quilt grows.
QUILTING-
I love to quilt my Norah Quilt by hand. And I adore using Valdani Perle Cotton in black or a dark color. I feel like the black makes the whole thing pop!
Of course, I prefer to use Fons and Porter Utility Needles to quilt. I also use a hoop. You can find tips for quilting on my Hand Quilting blog post. And here.
Please be sure to share your Norah Quilt and use the hashtag #norahquiltsal
Have fun making your Norah Quilt!
SUNNY STOCKING!!!
We have had the Sunny Stocking Sew Along for so many years now! It's always my favorite! In fact, when I taught at a local quilt shop, this was my favorite class...who doesn't love a Christmas stocking!
Here are the links to all my templates and designs. I have made certain the links are available to everyone to open. If you have trouble opening a link, it may be your security settings. Just send me a DM on Instagram if you are having trouble.
WIDE STOCKING #1 , WIDE STOCKING #2 , WIDE STOCKING #3 , WIDE STOCKING #4
DIAMOND IN A SQUARE FPP TEMPLATE
And here are the tutorials that will help you make each of the stockings!
Original Diamond Stocking and Tips for the Diamond Stocking
Half Pint Stocking - the smallest stocking
Fabric Mutt's Cross Stitch Block Stocking
Finally, this page will take you to all the stocking blog posts!
I hope this helps you get started! Please send me a DM on Instagram if you have any questions. And be sure to use the hashtag #sunnystockingsal when you make your stocking!
Cheers!