First Row of the 3C's Quilt Along

Hi Everyone,

So glad to see you here... are you ready to get started?

If you are worried about having enough fabric for the borders you might want to cut them first. The inside borders (blue dots) are 1 1/2 inches by your row width (this might vary depending on your 1/4 inch seam) it should be about 44 1/2 for the top and bottom and the sides should be 1 1/2 by 45 1/2. The second (outside border) should be 4 1/2 by 52 1/2 for the top and bottom and 4 1/2 by 47 1/2 for the sides. 
The first row is the top of your Lollipops:

1. Choose six fabrics to represent the tops of your lollipops. Cut one 7 1/2 inch square from each fabric. If you are working from small pieces you might want to cut them like this:

rather than by cutting strips first.( It is easiest to do this by rotating your mat as you make your cuts.)

2. Cut 24- 2" squares of background fabric. It takes 2 WOF strips to get 24 squares. Later on you will need more 2" squares so if you would like to cut them all at once you will need a total of 48, 24 for this row and 24 for row 5. I cut 3 WOF strips to give me the 48 and put my extras in a zip lock bag labeled row 5. When you are done you should have a pile that looks like this. (Somehow I missed getting the blue dot lollipop in the picture so you should have 6 pieces not five like my pictures shows.)

3. Place your ruler diagonally on the wrong side of the background squares and draw a line with your pencil. Repeat for all 24 squares. (If you already know how to make snowball blocks you can meet us at step 5.)

Your squares should look like this:

4. Place one background square on the corner of a lollipop square as shown, and sew on the marked line.

5. Sew again 1/2 inch away from the marked line toward the outside of the corner.

6. Cut the corner apart half way between the two rows of stitching. Set the half square triangles aside we are going to use them at the end to make our label. Repeat for all four sides of the blocks.

7. Turn the corners out and press. If you know what order your lollipops will be in then iron every other block toward the lollipop and every other block toward the corner. That will make it easier for you to sew them together and match seams.

8. When you are done pressing you should have 6 blocks that look like this. Lay them out in a pleasing order and sew them together matching seams.

Ta Da your first row! I told ya it was easy :) If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Printable PDF located here.
I created a Flickr pool if anyone wants to put pictures there of your project. Click Here.