Sunday, May 24, 2020
Hello, again!
It has been nice seeing a few of you at the shop, and we're looking forward to seeing more of you when we open June 1!
I couldn't find a name for this block, so I'm calling it Jeri's block. If any of you know it's real name, let me know.
I used my background fabric for these blocks because they're pretty busy. In hindsight, what looks good as a 1" block on the screen looks quite different in person! The center square finishes at 4", and I think I should have used something a bit more interesting there (marked with ** in the cutting instructions below).
I also found that the yellow corners of the square in a square center were a smidge tight when cut exactly (or if your seam allowance tends to be more than a scant 1/4"). You could cut the corner squares 5" rather than 4 7/8" to give yourself a little wiggle room (marked as %% below), and then carefully square your block. Spraying the corner fabric with Best Press or spray starch before cutting helps control the bias.
This block uses the two-at-a-time HST technique, four-at-a-time flying geese and paper-piecing. The center is paper pieced because we're back to ugly measurements otherwise.
You will need 2 copies of the foundation to make the two blocks. As before, print actual size, don't fit to page. Download the foundation here.
Cutting for one 12" finished block.
CUTTING:
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Coordinating Fabric 1 (background) |
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| Cut one 3 1/8" strip | Cut four 3 1/8" squares (geese) |
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Cut four 3" squares (HST) |
| ** Cut one 4 3/4" strip (A1) | Cut one 4 3/4" square (center) |
| Focus Fabric |
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| Cut one 4 1/4" strip (A2, A3, A4, A5) | Cut two 4 1/2" squares (center triangles); Cut each square once on the diagonal to yield four triangles |
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Coordinating Fabric 2 (corners, center) |
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Cut one 5" strip |
Cut two 4 7/8" squares (or 5" squares) %%; Cut each square once on the diagonal to yield four triangles |
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Cut four 2 1/2" squares (block corners) |
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Coordinating Fabric 3 (geese) |
Cut one 5 1/2" square |
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Coordinating Fabric 4 (HST) |
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| Cut one 3" strip |
Cut four 3" squares (HST) |
Piecing:
Paper piece the block center using the 4 3/4" background square and the four focus fabric triangles. Trim completed unit on the dotted lines.
Add the four coordinating fabric 2 triangles to the corners of the paper pieced center. Find the center of the long side of the triangle by folding the triangle tips together and lightly pinch the fold to mark. Line up the pinched center with the corner of the paper pieced unit as shown below. Stitch with the corner triangle on the bottom to minimize stretching the bias.
Press the corners open and carefully trim the completed center to 8 1/2".
Layer the 3" background and fabric 4 squares, right sides together, and use the two-at-a-time method to make 8 HST. Trim to 2 1/2".
Use the 5 1/2" fabric 3 square and four 3 1/8" fabric 1 squares to make four flying geese using the four-at-a-time method. Trim the geese to 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" (will finish at 2" x 4" in the block).
Remove paper from center and lay out the completed units as shown.
Sew HSTs to the ends of the flying geese units. Sew two HST-geese-HST units to the sides of the block. Carefully press sides to the center.
Sew corner squares to the remaining HST-geese-HST units and sew to top and bottom. Your completed block should measure 12 1/2" (will finish at 12").
Be sure to thank your supervisor for his assistance!
Here is where we are after step 8:
