Congratulations to Barbara McG and Marilyn C for winning the Hourglass blocks. There were 30 Hourglass blocks.
This month you will have a chance to play with the 8 HST’s at once method. You will need two 10″ squares again to make two blocks. One 10″ square in a colourful print with a bit of green in it – could be floral, geometric, Kaffe Fassett. And one 10″ square of a solid or tone-on-tone in one of the strong colours in the print.
The idea for this block came from a Kaffe Fassett book and I am asking for a bit of green so that the quilt will have a bit of unity in colour.
Check out the RELEVANT WEBSITES below for websites on making 8 HSTs at once. The blocloc site has directions and a chart for different sizes of HSTs.
MATERIALS
1 — 10″ square of a colourful print
1 — 10″ square of a strong colour from the print
ASSEMBLY
Place the two 10″ square right sides together. Draw the two diagonals. I like to pin to keep everything steady. Sew scant 1/4″ seams on each side of each line , ie. each diagonal. Remove pins and press.
Using a ruler at least 5 inches wide cut through the centre vertically and horizontally.
Then cut along the diagonals. The first times I did this I separated the pieces after cutting, BUT, I think it works better if one does all four cuts before moving the pieces.
Voilà – you have 8 half square triangles. Press them open to the print side and trim to 4 1/2 inches. I tried to keep the full width of the black marking lines on the ruler on the fabric inside the square so that it was a generous 4 1/2″ square.
Join four HSTs using scant 1/4″ seams to make a four-patch block or join in a column of four.
The four-patch should measure 8 1/2″ unfinished. Bring your blocks to the meeting in March for the Block Lotto. Every block is worth one ticket on the draw!
NOTE: This method could be used to make Maple Leaf blocks for the guild’s Quilt of Valour. Use a 10″ square of white and a 10″ square of a multicolour batik or print and you will have 4 HSTs for each of 2 Maple Leaf blocks.
Add three 4 1/2″ squares of the print, a 4 1/2″ square of white for the corner, and a 5″ square to make a 4 1/2″ square with the stem. Put it together as the block.
I have rewritten the directions for the block used in a previous Block of the Month and used the 8 HST method. New Maple Leaf block directions.
For a 6″ block one would use two 6″ squares to make the 2 1/2″ unfinished HSTs
RELEVANT WEBSITES
- Sew’n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog – HSTs – 8 at a time and the edges are on the straight grain
- Magic 8 Method – another link for this method. Just close the Craftsy pop-up to read it all.
- Bloc Loc 8 at a Time – has directions and a chart showing sizes of large squares for different sizes of HSTs.
Happy Quilting,
Marilyn C
Back to list of previous Blocks of the Month
Seymour Quilters Guild 