1.13.2015

Introducing: 30 Days of Sewing Quilt Blocks

Hey friends! I hope all is well and your new year is off to a great start. Today I'm excited to introduce you to a fun new sewing series I'm starting here today, 30 Days of Sewing Quilt Blocks. Each day over the next 30 days I'm going to share a fun quilt block and how to make each one as a finished 12" block. Each block will vary in skill level, and as a bonus I'll show each block layed out in a quilt. I hope you'll find inspiration in these blocks. 

Don't worry, I'm still going to be blogging and sharing the quilts that I'm machine quilting and the Urban Chrundash Sew-Along is still under way.

So, today we'll start with the first block: 
Hour Glass
Cutting:
White fabric - 4 - 4 1/2"x4 1/2" squares
Gray fabric - 2 - 4 1/2"x4 1/2" squares
2 - 2 1/2"x2 1/2" squares
1 - 4 7/8" square
Mint fabric - 1 - 4 7/8"x4 7/8" square
2 - 2 1/2"x2 1/2" squares

Sewing:
Half Square Triangle Blocks
Place one mint 4 7/8" square and one gray 4 7/8" square right sides together. 
Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the wrong side of the fabric.
Stitch 1/4" on both sides of the draw line.
Cut apart on the draw line.
Open and press toward the darker fabric.
You will now have 2, 4 1/2" square, half square triangle blocks. Set these aside.

4 Patch Block
Sew one mint and one gray 2 1/2" square together, side by side. 
Press toward the darker fabric.
Repeat on second set of mint and gray 2 1/2" squares.
Sew the two sets of gray and mint 2 1/2" squares together.

Putting the block together:
Sew one half square triangle block, one white background block and one gray block together. 
Make two of these units, exactly the same.
Press toward the white.
Sew one white background block, one four patch block and one white background block together.
Press toward the white.
Sew the three units together, finished size will be 12" square.
Press.

If you're loving this quilt block, put it together in a quilt top!
The two variations above are both made from the Hour Glass quilt block. Both versions are 96" square. In the second quilt I rotated every other quilt block 90 degrees, it's pretty cool to see the different pattern that can come from just a simple rotation.

To make the quilt 96" square you will need to make 64, 12" blocks.
Fabric needed:
White - 4 1/8 yards
Gray - 4 yards
Mint - 2 1/4 yards

Hope you all enjoy! I'll be back tomorrow with another quilt block!
 If you're sewing any of these quilt blocks make sure to share them on facebook and instagram using #pnq30quiltblocks
Just for fun....this version was drawn using The Boat House by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics.

4 comments:

  1. You are on a roll! And challenging my time management skills! Wish I didn't have to work full time!

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  2. Wow! I'm too busy with other quilting projects, including the Urban Churn Dash, so I won't be making even one block per day. But I plan to mark the posts as a great resource for ideas. I appreciate the new pattern layout you've shown by rotating a block!

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  3. I love the first layout. If I had seen a quilt like that, I never would have thought the churn dash was the base block (and way easier than I would have done it). I'm trying to figure out if I can squeeze in 30 blocks in a month (which I can't, but sooooo want to try)

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  4. Are there suggestions on how to quilt each block, as that is what I find the most challenging, is working out which quilting to do on each block?

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