Hi everyone! I’m sitting here writing this tutorial in early February in hopes that baby makes his arrival any day now. A few false alarms later and this mama is sooooo ready! Even if this little guy doesn’t make an early appearance, he’ll be here just before the February meeting so I won’t be there. Hopefully I’ll see you all at the end of March!
Over the weekend, I was playing around with some half square triangles when I came up with this block. I’m sure there’s a traditional block out there somewhere that has an official name, but nothing that I could find easily. I combined a couple of HST creation techniques, so hopefully this block comes together quickly for everyone!
Fabric Selection:
Colors: 1 dark and 1 lighter “berry” color. This is probably the most difficult aspect of the block, so I’m going to try and give everyone as much guidance here as possible. If you have questions about the color, feel free to snap a pic and post to Facebook, Instagram or send me an email.
I picked out this fabric for the backing of the quilt:
(Jennifer Paganelli, Good Company collection, Isabelle print in Opal colorway)
Something about the jumbo scale of the print and those gorgeous deep pink/berry tones was calling my name. I’ve never picked a backing before I even had a quilt design in mind, but this fabric is just too pretty to cut!
Here’s a few prints that I’ve pulled from my stash (or…ahem…recently purchased…) that fall into the range of colors that I have in mind for this quilt:
If you’ve got a Kona color card handy, similar shades include: berry, cerise, gumdrop, bright pink, ballerina and candy pink.
Hopefully you get where I’m going with the “berry” color palette. You should pick two fabrics, one a lighter shade and one a darker shade. There should be a noticeable contrast between the two prints. (Oh yeah, and before I forget—fabrics that are blenders/read as a single color without being a solid will work best for this block). Here’s some sample combos for you:
Note: I’m also providing the background fabric for this block. I splurged on some Cotton + Steel sparkle canvas that I’ve been itching to use and I think this will be the perfect project. I sent these all to Joanna back in February, so you should have received the background fabric from her at the February meeting.
Instructions for making the block:
From the background fabric, you should have received the following:
- (5) 3.5” squares
- (1) 6” square
- (1) 9” square
From the lighter of your two berry shades, cut the following:
- (8) 3.5” squares
- (1) 6” square
Use this “Alternative Method” for making 4 HSTs at time from the blog Blossom Heart Quilts using your 6” square of lighter fabric and the 6” square of background fabric. Note, this tutorial yields unfinished HST units that will need to be trimmed down to 3.5” squares before they are incorporated into the block design.
From the darker of your two berry shades, cut the following:
- (1) 9” square
Using my favorite HST tutorial of all time, written by Lindsay Sews for the Sew Mama Sew blog, follow the directions to make 8 HST triangle units with your 9” square of darker fabric and 9” square of background fabric. Note, this tutorial yields unfinished HST units that will need to be trimmed down to 3.5” squares before they are incorporated into the block design.
Layout all of your block components:
You should have four 3.5” HSTs made with a lighter fabric, eight 3.5” HSTs made with a darker fabric, eight 3.5” squares of lighter fabric, and five 3.5” squares of background fabric for the block. Lay out your pieces as follows (lighter fabrics forming the interior design, darker fabrics at each corner):
Sew together each row of the quilt block, pressing your seams in the same direction for each row, alternating directions for every other row so that seams will nest together easily when assembling the entire block. After sewing your rows together, join all of the rows to complete the block. Your finished block size should be 15 ½”.
I can’t wait to see what you all create!
