Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Hive 1 Tutorial for February

Hi!  I'm Jennifer, this is my second year in the Stash Bee.  I'm looking forward to another great year.  I chose a paper-pieced block last year, but decided to go with something a bit easier this year.

For my block, I would like you to make a crosses and losses block in something on the blue or green spectrums, with a scrappy low volume background.  I was inspired by this quilt from Fresh Lemons Quilts, but would like a more limited color palate.  Her quilt is done in 8.5 inch blocks, but I'd like to go bigger.  We'll be making 16.5 inch (unfinished) versions like this:


For your colored fabrics, please choose a blue or green print or solid.  Anything on the blue, green, or blue-green spectrum is great. Teal, turquoise, aquamarine, they're all good.  If you gravitate towards lighter hues, just make sure the fabric stands out from your background choices.  Some fabrics I pulled:




For the background pieces, choose a scrappy assortment of low volume, or solids in white, cream, or light grey:






From these fabrics, you will need to cut as follows:

Blue or Green:
1  9" square
2  5" squares

Background:

1  9" square
2  5" squares
4  4.5" squares



Now we will make the half-square triangle sections.  (The method I like using best is below.  If you have a different way you like to make them, go for it!  The finished units should be 4.5" square and 8.5" square.)  Match the color squares with background squares of the same size, right-sides together.  Draw a diagonal line corner to corner.

 Sew 1/4' on either side of the line, then cut on the line.  Press the seams open.  After pressing open, trim the smaller units to 4.5" square, and the larger units to 8.5" square.



Arrange the half-square triangles and low volume squares into quadrants as in the picture below.

 Sew the small four patches together, pressing seams open again.

Sew these four, and you're done!


The block should measure 16.5", but don't worry about trimming, or if it ends up a bit small.  I'll make it work!  Please let me know if you have any questions.  I can't wait to see the finished blocks.

3 comments:

T said...

Looks great !!

Alanna said...

Hi Jennifer, do you want the green or blue pieces to be all the same fabric? If not, do you want the fabrics to be all in the same colour value (like all dark blue or all light green), or can we mix in blue and green together in the same block?

Jennifer said...

The green or blue should be all one fabric if possible.