Cspoonquilt: Block of The Every Other Month- September

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Block of The Every Other Month- September - October 2019

Besides my Traditional Quilt Guild I also belong to my local Modern Quilt Guild called South Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild (SBAMQG). SBAMQG has a block of the Every Other Month program. I volunteered to provide the design and instructions for the September Block.

I looked at some of the past Months designs. A lot of the recent designs were on the improv side so I thought it might be a nice change of pace to offer some Traditional piecing with a Modern twist.

The color palette is voted on by the members attending the previous Month's general meeting.
Here were the choices:

The majority voted for the color group on the right.

I decided to make it easy for everyone (including myself) and use the Go-To Modern background of plain white / off white with all solid colors!

Here's the block which measures 8.5" unfinished.

It's not complicated. It's really just a 4 patch- in 4patch. But the diagonal spine has endless possibilities for the Layout. There's a lot of flexibility in this block and I'm leaving those choices up to the individual maker.

You get to choose:

1- The diagonal patches need to be from the color palette but you can arrange them in any order you choose.

2- The upper right corner patch can be the same as one of the diagonal fabs or it can be another tone or tint of one of those colors.

3- The lower left hand block can be whatever little pieced patch the maker likes! It just has to finish at 2". I will refer to it as the "choice patch" The sample above has a Quarter Square Triangle. But you could make a HST, 4patch, 1patch or make something up. The colors need to be from the palette but as specified in #2 they can be a tone or tint of those colors. The possibilities are almost endless!

Fabric picks:

Choose from your stash, 1- solid fabric in each of the 4 colors similar to those in the chosen Palette.

And for the back ground you can use any white or 'light' off-white solid fabric

Note: Tone on Tones are OK as long as they are subtle and they 'read' as solid.

From your back ground Cut:

6- 2.5" squares

2- 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles

From your solids Cut:

5- 2.5" squares

There could be one in each color with one repeat or a second shade of one of the colors for the upper right corner. You can see there are two different shades of the "pink Gumdrop" color in the sample block.

For the "choice patch" in the lower left:

Make whatever kind of 2.5" unfinished patch you want. Just keep it in the palette.

Step 1

Layout your patches according to the picture of the finished block. Orient the rectangles as shown. This will be important later. Decide what you want for your "choice patch" and make that first.

Step 2

Assemble your 4 patches:

Sew one 2.5" colored patch to each of your 2.5" back ground patches and sew your "choice patch" to a 2.5" background patch.

You will have 6 units that look like this...

Press toward the colored fabric, except for the "choice patch" which will probably press more easily toward the background.

Step 3

Layout the block again being mindful of which way the seams are going.

The 4-patches should have seams that "Nest" Sew each of these pairs together.

Before you press the 4 patches make sure the solids are trimmed off so's not to show through on the background Then open the seam intersections (you may have to pick out a few stitches) and press toward the background.