Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Sarah's Primary Bee Block--the Pennsylvania

Of course, my child is the one who doesn't want to select from the list provided =)


She went through my 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks by Judy Hopkins and picked out "Pennsylvania" on page 196.  It is very similar to the Criss-Cross Block on Michele's master list except the outer rectangles are all in one piece.  She would like the block to be white and turquoise.  She likes the deep, bold turquoise colors.  White or cream are fine for the second color.  Here are the colors we pulled from her stash:


Materials:
Background:   4 rectangles (2-1/2" x 8-1/2")
                      4 rectangles (2-1/2" x 4-1/2")
Foreground:  1 square (4-1/2")
                     8 squares (2-1/2")


All seams are 1/4".  Starting in the middle and moving out ...
1.  Sew two of the smaller background rectangles to opposite sides of the 4-1/2" square.


Press seams toward the dark color.


2.  To the short ends of each of the remaining small rectangles, sew two of the small (2-1/2") squares.  (Four squares used.)


Again, press seams toward dark color.  At this point I always pin the intersections where my seams will meet.  (See how nicely they nest.  I make sure that the pins go right into the seams on both sides.  (Just don't forget to take the pins out before you run over them with your needle!)


3.  Sew the units to the opposite sides of the original 4-1/2" square.  This will make a new square that should measure 8-1/2".


Press seams toward center square.

4.  Sew two of the larger background rectangles to opposite sides of this new center unit.


Press toward the darker color.

5.  Sew the four remaining small squares to the short ends of the remaining two background rectangles.


Again, press toward darker color.

6.  Attach these final two units to opposite long sides of the center rectangle to form a 12-1/2" finished block.


Press final seams toward outside of block.


Sarah pieced the block pictured at the top of the post.  I threw this second option together this morning so I could get pics for the tutorial.  I'm always amazed how a simple color/tone reversal can change the look of the whole block.


Thanks to all Sarah's Primary Bee mates!

3 comments:

  1. ohhh this looks a fun one, we've got Aprils block to do and then we can crack on with this one, :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks really great and I can't wait to see them all together. Nicely done.

    ReplyDelete

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