Hello, dear Hive #1!
It is holiday season, folks are getting busy...so this block is one that involves squares, rectangles and nice straight lines. It is a cheerful scrappy block, which here will have quite a modern twist.
You will need:
- scraps of a variety of greys and yellows, at least big enough to get 3.5" squares out (more precise dimensions below)
- about half a fat quarter, or a few inches-wide selvage-to-selvage strip, of Kona Iron.
The block is a set of squares and rectangles arranged together in any one of
a variety of layouts to fill a grid.
Colours:
- the Kona Iron for the strips between
- Greys and yellows for the squares and rectangles.
A guide to what I'm thinking of in terms of greys and yellows:
The main trick in putting together the fabric choices for this block is to pick a range of values: light to dark greys, light to dark yellows. Using solids is all good, as is using prints that have a lot of white in them, like the ones in these fabrics I pulled.
Golden yellow is great, but please no actual oranges or almost-green yellows.
For those with wide-ranging stashes, the greys are 'cool' greys rather than 'warm' greys. If you have those that is great, if not I will not be worried!
I will ask that there should be no more than three squares/rectangles that are yellow in a block - the grey is to dominate, so that the yellow makes happy bright splashes ;)
DIMENSIONS:
Squares 3.5" X 3.5" (3" finished)
Rectangles 3.5" X 7.5" (3" X 7" finished)
Kona Iron strips 1.5" wide (1" finished)
Here are three example blocks that I made:
The Kona Iron strips will end up in lengths of 3.5", 7.5", and one 11.5" per block. The number of 3.5" long and 7.5" long will depend on the layout you choose (see the
example layouts). Standard quarter-inch seam allowance.
Tips and tricks:
- Sew together the bits adjacent to the shortest sides first, ie. first the ones that have a 3.5" long strip between, then the ones that have a 7.5" long strip, finally the 11.5" long strip.
- In the final assembly down the 11.5" long strip, keep an eye on any sashing that lines up visually across the block to check it stays in line. I've found the block to be pretty forgiving, but it can catch one out.
I would like two blocks, please. They will end up as a finished size of 11.5" X 11.5" each. No sig block needed.
This is the kind of effect that will happen when all the Hive #1 blocks are together (
creation post on my blog):
Please note that I will be moving across the world (from Australia to Canada!) in February - so mailing before then would be much appreciated ;)
Thank you all so much!
