March Block Hive 2 - Courthouse Steps!

Good morning, Hive 2!

I am so excited to be participating in the Stash Bee for a second year! I had so much fun last year and loved all the blocks I received. Now if I could just find the time to pick out the sashing fabric and get that one together...

For this year, I decided to go with a very traditional block - the courthouse steps. It seemed like a great way to use up some of my stash of blue, green, and low volume fabrics. I don't know where they are all coming from! Because there are so many shades of green and blue, I wanted to focus the palette a bit to teal and aqua shades. Think the colors of the ocean or a Caribbean reef as seen from above. Here are two of the blocks I put together:

I have this image in my head of alternating green and blue lanterns/balloons floating on a sea of white. For your blocks, you'll need three aqua/teal fabrics that read more blue and three that read more green. I hope that makes sense! You'll also need a variety of low volume fabrics. I used a combination of tone-on-tone white, white with grey, and a few low volume prints. Please try to avoid low-volume fabrics that have cream or yellowish backgrounds.

For the block you'll need to cut the following pieces of fabric:

• 2.5" square of low-volume fabric for the center
• Two 2" x 2.5" strips of the color prints - one blue, one green
• Two 2" x 5.5" strips of low-volume fabric
• Two 2" x 5.5" strips of the color prints - one blue, one green
• Two 2" x 8.5" strips of low-volume fabric
• Two 2" x 8.5" strips of the color prints - one blue, one green
• Two 2" x 11.5" strips of low-volume fabric

Many of you are probably quite familiar with the courthouse steps block, but just in case, here's a quick tutorial. You'll start by sewing the 2" x 2.5" strips to the center square.

Then, sew two 2" v 5.5" low volume strips to either side. You should now have a square that measures 5.5".

Now sew the 2" x 5.5" blue/green strips parallel to the first two color strips taking care to match blue with blue and green with green. (Note, the colors are flipped in the next two pictures - I forgot which side was up!).

Sew the third round of low volume fabrics (2" x 8.5") , and repeat the steps to add the third set of blue/green strips (2" x 8.5") and the fourth set of low volume fabrics (2" x 11.5") and you are done!

Your finished block should measure 11.5" when finished. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Thanks so much!

Stephanie