Hive 1 Tutorial for August

Hi! I’m Sue and I live in Perth Western Australia, where we are just about to come into spring. Hold that thought because it might explain the pastel loveliness of my colour choices this month. If you want to find me in other places I blog at Sevenoaks Street Quilts and I’m on Instagram (@sevenoaksstreetquilts) as well.

I’ve chosen a simple block made up of two sizes of HSTs and some sashing in solid bright white (I'm aware that different brands vary slightly and I'm expecting that. I'm using Kona if you have it). The HST units will be made up of your choice of four of the colours below.

These are the colours I’ve chosen and even if you’re a pink hater there should be something in here for you. The three shades of pink make up three different colours: a pale pastel pink, a mid-pink and a darker mid-pink so they can be mixed together to make your HST units. Your other choices are navy/dark blue; mustard to tan; burgundy; ash or beige; and colour prints on a white, grey or cream background. For prints, even though I’ve got rabbits featured in my test block I would prefer to keep the novelty fabrics to a minimum.

I’m sure you already know how to make HSTs, if not read on. We’ll be making two 6 ½” unfinished units and two 8 ½” unfinished units. This is what you’ll need to cut

• ·       2 x 7” coloured squares
• ·       2 x 9” coloured squares
• ·       2 x 2 ½” x 6 ½” strips of white solid
• ·       2 x 2 ½” x 8 ½” strips of white solid

Mark a diagonal line corner to corner on the wrong side of one fabric of each size. Lay the fabric squares together in pairs right sides together and stitch ¼” each side of the marked line. Cut apart on the marked line, press and trim to 6 ½” and 8 ½” respectively, yielding two larger HST units and two smaller ones.

Stitch the white strips to the smaller HST units, then join the larger HST units to the bordered smaller ones with the two HST units butting against each other.

I want you to keep these two sections apart so that I can mix them up for a scrappy effect when I join them up to make the quilt. And that’s it – I told you it was simple!  Hope you have fun!

Just one more thing to note: I’ve had some blocks take close to two months to either get to Australia from the US or arrive at their destination from here. I’m going to suggest adding the words AIRMAIL or PAR AVION to your envelope in the hope that this will avoid the nerve-wracking wait on both sides.

Cheers

Sue