Hive 2 : February Tutorial - HSTs

Hello Hive 2!
I'm excited to share my chosen block for this month. I wish I could take credit for it but I can't as it's one that has been done before in Stash Bee a few different times, but the finished product is oh, so stunning! And -- it's completely made up of half-square triangles.

The color palette that I'd like are solid white, black, and various shades of gray plus one bright colored solid of your choice. If your stash is short on solids, please message me and we can come up with an alternate plan. This quilt will be for a guy so the only colors I'm asking that you not use are pastel pink or purple. Bright (or royal) purple and bright pink are both ok as long as they are rich and saturated.

Here is my grayscale fabric pull consisting of 1 black, 1 white, and 3 different shades of gray. Having more than 1 shade of gray is ideal, but again, work with what you have or let me know and I can send you some.

Cutting Instructions:

• Cut 17 (seventeen) 4.5-inch squares from the black, white, and grays 
• Cut 1 (one) 4.5-inch colored square

** Please note, the unfinished HSTs will measure 4-inches. If you prefer a little extra wiggle room for trimming you might want to cut 5-inch squares **

Here are my squares all cut:

Sewing Instructions:

The whole point of this block is for it to look random. I'll admit, that I suck when it comes to improv piecing so what helped me was to put all of my squares into a bag and randomly pick out 2 pieces to sew together. Don't feel like you have to do this; just as long as your block looks random when you're done.

Once you have 2 squares picked out, take a pencil and draw a diagonal line on one of the squares. You'll sew a ¼-inch on either side of the line and then cut on the marked line. If you need a more detailed tutorial on how to make HSTs, here is one.

Press your seams toward the dark side or open, whichever you prefer, and trim to 4-inches square.

Continue pairing up your squares and making HSTs until you have 18 total.

Time to assemble the block. It only uses 16 HSTs so there will be 2 left over. You should only use 1 of the colored HSTs so please set one aside and place all of the other blocks back in the bag.

Like before, start pulling out 2 blocks at random and sew them together. You will sew them into 4 rows, with each row containing 4 blocks. When sewing the rows together, I ask that you press your seams open, please. You will have one block left in the bag (just make sure that it isn't the colored one!).

Here is what my finished block looks like:

The block should measure 14.5-inches square (don't worry if your block is a little over or under this measurement). DO NOT TRIM.

If it's not too much to ask, I'd love for you to send me the 2 leftover HSTs (one colored, one black/white/gray) along with your block. That will allow me to make a few more blocks for my quilt.

Thank you so much and I can't wait for all the happy mail coming my way this month!

~ Diana