Hive 6 October Tutorial: A Charmed Life quilt block

 

My fiancé has requested a quilt for his queen sized bed. What better way to tackle my first large quilt than to outsource a few of the blocks? I reverse engineered this A Charmed Life quilt originally posted by @piecedjustsew on Instagram. Its beautifully simple design made from two basic techniques showcases how the individual parts of a quilt come together into one work of art.

 

You will need to pull two different fabrics: one color and one low volume cream. For the colored fabric, I am using Golden Hour charm pack by Ruby Star Society. For the cream fabric, I’m using Soften the Volume layer cake by Art Gallery Fabrics. Choose one color and one cream that you think will fit in nicely with these fabric sets. No novelty prints please, but everything else is welcome. I'm a big fan of modern prints. Most importantly, use what you already have in your fabric stash.

 

 

Once your fabric is pulled, cut to these dimensions:

·         Color: three 5 inch squares

·         Cream: three 5 inch squares and three 4.5 inch squares

Now we will make three pairs of half square triangles (HSTs) from the 5 inch color and 5 inch cream squares. Draw a line down the middle of one of the squares from corner to corner. I used a heat erasable pen on the cream squares. Stitch a quarter-inch seam on both sides of the line. Cut down the middle of those two seams to make two HST units. Repeat this twice more to make six HSTs total. Ensure that any directional fabrics are pointing in the same direction. I recommend chain piecing.

 

Press towards the color triangle. Trim HSTs to 4.5 inches square. Next, assemble the block like a 9 patch. I frequently struggle to get orientation of individual pieces straight, so make sure to always point the color triangle towards the upper left hand corner.

Press Rows 1 and 3 towards the left. Press Row 2 towards the right. 

Line up your rows and sew together to finish the block. The final measurement should be 12.5 inches square. I look forward to seeing your blocks come together!