Hive 1 January Tutorial - Ziggy Block

 Hello Hive 1 and Happy New Year!

I am so excited to kick things off this year with a relatively simple block. It's actually a block that has been done before on Stash Bee about 6 years ago. It's called the Ziggy Block:

It was a free pattern that was originally found here, but the blog it links to no longer exists so I had to recreate it. Luckily, it's just made up of squares and half-square triangles so it was easy to do. 

This quilt is going to be a gift for my 26-year-old nephew whose favorite color combo is dark blue and silver. I wanted a bit more depth of color to the quilt so for my blues, think navy, jewel tones, and medium blues. Please avoid light blues. Solids and tone-on-tones are great, patterns that read blue are good, but no novelty prints, please. 

Since sliver is hard to come by with fabric, I'm opting for light grays and low-volume prints that read as gray/light gray. 

A Note About Seam Allowances and Pressing:

When sewing, please use a true 1/4-inch seam allowance. When you get into the world of scant 1/4-inch seams in a bee with 11 people, one person's scant seam is different from another person's and it can make things challenging. So please check your seam allowances and measurements ahead of time. 

For me, unless I specifically note a pressing preference, I'm fine with you pressing your seams however you choose in order to get the best block possible. 

Tutorial

I had an abundance of precut charms (5" blocks) in my stash so I wanted to try and use some of these up. If your stash allows for many different fabrics, that's great. If you only have 2 different blues or 1 gray, just use that. I'm easy. :)

Squares - 

BLUE: Cut (4) 4.5" squares and set aside

GRAY: Cut (4) 4.5" squares and set aside

Half-Square Triangles (HSTs) -

I use a specialty ruler (the Clearly Perfect Slotted Trimmers) to trim my HSTs so I was able to use my 5" charm squares to make my HSTs. For most people though, you are going to want to use slightly bigger squares, about 5.5", and then trim the HST down to 4.5".

BLUE: Cut (4) 5.5" squares

GRAY: Cut (4) 5.5" squares

Here is how I make my HSTs, but if you prefer a different method, please use that.

On the back side of your gray squares, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. 

Pair up your gray squares with your blue squares, placing them right sides together. Sew a 1/4-inch on both sides of your drawn line and then cut ON YOUR DRAWN LINE.

Press your block open and trim it down to 4.5". Remember to trim off the little dog ears. 

Repeat this process for all 4 sets of HSTs and then lay out all of your blocks like this:

Now it's time to sew them all together, but here is where I get picky. I'd like you to sew them in 4 patches like below. The reason I do this is that the longer the stitch line, the easier it is for the accuracy to be off.

Then, once you have the 4 patches done, you'll sew these all together to get your finished block. For these last 3 seams, I'd like you to press the seams OPEN to reduce the amount of bulk.

Here is what your finished block should look like:

It will be approximately 16.5" but don't worry if it's a little off. Don't trim anything. I will take care of that when I go to put them all together.

Thank you so much for sewing with me this month and I can't wait to see all of the wonderful blocks you make.

~ Diana @Red Delicious Life