Hive 1 March tutorial - Blades of Grass for Julia

Hello Hive 1! I hope you left all your greens out from last month's block--because you'll need them again for March.

I've had an idea kicking around my head for a few years to make a quilt inspired by lawns. Making and celebrating more biodiverse lawns is one way we can make our own back yards more sustainable, friendly to pollinators, and overall beneficial for our local ecosystems and the environment at large. What better way to celebrate than with a quilt?

This is a smaller block, so I am asking you to make two. 

Fabric selection:

All greens! Kelly green, olive green, minty green, teal blue-greens, chartreuse yellow-greens, green prints, batiks, solids--it all goes. Please no novelty fabrics, but besides that, any green works. 

Cutting:

Cut 1.5 inch strips in a variety of lengths. I've used lengths between 3.5 inches and 16 inches. Dig through  your scraps! (I recommend cutting a slightly generous 1.5 inch--if you're using an acrylic ruler, make the edge on the far side of the line instead of right on it.)

You'll need about 90 inches total length of strips for each block. You can get away with a few inches less, but 90 gives you a little wiggle room to cut down as needed. 

Sewing:

Join all strips at a 45 degree angle. You do this by placing the strips right side together, making sure the corners match up. Sew along the diagonal, and you have one continuous strip. If you want to watch this in more detail, here's a good video. 

At this point you should have one looong strip. You're going to sew that one strip to itself in a jelly roll race style. To do this, take your one long strip and fold it in half, right sides together. Sew the whole thing, clipping the fabric at the end. You should have one piece of fabric now that is two strips wide and half the length. Repeat that step until you have a block that is eight strips wide. If you want more visual instruction on this, here's a video that shows the process. 

Please press seams however you like. Make sure to press as you go, it makes everything much easier!

Note: a scant 1/4 inch seam is very important. Since there are so many seams and they all go the same direction, if your seam is not a scant 1/4 inch you can end up with a block that is too narrow. If you're a little on the short side, no worries--please send it anyway, some of mine are a little short too!

Your final blocks should be 8.5 x 10.5. Trim down to get the 10.5 length. 

Thank you everyone! I can't wait to get all these blocks and see the wide variety of greens. If you have any questions, just reach out. And if you want to learn more about biodiversity in lawns, you can read here, or here.