Hive 1 November Tutorial - Pink Four Patch for Marie

 

Hive 1 November Tutorial: Four Patch Block with improv stripes

Hello Bees! 

Already at the last block of the year! Thank you for this wonderful year in the hive! I thought we could finish the year around the color pink, to help us see La vie en rose!

I am assuming you have lots of scrap fabric, you are reluctant to throw it away, and you know that it will be useful "someday". That day has come. Let's go down that pile and make a bit of improv with your leftover fabric! 

I am hoping for a bright, cheerful quilt, with lots of pink. Bright and cheery fabric, solid and/or prints of leaves and/or flowers. Please, nothing too dark!

I have designed a simple four-patch 10.5"x 10.5" quilt block with improv stripes and sashing.

The four squares are each 5" and will be assembled as follow:

• Top left: one stripped square with the strips ascending from left to right, 
• Top right: pink square, either pink or reads pink, any pink works,
• Bottom left: white square, either white or reads white, and
• Bottom right: another stripped square, with strips ascending from left to right. 

The white and the pink squares can be from a charm pack, or from your fabric.

Now for the striped blocks. I am suggesting here a method to obtain diagonal stripes.  If you have your own method, please make two (2)  5" squares your favorite way!

Step 1: Piece together scraps from your stash into strips. The more scraps in one strip, the merrier.  Each strip of scrap fabric should be at least 7" long.  Square up the edges. Repeat and prepare more strips! How many strips? It depends of the width of each strip, so find the answer in Step 2!

Step 2: Sew the strips together. Once sewn, the strips should make a rectangular block about 15"x 7". Larger block is even better! 

Here are a few examples of strips sewn together:

Step 3: Prepare two (2) 5"x5" square fabric to be used as a template. You can certainly use a square from a charm pack or, if none are available,  you can make your own paper/cardboard 5"x5" template.

Step 4: Place the 5" square template on your newly created striped fabric. Make sure you follow the orientation of the stripes vs template so that the 5" squares are placed with corners up/down, one square above/under the other, over the stripes that are aligned vertically. 

Step 5: Cut two 5"x5" squares out of your striped fabric using the template.

Voilà! The resulting two squares will each measure 5"x5" and will have a diagonal striped pattern.

You should now have the four squares needed for assembly. Complete the block with a 1" sashing. You can use white or pink sashing...you choose! Sew the sashing on the left and right side first, then finish with the sashing at the top and bottom.  

Here is an example of some completed blocks:

Thank you in advance for working on this block! I will cherish every block and will be forever grateful for your contribution to my quilt.

Best,

Marie