Hive 3 - Unallocated blocks for Joanne

Hello Hive 3! My block comes from a free pattern called Unallocated, posted by Michelle McKillop (mckillopmichelle) on Instagram. These little blocks are 4" unfinished and hopefully you will have fun diving into your scrap bin to make a few. If you make 16, when combined they'll make one 14.5" block. If you run out of steam before making 16 4" blocks, no worries - I'll take what you've got! My goal is 529 4" blocks and I've made 85 so far, so any contributions are appreciated. Here's a sample of some of the blocks I've made:

You'll see the low volume prints make a secondary pattern. If you lose the diagonal stripe, then the low volume print is too loud.

If you prefer to repeat fabrics and send the blocks individually vs sewn together, that's great. I'll spread out those blocks across the quilt. The quilt will be 80" x 80", so there's plenty of space for repeated fabrics.

Colors 

Fun, bright colors - avoid black, brown, dark gray, dark blue, etc. I'd prefer prints versus solids. 

You will also need a variety of low to low(ish) volume fabrics. 

Cutting 

For every TWO 4" blocks you will need:

(1) 3.5" color square

(1) 3.5" low volume square

(2) 1.5" x 7(ish)" color rectangles - sub cut each into 1.5" x 3 and 1.5" x 4 pieces (I cut these a smidge longer than called for and having the wiggle room is nice when attaching the strips to the HST.)

Sewing

You are making a 3" HST with a 1.5" strip sewn to both the top and left side. Chain piecing is your friend here. 😁

All seams are 1/4" unless otherwise noted.

HST: Mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of the 3.5" low volume square. Layer the marked low volume square right sides together with the color square. Using a scant 1/4" seam, sew on each side of the marked line. Cut along the marked line, press each HST toward the color fabric and trim to 3" square. (Side note: if Creative Grids and Bloc_Loc got together and had a baby, that'd be my most favorite ruler EVER!) Or feel free to use your preferred method to make HSTs. If you need a more detailed explanation for how to make an HST, this tutorial is a good one. 

Marked line and stitching on both sides of line.

Adding the strips: Arrange the HST so the low volume fabric is on the bottom right. Sew the 3" strip to the top of the HST and press toward the strip. Again with the low volume fabric on the bottom right, sew the 4" strip to the left side of the block and press toward the strip.

Note alignment of HSTs before adding strips.

With top strip added.

With side strip added.

To lay out the 14.5" block, the location of the low volume fabric in each 4" block alternates like this:

Rows 1 and 3: lower right, upper left, lower right, upper left

Rows 2 and 4: upper left, lower right, upper left, lower right

Thanks so much and I look forward to seeing your beautiful blocks. 💜