Wonky square/rectangle in a square block for Marie

Dear Hive Mates,

Happy October! I am reaching out this month for a quick and easy block. This block is so easy that this tutorial may not even be necessary for most of you, as the assembly will come intuitively. I am hoping to have a variety of blocks that are not identical in the center size/placement. So, no stress, have fun! 

With your help, I’ll be able to quickly prepare a lap size quilt for a friend.

Block: 10”x10” square block, with a square or rectangular center.

Fabric: The colors I have in mind are nothing inspired by the new Fall season! Instead, I am looking for a palette composed of lavender/dusty purple, raspberry/pink, aqua/turquoise, sage green and coral/red. 

Inspired by this Kaffe Fassett fabric:

 And this palette created by Google Gemini:

Please, *no* yellow, *no* bright orange.

Select two fabrics out of this palette, either solids, read solid or small flower prints (I love flowers). Batiks are fine. We will call one fabric “accent”, and one will be called “main”. 

Cutting:  I don’t have specific cutting instructions. You may even know intuitively how to prepare the block. If you want to use a larger center and make it fit in a 10”x10” block, go ahead! I am not looking for identical blocks, a little variety is nice, so you really cannot go wrong in making this block!

Should you need more precise directives, you may look at the Hive 1-April 2026 tutorial, available here

or you can follow along “a-b-c-d-e-f”:

a) One 3”-4” square or rectangular center using the accent fabric,

b) One 10.5” strip of the main fabric, as wide as what you selected in a),

c) Two 10.5” x 4” strips of the main fabric,

d) Cut the strip prepared in b) in two,

e) Sew each two sections prepared in d) on each side of the square/rectangular center prepared in a), and

f) Sew each strip prepared in c) along the strip assembled in e).

Press however you prefer.  The square/rectangular center does not need to be centered! No need to trim down to a perfect 10”x10”. 

Thank you all for your generous contribution to my project!

Hive 3 - Tutorial for October - Haphazard block for Laurie

I’m so excited for another year with Stash Bee and I'm asking to add to my blocks from last year as I fell in love with each and every one!  

BUT this year You can choose any color you want for the strips.

The Haphazard block is bright, it's scrappy, it's creative, it's versatile!!

I'm using My Poppy Makes for inspiration. You can find the quilt  here:  MY POPPET MAKES

I changed up the dimensions so we will end up with a 15” block.

Fabric:  

Let’s keep this Bright!  

Center Square: Black and white, typeset, tone on tone, white on white

Strips: Pick one favorite color from your stash, then select four different fabrics to use.  If you like Pink, feel free to use that again! 

Instructions: 

Cut (1) 8.5” square from your center fabric.

Pick out your 4 different fabrics in your color line and cut strips.  

(1) 4" by 8.5"

(2) 4" by 12.5"

(1) 4" by 16.5"

Sew the strips around the center square using a 1/4” seam and trim each strip after you sew it.  The measurements I gave for the strips are oversized so you will need to trim down a bit after sewing. This is expected.

    

Your block should now measure around 15.5” but don't worry if it doesn't. This block isn't one that has to be exact and a little wonkiness is fine with me.  Press seams as you like.

 Now comes the fun part!  Cut the block in half twice 

(7 3/4” for those who want measurements)

Then turn each piece so that the center square is in each corner. It makes a plus sign pattern in the middle of the block.  (it's ok for one strip fabric to end up in a row/column but if you want to move blocks around go right ahead and play around with the layout)

 

Sew the 4 pieces together.  Your block should be around 15"

Press the seams as you like.  Don't worry about trimming as I can do that later when assembling the quilt.

    

Hope you have fun with this quick and easy block!

Thanks, Laurie

Hive 2 September 2026 Tutorial Disappearing Four Patch for Nancy

Hi!  I’m Nancy, the September QB.  I’ve been wanting to make a throw for my father-in-law who is perpetually cold, and another for my husband’s cousin who will earn her PhD next year in pediatric cardiology nursing.  This scrappy block will be just the thing for them.  This website was my inspiration.  https://agilejack1.com/2023/10/03/those-aboriginal-scraps-kept-calling-my-name/ 

Colors:  Think organic colors more than glow-in-the-dark bright—plum, purple, blue, gold, teal, rose, rust, olive, russet, brown, burgundy, red, tan, blue, taupe, green, grey, black.  Prints of any scale are great, including florals.  Stripes and plaids will work; don’t obsess over getting the seams lined up with the print fabric.  Please, no seasonal, religious, or juvenile prints.  Batiks are good.  A bit of metallic is okay.  Mix it up, and be creative, but don’t waste too much time agonizing over your choices.

Pick four fabrics that work together without being matchy-matchy, with two darker and two lighter, cutting one 6.5" square from each.  The two darks barely interact, as do the two lights, so NONE of them have to "relate" colorwise .  Having at least one big-scale print works well, and makes the block more interesting.  At the end of this tutorial I have included a photograph of some of the other blocks I’ve made so you can get a better idea of where these projects are going.  

Note:  All seam allowances are .25" wide.

If you’re unsure of how the values relate to each other, take a photo of the choices and display the photo in black and white on your phone.

Sew into a four patch with light and dark squares alternated as shown, matching pressed seams.  (Matching the seams precisely makes the next cuts a lot easier.)  Press with a dry iron.  Check for any folds when pressing since getting the seams pressed without folds can help accuracy.  (Ask me how I know.  🫤)  I pressed toward the dark pieces so I could nest my seams, then spun the seam allowances at the center a bit so the block was less bumpy during the next step.

Next, cut 2” away from the center seams on either side in both directions without moving any of the pieces—four cuts in all.  If you’re careful, you can simply rotate your mat 90 degrees at a time to cut, being careful not to move the pieces out of place.  (I screwed this up the first time by accidentally cutting 2.5” from the center seam, instead of the correct side of my ruler.  I then used a sticky note to make sure I got the correct side of my ruler, since it was too easy for me to get this wrong.)

e 

You then end up with this.

Next, spin the four side pieces 180 degrees.  Everything stays as is.

Reassemble the nine segments like a nine-patch, matching seams, and sew together.  Be aware the middle segments will appear 1/4” too small in one direction—both for the very center unit--because of seam allowances.  Don’t let that throw you off.

Press.  You’re done!  The finished block should measure 11.5” including seam allowances.  No need to trim!

 Thanks for playing!  I’m looking forward to seeing your amazing blocks and incorporating them into these two gifts.  Sam and Genna are looking forward to staying warm this winter.

And as promised, the blocks I’ve made so far.

Hive 5 August 2026 Tutorial Quirky Shoo Fly for Susan

This one is hopefully fun for you.  It is rather improv which is one of my favorite techniques.

I like bright colors with lots of contrast.  This makes a happy cheery quilt.  

Start with the center.  It can be a square, a rectangle (vertical or   horizontal)  It can be fussy cut or a plain piece of fabric.  It's one of a kind.  Only one of this in the block, because it came from your stash and thoughts, I already love it.  Quirky is special.  

If you love to fussy cut, or want to experiment, that is perfect.  You have the opportunity to create a fussy cut that is not restricted by size.  I hate it when I have the cutest image and it falls outside the block size required.  I suggest cutting 1/2 inch beyond the image on all four sides.  2 sides should be parallel, but the other two could be slanted.  Then if you have an unregular size, use the center to cut the other blocks for the block.  Measurements are not required.  

The other eight pieces of the block  are the same fabric or the same color fabric, but different prints.  Like the two yellow fabrics in this one.  My block did not come up the right size, so I will be adding another yellow fabric strip to this to bring it up to size.  That's called a coping strip and if you use the same fabric, no one will be the wiser....except you guys because I confessed my error to you.  So don't tell!

Also you will need some scrappy snowballs for the corner blocks.  We are going to snowball one corner of each corner block with.....again options:

A. Four different fabrics or colors

B.   Four different sizes or 

C. Four different shapes or

D.  Your own idea for a snowball!  I'm sure I haven't thought of all the possibilities.  Also, any combination of these options will also work.  It's improvisatory, no rules, no rigidity, no negatives.  

The easiest construction is make everything 4.5 inches square....yielding a 12.5 inch block.  And that's great if you choose that...then the fabrics are the focus.  So pick something you love that reads a solid, and something for the center that is different.  The quirky thing will be the snowballs.  I would snowball the four corner blocks (4.5) with a 3.5"square, a 3" square, a 2.5" square and a 1.5" square.  Any combination or pattern will work.  Just place the square on the correct corner and sew a diagonal line and trim.  Sew the block together like a nine patch and send it to me.  

If you center is not a square, here's the method I used.  Lay your center on the edge of your background and cut a strip the same width as your center.  (The background strip needs to be at least 13-14 inches long.  Then cut that strip in half...that's your center top and bottom.  Then lay the center strip horizontally and cut the your background the same  width (it actually is the same length as the center, but you just laid it down horizonitally so the definition changed.  Hope that made sense)  as your center piece  This is your two center sides.  Make your corner blocks from the same fabric.  Make them oversized but should match the height of the top center block and the width of the middle blocks.  

Next easiest method would be to keep the 4.5 inch squares and then snowball with a rectangle instead of a square.  Or a combination of rectangles and squares.  If you use a rectangle, start with a larger piece of fabric and place the edge of the fabric on an angle that is not a 90-degree angle. Like these two upper blocks.   Then trim.  

If you want to be daring, you can play with the proportions and make the centers smaller or larger than the 4.5" block and make it rectangular.   You will need to make your other blocks correspond to the different size.  You can use math, or you can wing it.    If you are totally improvising this, add an extra inch or so to the outside blocks so you can guarantee it will reach 12.5 inches.  

Stitch together,then trim to 12.5:

You'll notice that I tried improve curves here for my snowballs.  It was okay, I think it was cute, but I'm not the one to teach you how to do that.  I will say that I sewed them and then trimmed them to fit the block.  So if you are feeling Quirky...do this .  I can definetly press better than this appears, but I was just playing with fabric.  

The goal:  send me a 12.5 inch block with a cute center and four triangle-ish fabrics pointing to the center.  I don't prefer any color or design, or type of fabric.  Just what is near your cutting table and I will enjoy it.  

Thanks tons! I hope you have fun playing with fabric!!!

Susan

Hive 1 August Tutorial -- Sorta Wonky Hashtag Block

 Hi, I'm Pam in Hive 1, and this is my 9th year participating in Stashbee.  I've loved every quilt I've made with my Stashbee blocks--it's so amazing seeing the variety of designs and fabrics I could never achieve using my own very small stash.

I've wanted to make a hashtag quilt for a while, but wasn't feeling the measuring and seam-matching, so I decided to make a slightly wonky and easier, faster version. I love the look of a quilt where the blocks are all a bit different, even if the concept is the same for all of them.  

Here are the directions for my version of the hashtag block:

Fabrics:     One 12.5 inch square of dark grey or black fabric, either solid or print, for the background.

                  Four 1.25 inch strips of bright (print or solid) fabrics, at least 14 inches long

Assembly:    Using a ruler and rotary cutter, make a cut off one side of the background square.  No rules for where to make the cut, and it can be parallel to the edge or slightly at an angle as I did with my sample blocks. 

Take one of your bright strips, and sew it into the square, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  I sewed the strip onto the bigger background piece first, and then sewed the smaller background piece onto the strip, but it doesn't matter what order you do this.  I pressed my seams toward the strip, but however you want to press is fine.

Don't worry about the edges of the background square lining up perfectly on both sides of the strip.

Next make another slice on another side of the square, and insert the next strip the same way.

Strip number one won't line up perfectly on both sides of strip number two, and that's okay.

Continue to slice and insert two more strips the same way.

Yay, you're done!  PLEASE DO NOT "SQUARE UP" THE BLOCK!!  

The block will be roughly 13.5 inches square, but the edges are not going to be straight or parallel, and THAT'S OKAY.  The blocks are not all going to be the same size, and I can trim them to a uniform size before I assemble the quilt top.  If you can't stand those overhanging strips, roughly cut the excess off, but don't trim down the crooked edges of the block. 

THANKS AND ENJOY!