Apology for delay

I just wanted to apologize for a delay in the Block of the Week. We have been busy here at the house. We will be tearing out the floor in our living room this week. Hopefully all will go fast and smooth. I am having to delay the next block until the 23rd. I do all my sewing in our living room which means everything will be packed up and moved.

I Challenge Me Block Three

This week I am working on a block called Yankee Puzzle Block

Cutting:

Focus:

6 - 4 inch squares

Color 1:

2 - 4 inch squares

Color 2:

8 - 4 inch squares

Sewing instructions:

We will be using the same technique for making half square triangle but using 4 inch blocks. Pair up the 2 color 1 squares with 2 of the color 2 squares right sides together. On the back of two of the colored squares line up the 1/4 mark on your ruler from corner to corner. Draw a line. Using the same corners, flip your ruler and mark the other side out 1/4. These will be our sewing lines to make half square triangle units. Sew on these lines.

Line up your ruler one of your sewing lines on the 1/4 in mark on your ruler and cut in between them. You should now have 4 half square triangle units Trim these down to 3 1/2 inch squares 

Repeat this process with the remaining blocks. For this block I build four individual units. For pressing the top two half square triangle units are pressed to the darker fabrics. The bottom left one (not under the gold triangle) is pressed to the pink here. The other is pressed to the darker fabric.

Once the unit is built I used the swirling seam method by Eleanor Burns to get the units to lay flat and aid in locking seams for block completion. Basically after the 2 seams are sewn you let the stitches out in the seam allowance and "smush" it flat. For a video of this you can see her do it at 1:48 here. your seams should look like this.

Make 4 of these units. Join them together like a four patch. I also did the swirling seam in the center after joining all four units.

This block was a challenge to me! I actually had to make 2 blocks. I do recommend a test block for this one. Stay tuned for my next block on March 9th.