This month, I made two blocks for my charity quilt group 'Refuge Circle'. I chose to chain-piece the squares for the blocks in both directions. I used this technique to piece the Miniature quilt entered into the Festival of Quilts this year:
'A clearing in the beech woods'miniature quilt by Amanda Jane Ogden (Festival of Quilts 2023)
So this is how it went with the charity quilt blocks. They needed to measure 12½" unfinished.
1 First, I made a set of two half-square triangle units using two fabrics (one grey, one white) each measuring 3⅞" square. I drew a line in pencil on the wrong side of the grey fabric as shown.
2 I then stitched ¼" away from the marked line, on each side of the line, as shown
3 I cut between the line with scissors.
4 I pressed the seam, then opened up the triangles and pressed the seam allowances to the darker side.
5 I repeated steps 1-4 to make two more half-square triangle units.
6 Next I laid out all the squares (3½ x 3½") needed to make the block and added the half-square triangle units as shown below.
7 Next, I attached the first square to the second square in each row, beginning at the top left (a white square and a white/grey square). I chain-pieced these, stitching a few stitches 'into fresh air' as it were, before putting the next pair of squares (a white/grey square and a blue square) as shown below. Then I continued with the first two squares in row three and row four.
8 Without pressing or cutting threads between the squares, I added the third square in the first row (blue) as shown.
9 I then added the third square to rows 2, 3 and 4, chain piecing as before.
10 Finally, I sewed the fourth square to row 1 and chain pieced the fourth square in place, in each row.
11 This is what the block looked like at this point. You can just see the pale grey threads holding the whole thing together.
12 On the wrong side, I pressed the seam allowances - to the right in rows 1 and 3 and to the left in rows 2 and 4, as shown below.
13 Next, I pinned row 2, right sides together with row 1 as shown. Then I stitched it.
14 I repeated step 13 with rows 3 and 4. Then I pressed the whole block with the seam allowances going downwards.
Thanks to Nina for setting this colourful and fun block. You can find Nina on Instagram at apiecedhug
Here is a Christmas pattern to make a very special patchwork stocking (and you could chain-piece the top patchwork section in the way I did above!) - get the pattern here
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