paintmejudy

Gather up those triangles you made last week and sew 4 triangle pieces to each 4-patch block. Look at the first picture -- Sew on two opposite sides, press, and sew on two more. Press. This makes about an 8-1/2’’ block and you will have 12 of them. Size is not absolutely critical, but it will be square, and the next step will make everything work out fine.

Well, with what you do next, the secret is mostly out of the bag. I could have had you make the final pieces today, and then this step next week, but I needed you to see how your colors will be working out before cutting the final pieces. Oh well……. Will try to make the next mystery last a bit longer.

Please measure the size of your four-patch/triangle blocks before cutting pieces for the next step. These blocks should measure about 8-1/2” or 8-5/8” depending on how accurate your Ό” seams were. If these are the size you ended up with, cut the next blocks at 7-1/4” square. If your blocks are smaller than this, cut them 7-1/2”. I will go on the assumption that you will cut 24 blocks at 7-1/4’’. I am giving directions for cutting these next blocks but if you want to make them out of strings and scrappy, see ***SUGGESTION at end of this posting.

If possible, use 24 different fabrics. Cut blocks that are 7-1/4” (or 7-1/2" if needed) then cut on a diagonal to make 48 triangles. Sand sew larger triangles on to the piece, first two along opposite sides, press, then 2 triangles on the other sides, and press. For contrast I’ve used darker colors than those in the little triangle pieces sewn to the four-patch. And you can use larger scale prints here, they will show up nicely. Just don’t have the print so big and widespread that you can’t see the pattern in the triangle.

These triangles have been cut a little oversized to guarantee you will be able to square up your block to 12-1/2’’. You are working on bias edges and when I made my sample, I found some of the edges were not perfect and I needed to fudge on sewing the blocks to the next week’s clue. Press block well but don’t stretch it.

Squaring up your block: Easiest way is to use a 12-1/2’’ square ruler. Mark the exact center -- I mark a dot with a red marker, and then draw a small circle around it so I can easily see the exact center. DO NOT mistake where the 6-1/2’’ lines intersect as the center. True center is where the 6-1/4” lines intersect. Line up the middle horizontal and vertical seams along the 6-1/4’’ lines on the ruler. Trim.

***SUGGESTION: If you don’t have pieces big enough to cut into 7-1/4’’ squares and cut on the diagonal, and still want the scrappy look:
1)You can piece strings and crumbs as was done by some of you for the 4-patch, making a 7-1/2” square and cutting once on the diagonal. Make 48 triangle pieces.
2) You can piece them as done in week 2. Cut 24 blocks that measure 5-3/4” square, cut in half diagonally and seam together to make a triangle. I sampled this step out with what I had handy, but would suggest going to darker fabrics than you are using for your set of triangles that are sewn onto the 4-patch