Final clue
So, as we get to the finish line, you can see why I didn’t have you cut into all your fabric. If you had seen 1-1/2” strips of the various colors, in strange lengths, with 2-1/2” squares, I know many of you would have yelled out, for all to hear, “Hey, it’s Courthouse Steps with a taste of Pineapple!” Did you guess the finish? Hope not.
Assembly: I want you to look ahead to the end, so you can see how I put together the all these pieces. And to see why I was so insistent on a contrast between the E and F colors. As you can see, I goofed, and my F is too light. I do not like that there is not enough contrast, but by that point I didn’t have the time to remake the runner. And, I made an error in placing the triangle pieces on the logs, but didn’t bother to fix the placement so each block was exactly the same. My bad. All four blocks should be exactly the same. Therefore, I couldn’t assemble the runner he way I planned. I wanted to put the dark touching the light but had to put all the light touching so matching triangles didn’t touch at the edges So, play with your finished blocks and arrange however you wish to do so – lights touching or lights touch darks. So now you know all my mistakes, and let’s finish these blocks – yours will be correctly done -- and will be 12-1/2” unfinished. Or close to it, if your ¼” seam allowences were a smidge off, just so long as all 4 are the same size.
First of all, take the 2-1/2” squares (4 each of A B C D) and press to a triangle as shown. Do not stretch; gently put the corners together and press without moving the iron. Use spray starch if wanted to keep these triangles easy to work with.
Gather up your pieces of F through M fabrics, or your fat quarters. Don’t forget, you paid for both side of you fabric. My G and i use the wrong sides. Cut into 1-1/2” wide pieces. You will need the following lengths as shown on the first photo. Cut 4 of EACH of the light F G H I and the dark J K L M fabrics.
To the center block attach 2 F fabrics, press, then add 2 J fabrics and press. I pressed away from the center on all my strips, you may wish to do this differently. For each block, use one triangle of each color and place in each corner. Pin into place to hold in position before sewing on the next rows of strips, or baste 1/8” from edge. The single completed full block shown is correct and this is where I goofed – you can see in my final photo showing 4 blocks that some of the blocks had more of a color than they should have. On each of the repeating steps, that row should have one each of a different color. However you place the first set of blocks, have the final 3 blocks look alike. You will end up with 4 identical blocks.
Add 2 G fabrics and then 2 K fabrics, press and add 4 more triangles one of each color to the corners.
Add 2 H fabrics and then 2 L fabrics, press and add 4 more triangles one of each color to the corners.
On the final row, add 2 I and 2 M fabrics, press, place triangles in position, and sew triangles down 1/8” from edge.
I used a dark brown with a slight mottle to it for the borders, which I cut at 2-1/2” and needed 4 pieces. The binding is the same fabric, 4 more pieces of the same, because I didn’t want to call attention to it, to leave the focus on the blocks. I did stitch in the ditch in all the seams, you can't see too well on the picture, but it make the strips sort of pop. The triangles are not stitched down, I like the way they floated. Can't wait to see how you finish your runners.
I know that perhaps I pushed a few of you outside your comfort zone, but I was hoping you would go with the flow, try something new to add to you skill set. And as one of you said, “it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be!”
So once again we are at the end. Hope you all enjoyed the ride. I certainly enjoyed the comradery and the food! I have another mystery visualized in my head, and would like to start it around May 14 unless you all vote to start May 1 or wait a bit longer or a lot longer. You let me know what you would like to do; majority choses the date..