QAF Block of the Month

May 2009

Susannah's Garden

10 1/2" (unfinished), 10" (finished)

For May we are revisiting an old block we did back in 2002, named Susannah. I've re-sized it, and am suggesting a 'garden' theme. For the center, we are calling for a massed, or small to medium floral with not much background. Think of it as your flower bed. For the next fabric around your garden we call for a nice med. green - it can be a leaf fabric or a green TOT. For the outer row, think of stepping stones, sidewalk, no sidewalk, etc. This last fabric can be a tan, muslin, or light to medium grey.

I'd like to call your attention to the 'strange' cutting sizes. Often when we change the sizes of blocks, we come up with some of these odd numbers that we need to mention.

Cut for each block:

To assemble block:

As usual, be sure you are sewing with a 1/4" seam.

First cut your (2) 3 3/8" squares in half diagonally to yield 4 triangles. Next take your floral fabric square and place a triangle RST on one of the sides of the square. Center it on the square (you can eyeball the points of the triangle, making sure they are even on each end. Now, stitch that seam with the triangle on the bottom next to the feed dogs. The reason to do this is that the long edge of the triangle is 'on the bias' and thus might stretch as you stitch. When you put it on the bottom, it is not likely to stretch. Stitch the second triangle to the opposite side of the square. Press seams out to the triangles. Now attach the triangles to the other two sides in the same manner, press out to the triangles.

VERY IMPORTANT:This is the center of your block and it is important that it measure exactly 5 1/2" square. Trim if necessary, taking care that there is 1/4" seam allowance at each corner of the center floral fabric. If not, try again before going forward with the block. It's not hard, just a little exacting.

Next, attach one green 3" square to one grey square. Repeat. Press to the darker fabric. Put these two sewn sections on either side of the center square, taking care to place like in the picture above.

Lastly, using the rest of the green and grey fabrics, make the top and bottom row of the block, again paying attention to where the green appears in the block above. Press in whichever direction makes sense to you so that the seams will nestle when you attach the top and bottom rows to the center section. Press those last seams out and you are almost finished. Please use a square-up ruler to measure and trim your block to 10 1/2".

You may make 2 of the same set of fabrics, and up to 6 for the BOM lottery.