Sew Modern Bee - October Tutorial String Blocks

So, I don't exactly know what these blocks should be called. So, I'm going to call this the half-square-triangle method for creating string blocks. I found this tutorial by Erin over at Two More Seconds and modfied it to suit my needs for the bee block. So, feel free to reference back to her turorial because it is fantatsic.



So, in the bee packages is a slew of strips of fabrics. Mostly blue and aqua, but there are also two red strips.



For each block, you will need to sew enough strips together to get two squares that are approximately 10" x 10". No need to be precise at this point. So, because we are making two blocks for the bee, you will need to make a total of four (4) of these units. Be sure to split the two red bits up - they should end up in different blocks.



Iron the strips however you like. Now, trim the blocks to exactly 10" x10".



With right sides togther place two of the strip sections on top of one another, making sure that one section has the strips running horizontally and the other has strips running vertically.



I would highly recommend pinning everything together. It stops shifting.

Now, here is where the tricky part comes in. Sew around all four edges with a 1/4" seem allowance. Once this is done, cut the blocks from corner to corner two times. It seems strange, but this method of creating half-square triangles is kind of cool, as long as you don't mind working with bias edges. There is a fantastic video showing how this is done, here.

Anyway, this is what you should end up with. You should have four units (per block) that are 6 3/4" square.





Arrange the blocks so there is a diamond in the middle and sew them together to get the final block. The final block should be 13" x 13", assuming I've done my math correctly.



Anyway, hope this is clear. If not, let me know.

Kristy

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My friend Linda at the Great White North Bee send me this link. It's a tutorial on a block very similar to this called Hidden Well. The tutorial is fantastically detailed and is well worth a quick read through, if you are interested.