BlockBase Sew Along Block #2049 Independence Square

#2049 Independence Square block

Here's my block #4 for Electric Quilt's BlockBase Sew Along.  It is block #2049 called Independence Square and was published by Nancy Cabot in 1938.

I decided not to make it an 8" block like I have the rest of the blocks in this sew along.  The pieces in the center nine patch would have been tiny. I used 1 1/2" strips and ended up with a 9" block.

I won a bag of scraps in the BlockBase giveaway for linking up my Week 3 block. Here's what I got!

Check out all the Week 4 blocks by clicking here or link up your own block for a chance to win your own bag of scraps.  Block #5 will be posted on Monday.

Hurricane Sandy Quilt Block Drive

Wonky Scrappy Log Cabin blocks for Sandy Quilt Block Drive

The Quilting Gallery is hosting the Sandy Quilt Block Drive for victims of Hurricane Sandy.  Michelle is looking for volunteers to make blocks or be team leaders to assemble the blocks into a quilt.  I signed up to make 20 blocks and my friend Linda helped me make the blocks shown above.  The block is called Wonky Scrappy Log Cabin and there is a tutorial provided to make the blocks. It's a great block to make to use up your scraps!  Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

BlockBase #2448 Pyramids block

BlockBase #2448 Pyramid Block

Here's my third block for the BlockBase Sew Along!  It is block #2448 and is called the Pyramid block.  I used 9 different fabrics like the sample block shows.  I decided to paper piece this block because of the large number of pieces and their small size since I'm making 8" blocks.  The block was easily made from my pre-cut scraps of 5" squares, 2 1/2" squares and 2 1/2" X 5" pieces.  See more blocks by clicking here.

BlockBase #2741 Gem Star block

Here is Block #2 in the BlockBase Sew Along.  It is block #2741 and is named Gem Star or Golda.  I love the look of this block but it is not an easy one.  I didn't find a way to use 5" squares in it's construction so decided to make the block 8" finished to match the size of Block #1. The Electric Quilt blog suggests constructing the block in wedge sections.  I did not want to cut the tiny pieces or make "y" seams so I decided to paper piece the block instead.  I did have to open it in in my Electric Quilt software to be able to print the paper piece pattern however.  You can download a pdf of the pattern I used here.  It is for an 8" block. You can see how others made the block by clicking here.

Block #3 is posted today!  

Block Base #1336 Seesaw block using a jelly roll or charm pack

I have my first block done for the BlockBase Sew Along at Electric Quilt!! Here it is, block #1336, the Seesaw block.  Today is the day you can link up your finished blocks.  Go to the blog to see everyone's finished blocks! There's quite a variety of fabric choices.

I have decided to use scraps of my bright fabrics and make a sampler quilt with the blocks.  There will be 12 blocks total.  A new one will be posted every two weeks.  You can make them whatever size you like but I decided to use my scraps which means 5", 2 1/2" and 2 1/2" x 5" pieces of fabric, of course, going along with my whole "nickel" theme.  Making this block an 8" finished block works perfectly!

Here's a very quick, basic tutorial for creating an 8" Seesaw block using scraps from a jellyroll or charm pack-

All of the squares are 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" and the rectangle pieces are 2 1/2" x 4 1/2".  You need all the pieces shown above.

Just sew squares across the corners of  the rectangles using the stitch and flip technique as shown above.  You need 2 sets of each of these units in different fabrics like shown below.

Sew your parts together into 4 sections like shown above and then sew them all together like shown below.
Super fast and easy!!  If I were going to make this block any other size, I would use the paper piecing templates. The rotary cutting templates have you cut to the 7/8" which I don't care to do.

My friend Linda decided to join the fun and made the same block look very different!

Check back next week to see if I can create the next block from 5" squares!