Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Block #2 for Mystery Quilt Extraordinaire

The second block of this mystery quilt looks very easy to make, however, it takes very precise measuring to assure you of ending up with the right size square. I keep forgetting that not everyone has taught math as long as I did. The rotary cutting dimensions for a finished 12" block are as given below: For the background triangles, cut a strip of fabric across the grain that is 4 3/4" wide. Fold the strip in half with wrong sides together.To cut the triangles, measure along the bottom of the strip to 7 1/8". When cut, there is a triangle for the left side and one for the right side. Repeat this process until you have 3 sets or 6 background triangles. For the center "pyramid" cut a strip 4 1/2" long of a light colored fabric. (There will be a pyramid of a medium shade and one of an even darker shade.) Leave fabric single strip not folded. Measure along the botton of strip to 13 5/8" and put a mark there. Not fold the strip in half to find the center of the pyramid. Put a dot on the center fold. Leaving fabric folded, cut from bottom of strip to center dot. Once you have this pyramid cut, flip it over and cut the next 3 pyramids the same way using the same fabric. There will be 4 pyramids of each color fabric, since you must make 4 blocks exactly alike. Sew side triangles to a pyramid using 1/4" seam allowance. When sewing the strips together, sew from the side where you can see where the center point is so you won't lop off the center point of the pyramids.