Switching it up

As I continue with my back stitching while watching TV, I started an away project, a long over due quilt for my grandson Alex. It's based on Marsha McClosky's Little Cedar Tree.

I cut 8" strips on straight on grain of a print & a solid and then slice these into 8" squares. I stacked one of each, sliced it in half along the diagonal. Then I sliced in 3" from there. This is what it should look like...be careful that you don't stretch the bias edges.




I then stitched 1/4" seams along the long bias edge to get this. The next step is too stitch the short yellow edge to the short print edge, press all seams to the dark side. You don't do any further stitching on the 2 small squares.





Now with this strange configuration, you will get 8 - 3" squares ( I missed putting the last square in the shot) with straight on grain on all sides of the squares. To help your visualize this...the main shape will yield 6 squares...1 at each point, 1 in the middle center piece and then you stitch the outside edges of the remaining fabric and there is the last square.




And this is what I ended up with! This is only 1 of 3 colour combos I've come up with. I may put plain black bands around each block, just to add some pizazz and give some definition.

Marsha had her blocks all positioned the same direction, with a block of 4 of the same colour combo. I was playing with the squares and liked the pinwheel effect. I'll keep you posted as to my progress with this 'better late than never' project!