Easter HST Quilt 2.0 - Blocks

Making an Easter quilt adds a festive touch to your home, and with some many wonderful novelty prints available a simple design and layout is all you need. Join me and sew my Easter HST Quilt 2.0!

Last week, I shared my plans of sewing a new quilt for Easter, and I invited you to join in a very casual and relaxed sew along with me. Hopefully, I inspired you to sew a quilt for yourself and you found some time to choose the fabrics you'd like to use. Today's post is all about the blocks!

The fabric bundle I'm using for this project has 18 fabrics, so it's unavoidable that there's going to be prints laying side by side or colours very close together. There's not enough variety in the bundle and I have nothing else that works with them, so provided I achieve an appealing balance of colour throughout the quilt, I'm good!

I have lots to share today, but before I get straight to it here's a quick recap - I'm using an 11 x11 grid layout and alternating two different HST blocks for my quilt. The blocks are 6" (finished) and the quilt will finish around 66" square. The diagram above was my rough outline, and I'm switching block colours around as I work to make everything as balanced as I can.

To save time and to work efficiently, the large HST's are sewn two at a time and the four patch HST's are sewn four at a time.  

Let's take a look at the blocks:

You will need to sew 60 of the four patch HST blocks, and you will need to cut:

60 x 5 3/4" background squares

60 x 5 3/4" assorted print squares

To see how to sew four HST units at once, simply follow my step by step tutorial HERE (disregarding the sizes in the tutorial). For this quilt, you will need to trim each of the four HST's to 3 1/2" square.

• Arrange the four 3 1/2" square HST's into two rows of two units, using the diagram above for correct orientation. 
• Sew the units together into the two rows, pressing seams in alternate directions for nesting.
• Carefully matching the centre seam, sew the two rows together, pressing the seam open or towards the top of the block, to yield one block which should measure 6 1/2" square.
• Sew 60 of these four patch HST blocks in a variety of different prints.

You will need to make 61 of the large HST blocks, and you will need to cut:

31 x 7 1/8" background squares

31 x 7 1/8" print squares

Please note: with this method, you will sew one more HST unit than is required for this quilt. Use it on the back as a quilt label or keep it for another project :)

A quick chat about the size of these cut squares. I prefer to cut my squares slightly larger than required and trim them down - this stops them going all wonky and your blocks will be accurate and square. If you're not comfortable cutting to the 1/8" measurement, then 7 1/4" will also work, there will be just a little extra to trim.

If you want to try cutting to the 1/8" then you can identify the marking on your ruler by using the following diagram:

It's up to you - some people dislike unnecessary fabric waste, so give the 1/8" marking a try, others just flat out refuse to use the 1/8", so cut the squares a little bigger and trim.

Let's sew the large HST block:

• Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the back of your background square, using either a pencil or pen. This will become your cutting line later.
• With right sides together, pin the background square to the print square ensuring all sides are lined up and even.

• Sew a 1/4" seam down either side of the drawn line.
• Cut the block diagonally, along the drawn line to yield two triangles.

• Open each triangle and press seams towards the print fabrics, to yield two large HST blocks.
• Trim each HST block to 6 1/2" square.
• Sew 61 of these large HST units in a variety of different prints.

I hope I made that nice and easy for you. If you have any questions just send me an email - I'm always here to help.

Next week I'll give you all the finishing details and hopefully very soon we'll both have a cute and festive quilt to snuggle under this Easter.

I've been sewing the blocks and rows together as I go, mainly so I can see how the prints and colours are being distributed throughout the quilt. If you want to start sewing the blocks together before next week, then use the main diagram as a guide.

Have fun!

PIN FOR LATER:

Happy Easter quilting :)