Fort Worth Fabric Studio: Crazy Acres Quilt Along {Block Construction}

Welcome back to our Crazy Acres Quilt Along!

We are ready to start piecing our blocks together! Wahoo! :) This is actually my favorite part of the whole quilting process.

If you need to catch up, here are the previous posts:

March 11: Fabric Requirements

March 20: Cutting

March 27: Block Construction

April 10: Top Assembly

April 17: Basting

April 24: Quilting

May 1: Binding

May 15: Show and Tell

Since I have already made my quilt, I thought I would share a few tips before you begin making your blocks!

1. I made my half square triangle units using the 4 at one time method. This became a problem because of all the bias edges. I haven't had a problem with this method in the past, but I think because this block has quite a bit more pieces and almost everything is cut on the bias, it created a stretching problem. My blocks did not lay as flat as I like. You could make your blocks this way if you'd like, but I just wanted to warn you that you may run into issues. I am doing the tutorial using the more traditional method of making 2 half square triangles at a time. So you won't run into the stretching problem I ran into!

2. Pin, pin, pin!!! When you are sewing your blocks into rows and then sewing your rows together, you will want to pin at each intersection. I know a lot of people aren't a fan of pinning, but if you want to achieve those perfect points, and line up your points then you will need to spend the extra time to do so.

3. The iron is your friend! Take your time and properly press all of your pieces! I use steam when I iron, this is a personal preference! Do it however you prefer, but I promise you will get better results when you take the time to press each piece.

4. Take your time. Don't feel like you have to whip out all 12 blocks in a weekend. Take your time with it, it's not a race! Have fun with this! :)

Alright, let's get to the fun part! :) Making the block!

**All seam allowances are 1/4"

Here is the diagram so you can refer back to it as needed:

1. Out of your 3 3/4" squares you will pair up the following fabrics for your half square triangles:

We will be making 28 half square triangle units per block. Here are the step by step instructions on how to make the half square triangle units:

**Green lines represent stitching lines.

You will take each of the pairs you set aside, and make them into half square triangles. You will end up with 28 half square triangles per block.

Now that you have all of your half square triangles made, you can now layout your block!

You will need 8 of your plain 3 1/4" squares to make each block.

Pay close attention to your layout, you will want to keep a diagram close so that you know the placement of each half square triangle. I can't tell you how many times I had one or two half square triangles in the wrong position. Once I had one block complete, I hung it up so I could look at it as I made my other blocks. You could also print out the diagram--for reference!