{QAL} Susannah Block Tutorial

Welcome to the first block tutorial as part of our How Far Will You Go? QAL!

The first block we will be making is called Susannah. This tutorial will make a 10 1/2" block unfinished (so it will be 10" finished).

This is a fairly straightforward block. It is effectively a four patch block, each 'patch' consisting of a two-patch unit and a half-flying geese unit.

All seams are sewn with a scant 1/4" seam. If you're not sure about the accuracy of your seams, please refer to this post for some tips and tricks on getting an accurate seam allowance.

Cutting:

You will need to cut the following from your fabrics:

• Eight 3" squares of background fabric
• Four 3" x 5.5" rectangles of Fabric 1 (the orange blockprint blossom here)
• Four 3" squares of Fabric 2 (the aqua circular design here)

Making the Half-Geese Units:

I made up the name for these so I'm not sure if that's what they're actually called... but they are effectively a one-sided flying geese units. 

Start by taking four of your background fabric 3" squares and drawing a line diagonally through each of them.

Then, place one of your background squares on top of one of your Fabric 1 rectangles, carefully lining up three of the edges.

Sew along the drawn line:

Trim 1/4" away from your seam as below:

Press your seams as desired.

Repeat this process for the remaining three sets of rectangles and background squares.

Making the Two Patch Units:

Take your four squares of Fabric 2, and the remaining four background squares. Pair each of the background squares with a Fabric 2 square.

Sew each of your pairs together, and press. You should now have four 2-patch units like this:

Putting the Block Together:

You will need to pair each of your 2-patch units with a half-flying geese unit as per below. When you sew these together, make sure the background triangle is on the opposite side to the background square (as shown in this photo). 

Sew these together, and press your seams.

You'll end up with four units as above. 

Arrange your four units as shown (yes there was some frogging involved here ;o):

Sew each half together in pairs:

And then sew the two halves together:

And ta-da! You have a finished Susannah block! If you are making the full twin sized quilt as is, you will need to make two of these blocks. My other version is this:

Hopefully this makes sense - if you have any questions at all leave a comment here or email me directly and I'll get back to you!



I would love to see your version of the block - please upload any finished blocks to the Flickr group :o)

x Jess