MODA BLOCKHEADS 5: Week 6

This week’s designer is Laurie Simpson of dynamic sister due Minick & Simpson, and her block is called CELESTE. Laurie does RED, WHITE, and BLUE like no one else I know! If you want to check out all she has to offer, be sure to visit her site HERE.

OUR BLOCK #6: CELESTE

CHOOSING FABRICS:

As soon as I saw Laurie’s block, I for sure knew I wanted to fussy cut some sort of print for the center [D] unit. Looking through my creams, I immediately settled on this super cute Christmas garland print! From there, I chose a darker red to strike a contrast in the square-in-a-square corners.

I chose a smaller-scale green print for the surrounding quarter square triangles (QSTs). Because you piece (2) QSTs together for each side, I wanted it to look as “seamless” as possible in the overall finished block. A larger-scale print might look “broken up” where the QSTs meet. Does that make sense? I hope so! 😉

And since we made this week’s block in the 12″ finished size, it allowed us to play again with the backgrounds, offering some extra detail with a solid, as well as a dot.

PIECING INSTRUCTIONS: BLOCK CENTER

I’m back again with my SEW & FLIP METHOD, quilty friends!

If your center [D] unit is a non-directional print, you can save on fabric by piecing as instructed in step 2 of the Moda pattern. For our version, we wanted to ensure our garland print stayed horizontal, so our cutting for [D] and [E] differs.

For the 6″ block you would need:

• (1) 3 1/2″ fussy cut center [D]
• (4) 2″ red squares [E]

For the 12″ block you would need:

• (1) 6 1/2″ fussy cut center [D]
• (4) 3 1/2″ red squares [E]

You would then mark diagonal lines on your [E] squares, and use the SEW & FLIP METHOD to create the square-in-a-square corners. We actually saved our “cut away” pieces, and created (4) 2.5″ unfinished HSTs. We will save them with the rest of our Moda Blockheads fabrics in case we can use them in a future week!

PIECING INSTRUCTIONS: QUARTER SQUARE TRIANGLES (QSTs)

Our WEEK 2 BLOG POST outlines how I prefer to piece my QSTs, but I will tell you that the method provided in the Moda pattern this week will work – and will keep bias edges away from the outer edges!

If you want to follow along with our piecing (and varying background fabric choices), follow these instructions:

For the 6″ block you would need*:

• (4) 3″ green squares [B]
• (2) 3″ cream dot squares [C]
• (2) 3″ ivory solid squares [C]

For the 12″ block you would need*:

• (4) 4 1/2″ green squares [B]
• (2) 4 1/2″ cream dot squares [C]
• (2) 4 1/2″ ivory solid squares [C]

Cut your [B] and [C] squares across both diagonals, resulting in 4 triangles per square. Piece (8) green triangles to (8) cream dot, and the other (8) green triangles to the (8) ivory solid. Then piece these sections together, as you would any QST unit, until you have a total of (8) QST units. Trim to size.

*These cutting instructions DO allow room for trimming down to a perfect 2″ unfinished unit (for 6″ block)/3 1/2″ unfinished unit (for 12″ block).

FABRIC COLLECTIONS:

Cream Garland: JOYFUL JOYFUL by Stacy Iest Hsu
Red Star: Christmas Figs II
Green Floral: Fruit Cocktail
Cream Dot: THE FLOWER FARM by Bunny Hill Designs
IVORY SOLID

MODA QUICK LINKS

For ALL the details and specifics on Moda Blockheads 5, I encourage you to visit these useful resources:

MODA BLOCKHEADS 5 FAQs AND FABRIC RECOMMENDATIONS

INTRO TO MODA BLOCKHEADS 5 LIVE VIDEO [REPLAY]

BLOCKHEADS LIVESTREAM RECAP BLOG POST

MODA BLOCKHEADS FACEBOOK GROUP

And last, but certainly not least, the MODA BLOCKHEADS 5 BASIC PAGE – this is where ALL the block patterns will be saved for easy reference as we move forward!

Happy sewing! See you back here next week!

-Joanna