Purple Party

Hooray for pretty purple quilt blocks! Let’s have a purple party as we dive in to the July edition of the 2022 Monthly Color Challenge, hosted by Patterns By Jen.

2022 Monthly Color Challenge Spicy — Variety is the Spice of L:ife!

Square-In-A-Square Construction

Square-in-a-Square units, or SIS for short, are one of those basic quilting elements that you either love or hate. I never remember the math, but there are handy references all over the internet. The Monthly Color Challenge block of the month series has fantastic instructions, so it is a very easy process.

I always have a grand time digging through my stash for the perfect pairing of light and dark fabrics. Somehow, I always end up with polka dots somewhere!

You can watch the adventures from previous months on my YouTube channel. Here are the spring selections:

The SIS unit is a square with four triangles surrounding it. Since there are eight SIS units in this block, it is a perfect opportunity for chain piecing. You will be sewing the long side of the triangle to the side of the square. You can fold or mark each piece for alighnment, but I just eyeball it. Don’t be alarmed at the dog-ears of excess fabric, we will trim those off at the end.

Sew the first pair of traingles on opposite sides, press and add the last two on the remaining sides. My personal preference is finger-pressing at this stage, but a blast of the steam iron can’t hurt.

Sometimes, great ideas come to mind a few minutes late. I realized that, especially with the small pieces that are used in the 6″ block, it would have been smart to press my fabrics with starch before I started piecing. Oh well – good reminder for next time!

The final step is trimming the SIS units. Put the halfway measurement on the corners of the center square and things turn out beautifully.

The final block, both 12′ and 6″ versions. As usual, I reversed the colors and made two of the smaller blocks. Somehow, this isn’t making a huge dent in my stash. Gotta keep sewing!