Moda Blockheads: Block 27-Union Variation

Another block done in my game of catch-up.  Block 27 was shared with us by Jo Morton and you can find the pattern on her blog by clicking here. 
I like this block and it goes together fairly quickly too.

Normally I try to avoid sewing with triangles, but in this case the math never came out nicely to do the center part of the block any other way.  The only thing I changed in the cutting directions was for the D and E squares as I made them a little oversized for trimming. 
I cut mine 2 1/8" x 2 1/8"
(You can go ahead and cut them to 2" square if you prefer-you will still have a wee bit to trim.)
I am trying out something new today.  Someone commented in a conversation that they spary the back of their rulers with quilt basting spray and it keeps them from slipping on the fabric when cutting.  I had an old ruler I do not use anymore and a can of basting spray so decided to give it a try.  They were right, it does not slip, it does however want to grab onto the farbic a bit when you go to lift it off, I may have been impatient in waiting for the spray to dry on the ruler.

Time to get sewing.
I am starting with the A triangles and the B square.  I pressed the B square by folding it in half so that I would be able to center the point of the triangles on the square using the fold lines as a guide.

I did not use any pins, but just moved it to machine carefully and sewed slowly being careful not to stretch that bias edge of the triangle out of position.

Before pressing that side I went ahead and added the second triangle in the same way. 
​Then I pressed to towards the B square.

Before leaving the pressing table I folded the unit in half to make a crease
​for centering the next two triangles.

I like to cut off those little points to get rid of the bulk.

Now I just do the same thing with the last two A triangles.

I pressed these seams towards the triangles

The directions say to square this unit to 3 3/8"   It is really hard to tell where the middle measurement is here as it falls between 1 5/8" and 1 6/8" so you just kind of have to guess, but you want those marks on your ruler to land on the points of your diamond. 
​ I did make sure that I left 1/4 inch beyond each point of the diamond though.

Once that section is trimmed it is time to add the C triangles.  I folowed the same procedure of pressing in a crease to mark the middle and lining up the point of the triangle with that crease line.  ​I pressed all of these seams towards the C triangles

This now gets trimmed to 4 1/2".  I am trying out the ruler I treated with basting spray again and I have to say it did very well gripping the fabric with those bumpy seams and not slipping as I cut.  This time you want to use the 2 1/4" marks at the points of that square and leave 1/4" beyond those points so as not to lose your points when you sew the block together.

Time to make some Half-square Triangles.  I drew a diagonal line on the back of all of the D squares.  Place the D squars on top of the E squares, right sides together, and sew 1/4 inch from each side of the drawn line.

Cut these apart on the line and press towards the dark side.  Then trim to 1 1/2" squares.

Remember to line up the diagonal line of your ruler with the seam line.  I did try the sticky ruler on these but becuase it grips the fabric so well it was hard to adjust it correctly along the diagonal lines so I did not like it for this application.

Next I added a Half-square triangle (HST's) to each side of the F rectangles.  Watch the direction of your HST's as you do this.  I pressed them all towards the F rectangle.

To two of these units we need to add the rest of the HST's.  I pressed towards the middle.  Then I added the two remaining units (unit #2 in Jo's directions)  to each side of the center square and pressed these towards Unit #2

Here you can see the direction that I pressed my seams.

Not many seams to match as we sew the block together now, I did place a pin at each one.  Take your time and slow down over these bulky seams as you come to them.

I fanned these seams when I pressed them.​

And another block is complete-with a bee in the middle of course.

Five more spaces to fill!

Well, until next time...
​Happy Quilting!!

Links to all of my Moda Blockheads tutorials can be found here: Tutorial Page