Quilting Economics!!

Before you completely tune out, I am not talking about Economics in the normal sense of the word but, instead, about the “Economy” block.

OR, as I call it….. “Square in a Square” block…..

I had posted previously about a stack of 6-inch squares that I had procured from our Charity Bee and was determined to make quilts from. This was my first quilt…..

…and now it was time to make another one!!

When I was at the International Quilt Festival back in November, I laid down a bit of cash for a series of rulers from Deb Tucker. One of the rulers was the Square-in-a-Square block…..

…or as she calls it….. “Square Squared”!!

Like many of her rulers, this one is used in two separate steps.

First, you use one side to cut the inner square….

Since I am making a 6-inch finished block, I am using the largest of the squares.

Now you look at the chart printed ON the ruler to see what size the cuts need to be for the setting triangles….

Following these instructions, I cut my squares at 4.25-inches, and then cut them on the diagonal to make triangles….

Moving to the machine, I sewed one triangle onto opposite sides of each square. In her video she suggested that you sew from the cut square side rather than the triangle side…..

This was really helpful to keep things lined up better, particularly when I was sewing the second set of triangles.

Once the first two are sewn on, it looks like this…..

Those dog ears bothered me, so I clipped them off…..

I pressed to the triangles and was left with this…..

Now it was time to add the second set of triangles…..

…..again….sewing from the cut square side…..

It really didn’t take long to piece the block….

But now it needed to be cut down, which meant using the OTHER side of her ruler.

The first step was to line up the ruler over the block, making sure that all four corners matched the 6-inch markings…..

You trim one side and then turn the ruler to trim the other…..

The result is a perfectly sized block…..

Now I started laying these up on the design wall…..

….and honestly, it looks fairly boring!!

I liked this arrangement a lot better…..

…but now I have to find something to add to the alternating blocks!!

Come back tomorrow to finish the quilt!!