Constellations--Orange

Hi everyone, and welcome back again to the Constellations quilt!  We are starting the last part of the quilt today, can you believe it? This month's color is orange.  Orange can be a difficult color to use, but I think we've solved that problem with this month's block.  Here she is:

This block is called Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, which I find highly amusing since I have brothers named Peter and Paul (and several others, too!)  This is a Ladies' Art Company block from 1895.  For my block, I used the orange with a pale yellow green print for an accent.  You could use any color for the accent, or you could use the background in place of the accent, which would give you a very open and airy block.

This block is very easy to piece and goes fairly quickly, so let's get started!

Cutting:

Pieces marked with a * can be oversized if that's something you do.

From the background, cut:

4 2-1/2 inch squares
1 5-1/4 inch square*
1 5-3/4 inch square*

From the orange:

1 4-1/2 inch square
1 5-3/4 inch square*
4 2-7/8 inch squares*
2 2-7/8 inch squares*

From the accent:

2 2-7/8 inch squares*
4 2-1/2 by 4-1/2 inch rectangles

To complete this quilt section, cut from the background:

1 2-1/2 by 12-1/2 inch strip
1 2-1/2 by 14-1/2 inch strip

Construction:

You know how this goes-- first we make a bunch of units, then we put them together into a beautiful block.  Let's start with the flying geese.  Use the 5-1/4 inch square of the background and the orange 2-7/8 inch squares to make fast flying geese:

Your geese should measure 2-1/2 by 4-1/2.

Next, use the 5-3/4 inch squares of the background and the orange to make 8 half square triangles using the Magic 8 method.  These should measure 2-1/2 inches square.

Use the 2-7/8 inch squares of the orange and the accent color to make 4 half square triangles the old fashioned way.  These should also measure 2-1/2 inches square.

That's the end of the units!  Let's put this block together!

Assembly:

First, join the flying geese and the 2-1/2 by 4-1/2 accent rectangles as shown:

Press to the accent rectangle.

Next, make the corners.  Use the orange and background hsts, the orange and accent hsts, and the 2-1/2 inch background squares and lay them out as shown:

Make sure the orange triangles "kiss" in the middle and that the orange/accent hsts are correctly oriented.  Stitch together into a 4-patch, pressing to the orange hsts.

Time to put it all together! Lay out your parts and pieces as shown, including the 4-1/2 inch orange center square:

Join the pieces into rows and the rows into a completed block.  Your block should measure 12-1/2 inches square to finish at 12 inches in the quilt.  Give it a good press, stand back, and admire!

Is that a great-looking block or what?  I think a whole quilt made from this block would look great.  But it's a part of our larger quilt, so let's go finish putting this quilt section together--

Completing this quilt section:

This section is really simple.  Add the 2-1/2 inch by 12-1/2  background strip to the right side of the block.  Press well, then add the 2-1/2 by 14-1/2 inch strip to the bottom of the block.  Press well and admire!

This section is the first part of the final row of the quilt.  If you have come this far, the quilt center is 80% finished!  The big finish to our quilt is in sight.  Come back on October 3 for the next-to-last section of this quilt!

Sharing at Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, and soscrappy for RSC 17.