Squared Away Block 2

Welcome back to the Squared Away quilt along!  If you're new here, double welcome!  I really recommend reading the whole tutorial before you start, then hop on over to Angela's blog to see some variations and get some more fun ideas for the blocks. This month we are working with colors from purple to lavender, and we have a great block to show them off.  Here is this month's block:

Wishing Ring, Mrs. Danner's Quilts, 1934

This is Wishing Ring, a 1934 block from Mrs. Danner's Quilts.  I made mine in a single purple fabric, but I know some variations highlight the center ring.  This is a very easy block to construct.  I used strip piecing, but if you have squares already cut, by all means use those. The point is to use the scraps, not make more!

Cutting for a 10-inch block:

Note that this shows an extra white 2-1/2 inch square that doesn't belong.

From the purple, cut:

1 5-3/4 inch square* (for making half-square triangles--can oversize if desired)
2 2-1/2 by 13-1/2 inch strips
2 2-1/2 inch squares

From the background, cut:

1 5-3/4 inch square*
1 2-1/2 by 13-1/2 inch strip

Construction:

First, take the 2-1/2 by 13-1/2 strips of the purple and the background and stitch them together along the long edges, with the background between the two purples.  Press to the purple (or press the seams open if that's something you do).

Cut this strip into five 2-1/2 inch pieces. (A little bit is included for straightening.)  If you don't have large enough scraps, you can use 2-1/2 inch squares to make 5 of these little units.

Next, take the 5-3/4 inch squares of the purple and the background fabric and use them to make 8 half-square triangles using the Magic 8 method.  Your hsts should measure 2-1/2 inches square to finish at 2 inches in the block. If your scraps aren't large enough to do this, use any other method to make 8 2-1/2 inch hsts.

That's all of our units! On to assembling the block!

Assembly:

First, take the two purple 2-1/2 inch squares and 4 of the hsts.  Lay them out as shown, paying attention to the directions of the hsts:

These are shown in opposite directions, but they are identical, not directional.

Stitch and press to the center squares.

**Alternate method: Want to save some seams?  Skip cutting the 2-1/2 inch purple squares and 4 of the hsts, and instead cut 2 2-1/2 by 6-1/2 inch strips of purple and 4 2-1/2 inch squares of the background fabric.  Use the background squares to "snowball" the ends of the strips, making sure the hsts face in the same direction.  Use these as side pieces instead of the pieced units.**

Alternate method for side pieces.

Next, lay out the units you just made and one of the pieces cut from the strip set, with the strip set piece between the two units you just made. Stitch and press. This makes the center ring. 

Finally, layout the remaining hsts, the remaining strip set pieces, and the center ring that you just made as shown:

Pay attention to the directions of the hsts, then stitch the units into rows and the rows into a finished block.  Give it a good press, stand back, and admire!

And that is block 2 for our project this year!  If you are making the whole quilt, make three blocks, or make as many as needed for your own project. Here are my blocks for the month, in both 10 and 15-inch sizes:

Since I used just one purple for each of the blocks, this month I played around with background colors and ended up using a light yellow for one of the block backgrounds and a light green for another:

Have fun making your purple blocks this month!  We are 20% of the way to our 30-block goal! Our next block will be posted on March 3.  See you back here then, and don't forget to linkup your blocks some time this month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge linkup over at soscrappy.  And if you're posting over on Instagram, please use #squaredawayquilt or #squaredawaybom so we don't miss your beautiful blocks!

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC18.