Tiny yellow flower block

Hi everyone!  Today is my turn to share a tutorial for a fun Tiny Tuesday block!  This little block is a part of the sampler that is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for this year over at soscrappy.  Today's block is a lovely yellow flower that will put a hint of spring into the quilt.

Here is the block we'll be making:

This little touch of spring looks complicated but is easy to piece and doesn't have any odd angles or strange measurements.  Since the block finishes at just 4-1/2 inches, you may want to shorten your stitch length, but all of the seams remain the standard 1/4 inch.

One note before we start-- I made my block with a pieced center, but you can choose to simply use a solid square of any color if you don't want to piece it.  The resulting block still looks great!

With the unpieced pink center.

Cutting:

Important note: Pieces marked with a * are already purposely oversized for trimming during construction.  Because the pieces here are so small, this gives us the best shot at having the block turn out the proper size.  No need to oversize them again!

From the green, cut:

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

From the yellow:

    4 2-1/4 squares*
    4 1-1/2 inch squares*

From the pink:

    4 1-1/2 inch squares*   OR
    1 2-inch square

From the background:

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

Construction:

First, make the corners. Use the two 3-3/4-inch squares to make eight half-square triangles using the Magic 8 method.  Trim these hsts to 1-1/4 inch square.  Yes, there will be a little bit of waste, but this avoids cutting things in odd inch increments.

Take the hsts you just made and the green and background 1-1/4 inch squares and lay them out as shown, making sure that the triangles "kiss" in the middle:

Press to the solid squares. Make 4.  These should measure 2 inches square.

Next, make the center. If you are using a 2-inch solid square for the center, skip this part and go to the petal units.

Use the 1-1/2 inch squares of yellow and pink to make what I call "cheater hsts."  To do this, draw a line from corner to corner on the back of each of the pink squares.  Layer with a yellow square and stitch on the drawn line.

Trim 1/4 inch away from the line, open out and press into a perfect hst.  Trim each of these to 1-1/4 inches square.

Lay out all four of the hsts you just made as shown, with the pink to the middle.  Stitch and press well.  Seams can go whichever way you think best since they won't be joined to other pieced units.  This little unit should measure 2 inches square.

Finally, make the petal units.  Draw a line from corner to corner on the back of each of the 1-1/2 inch  background squares.  Stitch one square to a corner of each of the 2-1/4 inch yellow squares, as shown:

Trim and press, then add another square to the other corner to make a "house" unit, as shown:

Trim the corner and press, then trim the whole unit to 2 inches square.  Make sure you leave 1/4 inch seam allowance past the point of the "house."

Assembly:

Lay out the units you've made as shown:

Join the units into rows and the rows into a finished block.  Give it a good press, stand back, and admire!

Your block should measure 5 inches to finish at 4-1/2 inches in the quilt.

Now that you've made this block, be sure to visit Angela's page this weekend to see everyone else's blocks.  And if you'd like to jump in for this sampler, it's not too late! You can find all of the information HERE.  Happy stitching!

Sharing at soscrappy for RSC19.