Road Through Oklahoma – Quilt Block Tutorial

Road Through Oklahoma
8" Finished block

I think I'm finally getting the hang of pressing seams open. One thing I've noticed is that I can not  sew a scant 1/4" seam, I have to sew an exact 1/4" seam. I don't loose seam allowance to a pressed open seam. It makes sense because there isn't as much fabric folded over in a pressed open seam.

Step 1: Cutting the Fabric

• Fabric A: background fabric
• A1 - cut four 3" squares
• A2 - cut four 2 1/2" squares

Fabric B: Red (dark)

• B - Cut four 3" squares

Fabric C: Grey (medium)

• C - cut four 3" squares

Sorry I don't have the list of fabric pieces in the photo. Picassa decided to quit working for a while. Hopefully it will decide to work again by the next time.

Step 2: Sewing the Half-square Triangles

This should be easy by now!

Draw a line through each grey (C) square and two of the background (A1) squares. Layer two of the grey squares (C) on two red (B) squares, two grey (C) squares on two background (A1) squares, and two background (A1) squares on two red (B) squares. 

I moved the top pieces to the side in the photo so that you could see which pieces were paired together. Stack properly and pin them before sewing.

Sew a 1/4" seam on both sides of each drawn line.

Cut along the drawn line, between the seams. You should have 12 half-square triangle units.
Press the seams either to the dark side, or open.
(Mine are pressed open because that's my 'experiment' for this quilt.)

Step 3: Sewing the Block Together

Lay the half-square triangle units out as shown in the photo.
Place the background (A2) squares in the four corners.

I like to sew the columns together. You can sew either rows or columns together first.

After the columns are sewn, I press the seams open, and turn the block 1/4 turn so I can sew columns again.

This is what the back of the block looks like after it's sewn together and the seams are pressed open. 

I love the way this block turned out!

Reader photos!

Everyone loves Show and Tell! I'd love to see your block and your color choices, so would everyone else!

Dawn's block! I love the colors! She's a new quilter and you would never know it because her points matched up so well in this block!