QAL Block 8 – Seesaw Tutorial

Hi everyone,

Can you believe it! Block 8 already!

And boy did I cut it fine this week…I will playing catch-up this weekend!

This week we are making some 5” blocks, the first of the small ones!

You will need to make 4 of these if you are going to make the twin size quilt.

Cutting Instructions

Along with your background fabric you will need 2 other fabrics per block.

In the picture you can see that I do all my cutting at once…

For each block you will need –

From the Background fabric
4 rectangles - 3” x 1 ¾”
8 squares – 1 ¾” x 1 ¾”

Fabric 1
4 rectangles – 3” x 1 ¾”

Fabric 2
4 squares – 1 ¾” x 1 3/4”

Note: These blocks are great for using up any little off cuts you may have collected from previous blocks!

Making the block

Flying Geese Unit

1. Take all your squares and draw a line diagonally across the centre on the wrong side of the fabric. To save time you can do this to your fabric 2 squares now as well!

2. Lay a background square over one end of the Fabric 1 rectangle and sew along the line.

3. Trim your seam allowance to ¼”.

4. Press your seams open.

5. Lay another background square over the other end of the rectangle, as shown above. We are making flying geese again!

6. Sew along the line on the square.

7. Trim your seam allowance to ¼”.

8. Press seam open.

9. You now have 4 flying geese units!

Pinwheel Unit

1. Take your square of Fabric 2 and lay over one end of the Background fabric rectangle. Make sure all the seams are sewn the same way.

2. Sew your seam along the line on the square.

3. Trim your seam allowance to ¼”.

4. Press the seam open.

5. You now have 4 Pinwheel units, or maybe they should be called Part Pinwheel units!

Completing the Block

1. Lay all your completed units out to check that everything is where it should be.

2. Sew each set of units together as shown above. All four units should be the same.

3. Press the seam open.

4. Sew the units into pairs, as in the above picture.

5. Press the seam open.

You now have a complete Seesaw block that should measure 5.5” square unfinished! Yay!

I hope everyone is having fun sewing along with us! We are getting a real kick out of seeing the blocks pop up on Flickr!