Modern Monday - Block 16

Square Within A Square

Block 16 - Square Within A Square

Okay, I know this is way too much like the Snowball Variation block (Block 10), but it is a Traditional standard with good Modern potential. Originally I was going to piece it traditionally only in my Modern colors, but at the last minute I decided to go wonky with it. I'm glad I did!

I chose my new orange/pink print for the main print and white for the surrounding triangles. Now would be a good time to look at all your blocks as a whole and start thinking about the colors. Do you have too much of one or not enough of another? That's how I chose the white, rather than gray for the triangles. I have them all on the design wall and decided that I don't have enough white, so I'm going to work on adding those in for a while.

Cutting: Since this is wonky, you're going to have to fly by the seat of your pants with it. I cut about a 5" square for the center and then cut it off kilter. Then I cut large, over-sized triangles for the outer edges.

Here's my fabrics. I love my new print!

Here's how they look once they are cut.

First, sew on one side. I didn't worry about centering the triangle since it's all wonky to begin with, centering doesn't matter. Press to the outside. Then sew the next triangle on.

At this point, it's good to check to make sure you cut your triangles big enough. So far so good. Add the third triangle.

Oops! The third one wasn't big enough, so I had to rip it out and add on a bigger piece. This is where I start to get gumpy! If I were making this block multiple times, I would devise a way to get the triangles big enough without too much waste. Since this is just one block, I just cut off an extremely large piece and went with that.

After measuring the third triangle, I added the fourth. These look good! I trimmed to 6 1/2" and called it good! I really like the way this one turned out.