My Patchwork Quilt: BLOCK 20: RIGHT HAND OF FRIENDSHIP

Thursday, April 14, 2022

BLOCK 20: RIGHT HAND OF FRIENDSHIP

This block, Right Hand of Friendship, is an interesting and surprising block. It was one of the four blocks I found in my first searches for potential blocks to make for the 30-Block Exchange Group, but it took me a while before I made it. I'm not sure why. It was one of the blocks that Friend Janice found prints from my stash for me to use to make the block.

This tutorial is going to look a little different than most of my tutorials. As I sit here writing it, I'm not sure how it's going to turn out either, but I hope you will stay with me. It will hopefully be a lesson in how a quilter's mind can work and lead to new discovers. There was nothing wrong with the way I was making the block, I just realized it could be made just a little bit easier or I should say faster. That's all. If anything it just shows how my crazy mind works that I would make a change when I was almost through with the block. It was actually not a big deal and I had the fabric to cut the new strips to replace the some of the squares.

I started by drawing the pattern on my graph paper as I usually do and noted the pieces I needed to cut to make the pattern. I made the eight half-square-triangles (HSTs), squared and trimmed them up - "the whole 9 yards" as some people used to say. I don't know if anybody young would even know what it means. I don't know where it came from.

As I placed the pieces on my design wall, I couldn't help but notice that I could have eliminated some squares by making two strips and almost had less seams to match up. I personally love the way my block turned out, but I have to be honest, since I didn't make one using the four squares, I have only the look of it online to go by, but having the print uninterrupted especially the flower print with seam lines is so pretty. You probably wouldn't notice very much if the prints were small prints.

HOW TO MAKE RIGHT HAND OF FRIENDSHIP BLOCK

(using three (3) different prints and 1/4" seams)

CHOOSE three (3) prints - "B" - Background (white or light color)

"1" - medium print

"2" - dark print

CUT four (4) - 4.5" squares from "B"

four (4) - 3" squares from "B" (for HSTs)

two (2) - 3" squares from "1" (for HSTs)

two (2) - 3 " squares from "2" (for HSTs)

two (2) - 2.5" squares from "1"

two (2) - 2.5" squares from "2"

two (2) - 2.5" x 4.5" strips from "1"

two (2) - 2.5" x 4/5" strips from "2"

SEPARATE out the 3" squares for the HSTs. 1) DRAW diagonal lines.

2) SEW 1/4" away from drawn line on both sides.

3) CUT on drawn line to make a total of eight (8) HSTs.

4) PRESS seams toward the dark print but away from the medium print. You will see why later when you sew the HSTs pairs together.

5) SQUARE UP and

TRIM to 2.5"

It was at this point that I realized

I could cut four (4) strips from prints "1" and "2" and have a better "flow" than

so many cut squares did. With the HSTs made,

SEW the center section, PRESS, and

then TRIM to 4.5" wide and

8.5" long.

SEW the HSTs pairs in the center section together "nesting" the diagonal seams and then with strips.

SEW 2.5" squares together above and below the center section and the HSTs that match with them. See the block from the wrong side for pressing. Not much more to do.