Bee Blessed - January 2014

Happy New Year, Bee Blessed Bees!  I can hardly believe that it's time to post the first block of the new year for Bee Blessed already!!

Well, if you're itching to get back to normal this month after packing away the Christmas decorations, perhaps you might be able to spare a half hour to make up a block or two for us. We'd be ever so grateful.

This month I have chosen the Greek Cross block.  Sometimes you see this block made without the HST corners and I'm not sure which is the offical "Greek Cross", but the HST corners do converge nicely when the blocks join, so I've decided to stick with them.  Here's the quick, photo-laden how-to:

Greek Cross Block - 12.5" unfinished

Fabrics - please use plain white solid cotton for the background to the block, choose 1 print for the cross motif and 2 prints for the half square triangle corner units.

Fabric A (background - white solid)-
Cut 2: 5" squares
Cut 4: 2.5" x 4.5"

Fabric B (print for the cross) -
Cut 1: 4.5" square
Cut 4: 2.5" x 4.5"

Fabric C (for HSTs) -
Cut 1: 5" square

Fabric D (for HSTs) -
Cut 1: 5" square


Use scant 0.25" seams throughout.

1.  Let's start by making the half square triangle units.  Take the 5" squares and pair them up right sides together as shown (pair one white square with each of the print squares).  Draw a diagonal line across the wrong side of each pair.

2.  Stitch a seam 0.25" on each side of the diagonal pencil line.

3.  Using your rotary cutter cut along the pencil line to separate your HSTs. You will have 4 units.

4.  Press seams towards the darker fabric.

5.  Now trim the HSTs to 4.5" square, taking care to line up the diagonal seam with the diagonal line on your ruler.

6.  Leave aside your 4 HST units for now.

7.  Pair up the 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles of Fabric A (white solid) with the rectangles of Fabric B (print for cross), right sides together and chain stitch all four pairs along the longest side.

8.  Press the seams towards the darker fabric.

9.  Lay out all your 4.5" units in the correct order ready to sew together. Set your matching HSTs at opposite corners.

10. Stitch the units into rows and then take the rows to your ironing board. Press the seams of the top and bottom rows in towards the centre square.  Press the seams of the middle row outwards away from the centre square.  This alternate pressing of seams will help you to nest your seams together nicely in the next step.

11.  Placing rows 1 and 2 right side together, butt the seams and pin in place to hold while you stitch the row together.  Repeat to join rows 2 and 3.

12.  Press the final two seams of the rows open to reduce the bulk in your block.

(Sorry, I forgot a photo of these steps, but you can find a similar instruction on steps 11 and 12 of this tutorial if you would find it helpful.)

13.   Trim to 12.5" square and pop it in the post ;-)

Thank you so much for your continued support of Bee Blessed, we really appreciate your contributions!