Hi everyone, welcome to Block 8 of the Beginner’s Quilt-Along (QAL). This week, I have not included a beginner’s lesson; I’ll make up for it next week. Also, over in the Flickr group is a discussion about doing a Level 2 QAL, please let me know if you are interested here.

If you’re new here, you can join the QAL at any time. Sew at your own pace, the tutorials will be available indefinitely. See the main Beginner’s QAL page for more information and additional links.

Pat Sloan is quilting along with us too. She’s making three sets of blocks using her gorgeous Eat Your Fruits and Veggies fabrics. Check out Pat’s variations of Block 8 on her blog.

Don’t forget to upload your completed block to the Flickr group each week for a chance to win prizes. Winners are chosen randomly from the completed blocks submitted by 2:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. Check the Sponsors and Prizes page to see all the goodies.

Block 8 – Play On the Seesaw

This week’s block is Play On the Seesaw. It is more commonly known as Spool from 1931, but first appeared in 1906 as Fred’s Spool and again in 1937 as Empty Spools.

Below are some variations for this block. You’ll see that not all of them follow a 3×3 grid where each unit is the same size. For our block, our units are equal in size.

A note about block colours: This block uses a minimum of two colours to create the design; I chose to use three colours in the black and white drawing as well as my fabric choices.

Tutorial: Block 8 – Play On the Seesaw

You need:

(2) 4.5″ squares white
(2) 5″ squares white
(1) 4.5″ square dark grey
(2) 4.5″ squares black
(2) 5″ squares black

In my photo, white is the blue swirl, dark grey is the green swirl and black is the purple flower.

Piecing the block:

Create four (4) half square triangles (HSTs) using the 5″ squares. Be sure to trim your units accurately to 4.5″ square. See Block 3 for the HST tutorial.

Lay out your units in order following the block diagram.

Stitch your units together in three rows. For rows 1 and 3, press the seams towards the centre of the block, i.e. away from the outer triangle units. For the middle row, press the seams away from the center unit.

Sew rows 1 and 2 together, pinning at the seams and ends to keep things aligned nicely. Press towards row 1. Then stitch row 3 and press towards row 3.

Your completed block should be 12.5″:

Final pressing:

Download this week’s tutorial here: Beginner’s Quilt-Along – Block 8

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments. Don’t forget to share your completed block in the Flickr group by next Wednesday, August 1st at 2:00 p.m. for a chance to win this week’s prizes featured below.

My first eight blocks:

Prizes for this Week

We have two prizes to give-away this week.

The Fat Quarter Shop have donated a set of their new Little P’s patterns. These quick and easy patterns are perfect for the beginner quilter.

Second, we have a lovely charm pack from Moda to give-away (10 Little Things and Oh My still available):

Block 7 Winners

The winner of Pat Sloan’s scrap bag of her new fabric, Eat Your Fruits and Veggies, is:

craftytammie

The winner of the set of Little P’s patterns donated by the Fat Quarter Shop is:

issa.ino

If you’re a winner, please check your photo on Flickr for instructions.