Latest and Greatest Scrap Quilt

Darn! Wish I could hold the camera straight! Guess that's what a tripod is for, but I took this late Wednesday night and dragging the tripod out wasn't an option.

Enough whining -- I love this scrappy design! I used a print and a batik in block -- the print is used consistently in the "12" and "6" o'clock positions and the batik in the "3" and "9" spots. That could border on obsessive (if you say "anal" I will come slap you!), but I like to have some consistency in quilts this scrappy.

For a while now I have been cutting leftover fabrics into 5" and 3 1/2" squares, and this design
uses them both. For each block, you will need two each of the 5" and 3.5" squares of your print and batik fabrics. The larger squares make up the main star, and the smaller ones make up the corner units that form the secondary pattern. I cut strips of the background fabric: 5", 3" and 2.5".

I really like making half-square triangles a little over-sized and trimming them to fit -- I think they're more accurate for most people. I place two pieces of fabric right-sides together, mark a diagonal line from corner to corner, sew 1/4" on either side, cut on the drawn line and press toward the dark.

• Layer a 5" print or batik square with a background square and make two half-square triangles as described above. Trim to 4 1/2" squares -- these are the large points.
• Trim each remaining 5" square (print/batik) into one 2.5" x 5" rectangle and two 2.5" squares. Sew the rectangles together into a 4 1/2" four-patch (block center). The two squares are used in the corner units.
• Layer two 3" (or 3.5" squares if you don't want to trim them) print/batik squares with background squares and sew as above. Trim to 2 1/2" squares for the corner units.
• For each block you will also need four 2 1/2" squares of the background material for the "plain" squares in the corner units.
• Each corner unit is a four-patch composed of one background square, one print/batik square and two half-square triangles. Pair a print square with two batik half-square triangles with the background square diagonally opposite the HST. Make two units of each combo. Refer to the photo for placement.
• Have fun!