SIZZLE Block 7

This is the  2019 Block of the Month from The Quilt Show. This quilt pattern designed by Becky Goldsmith is FREE to Star Members.  Join Today  to be part of the fun.

Be sure to READ ALL THE GENERAL DIRECTIONS and WATCH ALL THE VIDEOS. Each month's pattern has detailed instructions as well. 

PRIOR POSTS WITH HELPFUL INFORMATION:

Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
Block 4
Block 5
Block 6

Last month we made the diamonds in two halves, a top and a bottom half. This month the diamonds are again made in half--a Left half and a Right half. As usual, keep your fabrics organized and you will be fine. Here the right sides are sewn and the left sides are prepared and ready to sew:

The large pieces are cut 4.5" x 5"--these look like squares but they are not. Be sure you place them so the shape they need to cover is really covered. I recommend the first few times you lay out Fabrics 1 and 2, pin them and check that you have the fabric in the correct position--it is a 60 degree angle and that can be tricky to position.

Notice the wrong side of Fabric 1 touches the wrong side of the paper pattern. Fabric 2 is placed along the edge of Fabric 1, right sides together. On the upper left you can see that shape 1 is completely covered with Fabric 1. The lower unit shows how the Right side diamond half looks after sewing Fabrics 1 and 2, before trimming Fabric 2:

Trim Fabric 2 so it is ready to receive Fabric 3--I use the Add-a-Quarter ruler with a handy-dandy postcard I get almost weekly in the mail for credit card offers--the offer goes in the shredder, the postcard goes in my studio:

Fabric 3 in place on top of Fabric 2. Again, use a few pins the first couple of times to be sure you have the long edge of Fabric 3 on top of Fabric 2--so that Fabric 3 will completely cover shape 3:

What could possibly go wrong? This happened 3 times over the course of sewing 16 halves--I always check the seam as soon as the piece comes out of the machine, finding these "oops" spots quickly--remove a few bad stitches and sew again:

Right Side Diamond ready to be trimmed:

 I found it helpful to use a dab of glue stick on the long spiky ends to keep the paper in place on those very narrow ends--try not to put the glue on the seam allowance:

Trim the narrow point at both ends of the Diamond halves:

Once both the Right and Left halves are made, join them to create one complete Diamond. There are two important joins on the long seam, where Fabrics 2 touch each other. The first couple times I machine basted those places to be sure I had them lined up. Once they were correct 99% of the time, I stopped basting:

Make the Wedges as we did with Block 5. Join the Wedge to the Diamond and then make the entire block in two halves, just as usual:

Becky discusses all the bulk in the center of the block--there are 16 points at the center and that is a LOT of seam allowance. She machine appliqued a 1.25" circle on top of the center exactly as she did with Month 6. If you are happy with your center, show it off. If you want to applique a circle on top, go for it--the choice is yours.  My lumpy center was not pretty so I covered it up.

Add the corners and call it DONE!

Only two more blocks to go--let's quilt!

Barbara