Winterberries part 2 ( Jan 19, 2021)

 (please click title to view this post in your browser)

Hello everyone, today I am sharing part 2 of the WINTERBERRIES sewalong. To see part 1, click here.

Today I am going to share how to construct the Churn Dash blocks. There are 9 Churn Dash blocks so you will have to repeat the following instructions 9 times in order to make all your blocks.

For EACH block you will need to cut a light strip and a dark strip ( a FQ works great for this!):

Cut your strips at 3 7/8" and cut 2 squares from EACH strip. So you should now have 2 dark and 2 light squares: 

Place one light and one dark square, right sides together, and draw a diagonal line from corner to corner: 

Now draw two more lines, 1/4" away from this center line, like this: 

Pin and sew on those 2 outside lines ( the blue ones in my example). 

Then cut the square apart on the center line. You now have 2 half-square triangles ( or HST's). 

Press your HST's open and square them to 3 1/2".  

Repeat for the other light and dark square. You should now have 4 HST's.

Next, you are going to trim the strips you started with from 3 7/8" to 3 1/2".

From the light strip, cut one 3 1/2" square ( this will be your center ( C in my diagram) and 4~  2" by 3 1/2" rectangles (  #2 in my diagram).

From the dark strip cut just 4~ 2" by 3 1/2" rectangles. ( # 1 in my diagram)

Lay out your pieces like this: 

 

And sew them together in the order you prefer. I like to sew my rectangles ( # 1 and 2)together first... 

and then sew in rows, like this: 

Finish sewing your block together and square it to 9 1/2". 

Repeat this process 8 more times for a total of  9 Churn Dash blocks. Easy-peasy, right?

If you have any questions or something is not clear, please ask!

Next time I will share how to make the appliqued blocks. In the meanwhile, have fun with these, no rush, I promised you a S L O W sewalong and that is exactly what we are going to do ;)

Monique