Happy October! October 1st means I leave for Houston in just 26 days! I am so excited to be heading to the Quilt Festival this year! I’ll be sure to keep you all posted of my journey (did I mention I’m taking a bus from Wisconsin to Texas!?) and I’ll continue to post my block tutorials every Wednesday for the 52 Twisted Traditional Block Quilt Along.
Manassas Neighborhood Block Tutorial for
52 Twisted Traditional Block Quilt Along
Finished Block Size – 12” x 12”
By twisting the traditional block ‘Manassas’ we can create a cozy little neighborhood!
Cutting Instructions
Houses
4 – 2.5” x 4.5” rectangles (all the same or all different)
Roofs
4 – 2.5” x 4.5” rectangles (all the same or all different – I used a brown with gold print)
Sky (blue)
1 – 2.5” x 20” strip
8 – 2.5” squares
Grass (green)
1 – 2.5” x 20” strip
1 – 4.5” x 4.5” square
Doors
3.5” x 1” – scraps of fabric (contrasting with the fabric you chose for your houses) and fusible web (your choice)
Directions
Strip Piecing a four patch
Sew your two strips of sky and grass fabrics together the long way. Press towards the darker of the two fabrics.
Cut into eight 2.5” x 4.5” rectangles.
Place the two 2.5” x 4.5” rectangles so the green and blue fabrics are opposite of each other. Sew together with the seams ‘kissing’.
Press open. Repeat to make four 4 patches.
Flying Geese – aka Roofs
Draw a line on the wrong side of your 2.5” sky squares. Place it right sides together with a 2.5” x 4.5” roof rectangle.
Stitch along the line you drew.
Trim off the upper right triangle a quarter inch from the seam you just stitched.
Press towards the sky fabric. Place another 2.5” square with a diagonal line drawn on the wrong side right sides together as indicated in the picture above. Stitch along the line and trim the upper left triangle.
Press towards the sky. Repeat to make four flying geese aka roofs.
Put it all together
Now that you have the 4 four patch blocks and the four flying geese blocks done – layout out all your pieces on your design wall in the arrangement shown in the picture. Sew the roofs to the house fabric to create a 4.5” blocks.
You now essentially have a nine patch.
Sew these all together to make the original Manassas block.
On your scrap of fusible – draw a rectangle that is 3” x ½”, divided into four equal ¾” segments.
Fuse to your door fabric scraps. Cut the rectangles out (I went a bit wonkier than my straight rectangles just for fun).
Lay them out in your desired layout and then iron to fuse them down.
And with that…your ‘Manassas Neighborhood’ block is finished!
Get your FREE printable PDF of this block by heading to my craftsy store. Don’t wait too long…after a month (11/1), the PDF will be $1.
I can’t wait to see what all your blocks look like! Be sure to share you blocks and any projects you make using your blocks onto our flickr group: 52 Blocks Quilt Along
Hashtag: #52bTT
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