I really wanted this weeks tutorial for the 52 Blocks Quilt Along to be ‘heart’ related in honor of Valentine’s Day on Friday.  I’ll admit – I didn’t really ‘twist’ the Card Trick Block much…if at all.  This is mostly about the color choices you make so that you can really ‘see’ something different than what you would normally ‘see’.  Today – we’re going to ‘see’ four entwined hearts in our block the ‘Heart Trick’.

Heart Trick Block Tutorial for

52 Twisted Traditional Block Quilt Along

Finished Block Size – 12” x 12”

For this block tutorial I twisted the traditional ‘Card Trick’ but mostly it’s because of my color choices. By using pinks and reds I put focus on the ‘four entwined hearts’ that I see in this block.

Cutting Instructions

Background Fabric 1 – (beige)

4 – 5.5” square

Heart Fabrics – (red/pink)

** I recommend two lighter toned fabrics and two darker toned fabrics.

Directions

One the wrong side of the background fabric squares draw a line from one corner to the opposite corner.

Place one background fabric, right sides together with each of the four heart fabrics. Stitch a quarter-inch seam on both sides of the line.

Cut along the seam and press open toward the heart fabric.

You will now have eight half square triangles (HST). Cut these in half cross-wise into quarter square triangles (QST).

Keep the four triangles that have the background fabric on the left as shown in the picture. Put the other four triangles aside. These will not be used in this block.

With the four heart squares you did not use to make the first HSTs, cut them in half diagonally.

Layout the outer pieces of your block as I show in the picture above. Please notice that I arranged my fabrics so the darker two fabrics and the lighter two fabrics are across from each other instead of adjacent to each other. The color value of your fabrics is very important to make this block really work. It can be easy to mess this layout up so be sure to step back and make sure you see the see pattern as I show above.

When you sew these triangles together your quarter square triangle is going to be smaller than the half square triangle. Eyeball the quarter square on top of the half square so it is centered when you sew on the biased edge. Repeat this for all four blocks.

Now we need to put together our center square. You still have four triangles left from your four heart fabrics. Line them up so that adjacent fabrics will be sewn together. In the picture above it shows that you will sew Triangle A with Triangle B and Triangle C with Triangle D. Iron toward the darker fabric. (ie B & D)

Now that you have two half square triangles, cut them in half so they make two quarter square triangles.

Lay them out on your design wall and make sure you pick out the two quarter square triangles that create the design as shown above. Put aside the other triangles – you won’t need them for this block. Sew the two quarter square triangles together.

Next step – square each of the blocks to 4.5-inches.

Using an overhead projection marker I marked the 4.5” edges and corner on my ruler. This shows where you need to line up each of these points on your block. The first two cuts are the most important as it’s hard to fix if you cut too much off. See how my three marks are all on the lines that intersect the fabrics. This will ensure that my corners will match when I sew the blocks together.

On the quarter square triangle combined with the half square you must line those three points up along each of the seams as you can see my black marks are in the picture above.

Once you have all nine of your pieces squared up to 4.5-inches lay it out first and then sew them all together. I cannot stress how easy it is to mix up the layout on this block. It takes much less time to layout before you sew than it does to have to sew, rip, and then sew.

And there you have it – Heart Trick – four entwined hearts!

Quick value check…

How do you think I did?  Can you still see the four hearts when I change it to black and white?

Get a FREE printable PDF of the Heart Trick Block by heading to my Craftsy page and getting the Heart Trick Block Tutorial.   Don’t wait too long though!  In one month there will be a small fee for the Printable PDF pattern…you’ll always be able to view it on my blog for free though.

Remember the six half square triangles you set aside?  Let’s use those an make a wonderful rectangular pillow!

I sewed my 6 triangles together into 3 square sets and then squared them up to 4.5”.  Then, I sewed them in row and added them to one side of my ‘Heart Trick Block’.

I did some straight line quilting on my now 12” x 16” block to make this fun Valentine inspired pillow!

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

Instagram/Twitter Hashtag: #52bTT

Previous Blocks

Stop back next Wednesday for another twisted traditional block tutorial!