My month for Make it Modern

I've been showing the blocks I have made for the Make it Modern bee the past few months. March is my month and I always struggle coming up with a block. I tend to prefer blocks that create an all over design rather than a sampler or individual block feel. So I really racked my brain on this one.

The MQG has a great tutorial here for Half Rectangle Triangles (HRT's) and I started thinking about different layouts since I have an obsession with diamonds lately. I came up with this one and am going to have my girls in the bee tackle it for me.  (and now that I look back at the tutorial, this is exactly the sample they show at the bottom- haha! So much for originality.)

So ladies, here are the details. My 4 year old daughter has requested a purple quilt of me and I'm hoping this works and I can make this for her. The colors are obviously purple and gray. Please make the purple a darker value than the gray. My first attempt at this was a bust because the gray was to too dark and you couldn't really see the design. I'm good if some pink sneaks in there as that is her 2nd favorite color and her bedroom has a lot of pink in it. Here's her current quilt to give you an idea of the shade. And here are the purples I started with.

Here is what your final block will look like:

If at any time my tutorial is confusing, feel free to ask question or go back to the MQG tutorial.  First select your fabrics and cut 4 gray 5"x7" rectangles and 4 purple 5"x7" rectangles.

Ignore the grays in this photo! This was from my first attempt and the dark gray was too dark and not distinguishable from the purple. You need 4 rectangles of light gray and 4 rectangles of purple.

Flip over two of your gray rectangles and draw diagonal lines across them in the opposite directions like below. Then repeat with your other two rectangles. (you will have two going one way and two going the opposite way)

Position them right sides together on top of your purple fabrics like below and pin as you like.

Sew 1/4" from each side of the line like you would with an HST for all 4 sets of rectangles.

Then cut on the line. Each set will give you two of the same set. The two pictured above will result in these 4. You will have 8 total.

Square them up to 4.5" x 6.5". Here's how I did it. The diagonal line went where the 4.5 and 6.5 lines are on the ruler. I took photos of this step because it was a head scratcher for me.

The other block gets measured vertically.

After it's all squared up (is it squared up if it's a rectangle??) lay them out so you have this and sew them all together.

ETA  Bee member Jamie  figured out how to deal with the fact the points on the top of the diamond have a seam allowance that is bigger than the points on the side of the diamond. Here are her directions:

When sewing your diamonds together, sew the top half’s two pieces together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, and sew the bottom half’s two pieces together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Then, when sewing the top half to the bottom half, use between a 3/8 and 1/2 inch seam allowance. If you usually use more of a scant 1/4 inch seam allowance, use 1/2 inch. If your seam allowance is exactly a 1/4 inch, use a 3/8 seam allowance. Everyone’s 1/4 inch is a little different, so just size accordingly. Hopefully this makes sense! Now your diamond will have about a 3/8-1/2 inch seam allowance on top and bottom, and 1/4 inch seam allowances on both sides.

If you are more visual like me here are some photos to help illustrate:

Huge thanks to Jamie for figuring that out!

Don't sweat it if your points aren't perfect. Just so they aren't massively off! ;)  If you zoom into my photo you can see my points aren't perfect either. Hope you enjoy this one. Let me know if you have any questions!!