January Block of the Month - Card Trick

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Hello Quilters!

Welcome to 2022!  I hope you all had an amazing New Years and that the first few days of 2022 have been easy on you!

We are starting a whole new quilt this year for our Block of the Month!  There are some fun differences with this quilt, so make sure to get the yardage requirements at the bottom of this post!

 

We will be doing two different types of blocks for this quilt.  All of the blocks will be 12” finished blocks and the finished quilt size is 60”x60”.

 

The first type of block is an Irish Chain! You will need to make a total of 13 of these blocks for the finished quilt.  

You can choose to either make one each month (plus one extra), or make them all at once! The fabric requirements include the yardage for the Irish Chain blocks.

This gives you an idea of what the Irish Chain will look like when you have all your blocks laid out.  It makes a chain!

We will also be doing one block of the month – same as last year.  There will be a pdf file you can download, or you can find the step by step tutorial here on the blog!  The block for January looks like this!

It’s called Card Trick because it looks like cards fanned out. Or hearts, I guess.

But I chose this block for January because I know a lot of people play card games on New Years Eve!

For this block you will need:

Background Fabric

Medium Fabric

Dark Fabric

Accent #1 Fabric

Accent #2 Fabric

(2) 5” squares

(1) 5” square

(1) 5” square

(1) 5” square

(1) 5” square

(2) 3 ¾” squares

(1) 3 ¾” square

(1) 3 ¾” square

(1) 3 ¾” square

(1) 3 ¾” square

 

 

 

1. The first step is to sub cut all of the blocks once on the diagonal.  We will be working with triangles for this block!

2. Take one of the larger background fabric triangles and one of the larger colored fabric triangles.  Place them right sides together and sew a 1/4” seam on the long diagonal edge.  Press the seams to the darker fabric.  Repeat with all four colored fabrics so you have four finished half square triangle blocks (HSTs).  Trim up to 4 1/2” square.

3. Next, sew a smaller background triangle to a smaller colored triangle, but on the short side.  Look carefully at how the triangles are laid out to make sure you don’t invert the design.  Sew a 1/4” seam with right sides together, this time pressing seams open.

4. Notice at this step you will have one large and small triangle in all the colored fabrics left.  We will use these in the layout of the block next.

5. Next, layout the block.  It will be more helpful to lay everything out first before you sew the next step.

In the center of the block, place the remaining 4 colored small fabric triangles. Where you place these affects the finished layout of the block.  It makes the block feel more balanced if you put the darker fabrics opposite each other.
6. Sew the triangles together, pressing seams open. This is called a Quarter Square Triangle (QST).
It is easier to layout the block by creating a pinwheel out from the center block. 

7. Then add the like colored half square triangles (HSTs) in the corners of the layout.  This is where you start to see the “cards” form.

8. After you have the HSTs placed in the corners, place the half triangle-triangles (is that even a thing??) in the leftover spaces to create the final heart shape, or “card”.
It is easier to layout the block by creating a pinwheel out from the center block.

9. The next step is to sew the half triangle-triangles (again is there a better word for this??) to the larger triangle so you have a finished block to work with. 

10. Sew these right sides together with a 1/4” seam.  Press the seams open, then trim to 4 1/2” square.

11. Place the blocks back into the layout and make sure everything is still in the correct place.

There are now nine squares in the layout and they should all measure 4 1/2” square. Now just sew the squares together in rows and then sew the rows together.  I prefer to press the seams open to help reduce bulk for my machine.  It also makes it easier to line up the points on the squares when sewing everything together.
And now your block is done!  Doesn’t it look so fun!  It really does look like cards fanned out!
As you are sewing along, make sure to use the hashtag #seweasybom or tag me.  I love to see what you make!

2 Comments

  1. April
    April on January 22, 2022 at 5:58 am

    So if I want to make 3 of same “block of month to create a queen size quilt I need to triple the yardage amt?

  2. Sheila
    Sheila on January 24, 2022 at 10:38 am

    This is a great tutorial!! I’m really enjoying this BOM! I’m learning a lot from others! I appreciate your time to teach others! I’m a new quilter, but not new to sewing, and your directions are terrific! (I was a teacher, so I know good directions!) Thank you again!

    Sheila

    P.S. do you have enough pattern testers?