I decided it was too small, for my purposes I wanted it to be a little bigger, about 10 inches or so for the finished size. The easiest way to make a block larger without remaking it with larger pieces is to frame it.
To frame my block I took my dark fabric from this block and cut 1.5 x 9.5 inch strips. I added another light fabric for the 1.5 inch squares.
I sewed in rows:
new square, new strip, new square
new strip, "old" block, new strip
new square, new strip, new square
and then I sewed those rows together in that order.
This process works with any sized block. If you had a 5 inch (finished -- unfinished measure would be 5.5) block that you wanted to turn into a 7 inch (finished) block you would use strips that were 2.5 x5.5 inches and 2.5 inch squares in the corners. You could add 3 inch strips and squares to a 15 inch block (allowing for seams) and get an 18 inch block. and if you ever feel you've added too much and you want to chop it back down to a smaller size -- rotary cutters and see-through rulers are great for that.
More For the Birds blocks and tutorials can be found by following the cardinal photo link in the sidebar.
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