Birds in the Air Block

Our next nine inch sampler block is "Birds in the Air."

We will be cutting squares into triangles for this block, although we will also still use the half square triangle methods we learned in chain piecing HSTs for the Winged Square and basic half square triangles.

When cutting triangles remember you can use the 45 degree angle line on your ruler to make cutting easier.



You will need:

two light 5.5 inch squares -- which you will cut into triangles for a total of four large triangles

six dark 2.5 inch squares -- which you will cut into triangles for a total of 12 small triangles

six light and six dark 2.5 inch squares which you will use to make twelve half square triangle units.

Make your HSTs.
Lay out the elements of your block and begin sewing your "rows."
Okay you should have four pieced triangles and four large (light) triangles now. Like this:
When you're sewing the large triangles to the pieced triangles sew with the pieced side up so you can see that you are sewing through the intersection of your seams -- this way you won't chop off the tips of your triangles.
See where I drew in that green line? That's where the stitching ling goes -- right at the spot where the two seams intersect.

Okay, so take your four units and join them together... I'm still thinking of it in terms of rows even though it's just a row of two and a row of two.
Put the rows together and you have your block.