QCQAL Block #3 -- Rolling Stone

This round we'll be making Rolling Stone blocks!

There are tons of fun variations on this block floating all around on blogs and Pinterest so take a few minutes to get inspired by some amazing blocks!

For this block, I've written the pattern so that you'll paper piece the four square-in-a-square units. If you're not a paper piecing fan, there are directions at the bottom of the post on how to piece them in another way.

Cutting:

Paper pieced corner units:

Background scraps -- cutting six 3.25 inch squares diagonally once yields 12 ample triangles

Four squares approximately 3.5 inches square in outer ring color
Scraps in inner ring color -- cutting two 3.25 inch squares diagonally once yields 4 ample triangles

You will also need:

One 4.5 inch square

One strip 2.5 inches wide by at least 18 inches long in inner ring color

One strip 2.5 inches wide by at least 18 inches long in outer ring color

Sewing:

Sew together 2.5 inch strips and press. Subcut into four 4.5 inch sections.

Paper piece your four square in a square units. If your inner ring is a different color than your background fabric (like mine) one of the four corners of each unit should be the inner ring color. Trim units to 4.5 inches along the dotted line. Remove paper from blocks.

Lay out your blocks as shown below and sew together.

If you don't want to paper piece your blocks, cut for the four corner units as follows:

Four 4.5 inch squares in outer ring color

Four 2.5 inch squares in inner ring color

Twelve 2.5 inch squares in background color

Draw diagonal lines across the wrong side of each 2.5 inch square.

Align a 2.5 inch square with the corner of a 4.5 inch square and sew along the drawn diagonal.

Trim seam allowance to 1/4 inch and press. 

Repeat on all corners of your 4.5 squares.