Trina and I have been working on the Squared Away block of the month for the past year. We got to the end and I didn't like the bonus square (and one other). So I broke the rules and picked one I liked! I found this Monkey Wrench block here but it used a paper piecing method, which wouldn't have matched the rest of the quilt. So I had to figure it out on my own. It was pretty straight forward, but to help Trina out when she was ready to make her own I made up this little tutorial.
Cut your fabric.
Purple:
one 6" square (for magic 8 HSTs)
four 4.5"x2.5" rectangles
one 10.5"x2.5" strip
White:
one 6" square (for magic 8 HSTs)
five 2.5" squares
one 10.5"x2.5" strip
Make your pieces.
-Mark four of the white squares with a diagonal line. Put it RST on the purple rectangle. Sew on the line (shown in red in the picture below). Trim a 1/4" seam allowance (green line). Press open. Note: Make sure your diagonals are either going ALL one direction or HALF the other direction. Either way works, just be aware of them. I made them all going one direction, so that's what the pictures with show.
-Sew the two long strips together. Trim into 2.5" sections. (Just like we've done throughout this whole project).
Note: I have no idea the best way to press the seams. Most of them were open because I wasn't sure.
You should end up with this...
eight HSTs, four diagonal rectangles, four white/purple rectangles and one single white square.
Sewing!
Start with the HSTs. Sew them in pairs. To keep it quick I just made them all the same direction and rotated it in my final placement.
Sew the HSTs to the diagonal-rectangles. Again, all four will look exactly the same.
Add a purple/white rectangle to TWO sections. (You can't do all four at once! Ask me how I know.) While you are at it you can add the lone white square to another one of the p/w rectangles.
These seams will give you three long pieces. Be aware of the direction you place things.
Finally, sew the two larger pieces to the center strip. Press and admire!
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