With a new month comes new blocks for our My Favorite Color is Moda Sampler quilt-along.  In March, we’re sewing Blocks 2 & 3 from the pattern.  If you haven’t joined yet, there’s plenty of time to catch up; check with your local quilt shop for the pattern and any fabric or kits they’ve put together. We’ll be sharing a new block or blocks on the First Tuesday of every month for the rest of 2021.

Note: If you’re sewing ahead, there are slight pattern corrections at the end of this post for Blocks 17 & 18.  All of your cutting instructions are correct; these are corrections for the Piecing sections.

This month, our blocks feature the Coastal Cool Bella Solids colorway.  After these months of winter, I’d say we’re ready to get to the beach or the lake, how about you?  The blues and teals are especially appropriate for these blocks, where you could think of the colors as waving and in out of the center like water.

So, let’s talk about this pair of blocks.  They are actually the same piecing layout—log cabins (or courthouse steps) with cornerstones. If you look forward in the pattern, you’ll see this is actually something that comes up a few times: doing a variation on the same block, whether it be in coloring or size or both.  It’s a handy way to keep the variety in a large sampler project, while keeping a good flow when you stand back and look at the quilt without so many different shapes to distract the eye.

Especially in a quilt full of Half Square Triangles, these two log cabins provide a necessary relief!

How fabulous would a quilt be just of this one block, with different arrangements of color?  All of these blocks use the same piecing and fabrics from the Coastal Cool Bella Solids.

Now what everyone is really here for: tips for these blocks!  If you’ve made log cabin blocks in the past, you know they tend to shrink or grow as you sew on each ‘round’ of fabric, and these are no exception.  So what to do?  Using a scant ¼” will set you off on a good start for sure.

When sewing cabins, I like to sew one full round before checking my seam allowances.  As you all know, not all quarter inches are the same, and even if you’re an expert precision sewist, there’s always a bit of variation between even your rulers when you do your cutting for the pieces.

To check your seam allowance based on the first round of the log cabin, get all 4 of your sides sewn on using your normal scant ¼” seam allowance and simply measure to see if you’re a bit small, a bit large, or if you’re lucky, right on the money.  After your seam allowances, the Center + First Round should measure 6.5” square for both Blocks 2 and 3. If you find your piece a little bit small, bump your needle one step "smaller" to narrow your seam, which for most will be to the right. If your center + 1 round is a bit larger than 6.5", bump your needle one "larger" to the left to make that seam allowance a bit wider.

I usually then sew the rest of my rounds and then square up my final block in the end. However, if you want to make sure you are exactly right on your seams, you would just add 3” every round when you’re checking your sizes.  So the Center + 2 Rounds would measure 9.5”, Center + 3 Rounds measures 12.5”, and on and on with the blocks measuring 18.5” square before you assemble them into the quilt.

With that, happy sewing on your Blocks 2 and 3 over the course of March!  Make sure to share your blocks on social media using #MyFavoriteColorIsModa this month so we can all follow along and see how you’re doing.  We’ll be sharing blocks and photos from the hashtag throughout the sewalong.

For a PDF download of this post - My Favorite Color is Moda - Blocks 2 & 3

Note: The instructions for cutting and making the My Favorite Color is Moda Sampler Quilt are in the Pattern Booklet - PS 9900 21 - available for purchase from your favorite quilt shop.

-----

Pattern Correction Notes:

BLOCK 17: In the ‘Piecing’ section, the third block pairing reads correctly that you should use Fabric 1 & 6 to make HST.  However, the thumbnail image for the HST shows the incorrect fabrics, they should be the Green and Pink for Fabrics 1 and 6.  All of the cutting instructions are correct for the block.

BLOCK 18: In the ‘Piecing’ section, the thumbnail images for the block components are correct, but the fabrics listed for each are wrong.  The first thumbnail needs Fabric 1 & 9, and the second thumbnail need Fabric 8 & 1.  All of the cutting instructions are correct for the block.                 

We will continue to list any pattern corrections in these blog posts for your reference.