School House Quilt Block
If you are coming from another website in Quilt Block Mania you might notice there is a bit of a difference between the school house quilt block on the hop graphic and the one here. I submitted my block but the longer I looked at it the more it didn’t work for me.
I wanted a traditional school house looking block without the bias edges. There are a ton of pieces in this block so I didn’t want to add on the frustration of bias edges and cutting them. Finally, in the middle of the night, the solution came to me, snowball corners but it was too late to update my graphic.
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I have loved the school house quilt block forever, even before I started working in a school. What stopped me from making the block was the convoluted way they used to be made. The pattern in my mom’s collection used templates and parallagrams. All those things turn me into Alexander from “Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”.
School House Quilt Block Supplies
20 x 7 piece of background fabric
20 1/4 x 7 1/4 piece of school fabric
Techniques Used
Most of this block just uses traditional straight piecing but since there are so many steps I didn’t explain how to make half-square triangles or how to snowball corners. We are making half-square triangles, the pattern uses the two-at-a-time method but you will have one left. If you want to use a different method feel free but your fabric requirements might change.
As mentioned above we are also snowballing corners. It is just two corners, one traditional and the other is a little different. When we snowball the half-square triangle with a rectangle. It will be a little wonky but once you trim it up it’s fine. It messed with my mind too.
Tips For Making The Free School House Quilt Block
A lot of the pieces are very similar in size so you might want to label them. Alphabitties would work and they are really handy for other projects. GEasy Organizing Stickers are a great option too.
Take your time! To get everything to line up right you’ll need accurate piecing and if I don’t mention nesting seams it’s because they don’t/can’t nest. I tried to get the snowballs to nest but if I did then things didn’t line up right.
What To Do With 12″ School House Quilt Block
Besides making a sampler quilt with all the other house quilt blocks in the hop this month this quilt block would make a great gift for anyone working at a school. Making the school portion of the block in school colors would be adorable.
Cutting Diagrams
Since we are using scrap pieces of fabric I wanted to give you cutting diagrams so you knew where my brain was when figuring out the fabric.
Background
School House
Quilt Block Mania
Dutch Row Houses by Carolina Moore
Modern House by Crafty Staci
Attic Windows by Scrapdash
Birdhouse by Patchwork Breeze
Home Sweet Home by Patti’s Patchwork
Gnome Home by QuiltFabrication
House Around the Block
Santa’s Candy Shop by Inquiring Quilter
Beacon by Robin Kinley Designs Etc
Castle by Memory Barn Studio
Outhouse by Patchwork River Quilting
School House Quilt Block by Quilting Room with Mel
Ranch House by Emerald Falls Quilts
Gingerbread House by Appliques Quilts and More
Carpenter Nutcracker by Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts
Hill House by A Piece of Quiet Quilts
