Last week, I worked on finishing up all of the blocks for my girls in my 3x6 beehive.  It was a ton of fun, and I decided that these blocks wound be great for a tutorial.  They're fantastic scrapbusters, and look awesome in lots of different colorways.  See what I mean?



For one 12.5" block, you'll need:
Various scraps as small as 1.5" square
2 - 1" x 8.25" strips of white (or another neutral solid)
4 - 1" x 8" strip of a contrasting neutral (I used Kona Coal)
2 - 3" x 12.5" strips of white
2 - 3.5" x 8" strips of white
1. Decide on your color scheme for your block(s).  Gather a bunch of scraps in varying sizes - they can be as small as 1.5" square.


For each block, lay out your scraps (and cut them down as necessary) in three sets of approximately 10.5" long strips.


2. Sew your strips together, chain-piece style, and make sure to press well.


3. Once you've pieced your patchwork rows together and ironed them, lay them on your cutting mat and trim them down to 8 1/4" wide.  Don't worry about whether or not the seams match perfectly across the top of your strips, we're going to fix that in a moment.


4. For your top row, do trim the top to make sure it's good and straight, all the way across.  Then, make a nice, wonky cut across the bottom of the strip.  Try to keep the strip at least 1.5" long at the shortest.  Then, add a skinny strip of white (or another neutral of your choice) to the bottom of the strip, where you made your wonky cut.   Press well.


5. For your next cut, you'll be making two wonky cuts - one on the top and one on the bottom.  Try to match the angle of the wonky cut at the bottom of your first strip for the top of this second strip.





6. Lay your finished strips on top of your remaining strip of patchwork.  Again, try to match the angle for this wonky cut.  Don't worry about the bottom of the strip for now - we'll straighten it out in a moment.  Attach this newly wonky strip to the white sashing at the bottom of your joined patchwork.   Press well.


8. Now, let's trim the bottom of this patchwork block.  Feel free to improvise here, but I trimmed my patchwork to 6" long and 8" wide.



9. Add your strips of contrasting sashing all the way around your block.


10. Trim as necessary before adding your white (or neutral) sashing - your 3.5" strips should go on the top and bottom and the 3" strips should go on the left and right sides of the block.  Add your white sashing all the way around, and press well.


11. Trim your block down to a finished 12.5" size.


I'm off to the post office today to send these blocks in the mail to the girls in my beehive.  If you make a block (or two, or even a whole quilt!), make sure to let me know - I'd love to see it!

I'm sharing today at {Sew} Modern Mondays at Canoe Ridge Creations and also at the awesome block party hosted by QuiltStory's Heather and Megan.  I'm entering this group of blocks in the Modern category.