Quilter's Recipe Box - Square in a Square Unit, Rolling Stone Block

Ready for a new unit?  This month I'll be using the Square in a Square unit.  This is one of the units I usually like to use a shortcut method even though it does waste a bit of fabric.  I think the accuracy of doing them this way makes the waste worthwhile.

This block requires quite a bit of cutting!  You will need sixteen 2 inch squares of your background fabric, plus four 2 x 3 1/2 inch rectangles.  Cut four 3 1/2 squares and four 2 x 3 1/2 rectangles from your dominant fabric, and one 3 1/2 inch square for the center of your block.

Start by marking a diagonal line on the back of all the 2 inch squares.  You can mark them with a pencil or other marking tool, or finger press them in half diagonally.  Place a 2 inch background corner on one corner of each 3 1/2 inch square of your dominant fabric.  I like to chain piece them, line them up on my cutting mat and cut off the extra fabric.

Press the corner triangles out.  Then sew the opposite corner in the same way and trim.

Then press:

Continue in the same manner until you have all four corners sewn.

Then use the two sets of rectangles to make four split square units:

Lay out all your units like this:

And sew together.  I usually take a peek to make sure the corners of my square in a square units line up with the seam in the split square.

Then, when I sew them together I make sure to sew a hair to the inside of the intersection on the square in a square point.

This ensures that your point doesn't disappear in the seam line:

Once your block is complete it will look like this:

You can purchase the entire set of 12 Quilter's Recipe Box unit patterns in my Etsy shop!

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway - if you haven't already completed your entries, be sure to do so before midnight - tomorrow I'll be announcing the lucky winner of thirteen 10 inch square and a roll of 5 inch strips!

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