Quilter's Recipe Box Unit for August - Butterfly

It's been a busy day already, and it's still not noon yet!  We had to pick up a rental car and take our regular car into the shop to get some damage repaired, stop at the bank, pick up some items from the store and tried to make a payment at the dermatologist office.  Can you believe that they could not take a payment because the person who does that was not working today?  That was really strange to me.  Anyway - I'm sure you would rather read about the new block and unit for the Quilter's Recipe Box than hear about my trials and tribulations!

This month's block is Crown of Thorns and the unit is what I call a Butterfly.  It is the corner unit with two triangles and two squares.  This unit goes back to our half square triangle, but in a smaller size.

To make this block you will need:

Focus Fabric:  Cut one square 3 ½ x 3 ½.

Color 3:  Cut four squares 2 3/8  inches (cut in half diagonally for butterfly units)

Color 2:  Cut four squares 2 x 2 (butterfly units)

Color 1:  Cut two squares 4 ¼ inches (quarter square triangle units)

Background Fabric:  Cut four squares 2 3/8 (butterfly units) four squares 2 x 2 (butterfly units) and two squares 4 ¼ inches (quarter square triangle units)

We'll start off by sewing the butterfly units.  Cut each of the Color 3 and background 2 3/8 inch squares in half to make 8 triangles.  

 Sew them together as in the lesson from the Half Square Triangle Unit.

And trim those dog ears:

They should measure 2 inches after sewing.  Next, arrange two triangles, one color 2 square and one background square as I show below -

Sew together, press and repeat to make four matching units:

They should measure 3 1/2 inches square when complete.  These will be the corners of your block.

Next, make the four Quarter Square Triangle Units using the 4 1/4 inch Color 3 and Background squares.  (See the post on that method here)

Place these on the sides of the block:

Then add the center block of your focus fabric:

Sew together and press to make your completed Crown of Thorns block!

Isn't it pretty?  This has been one of my favorite blocks for many years.  The first time I used it was to make an insulated window shade for a drafty living room window.  It was the first quilt I ever made using fabric purchased from an actual quilt shop!  Sadly it was so long ago that I don't have any good pictures of it on my computer, so I'll have to find a print one to scan and post later.

You can download the recipe card for this block by clicking the picture below:

As always, join me on every Monday in August for a new quilt block featuring this month's Butterfly unit!  Thanks for joining in on the fun - don't forget to invite your friends to play along, see the Quilter's Recipe Box tab at the top of my blog to see all the previous units and blocks.  Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to get the link for each month's new card directly in your in-box.

Enjoy your day and go do some quilting!