Frugal Village

- 2 Dark colors
- 1 background color (preferably a light color)
- 1 print material
- 1 medium color

First we need to make sure our material is washed and dried as we did in our other blocks. Once pressed, we then need to cut off the selvage edges on our material, if you haven't already done so. I'm going to give you a link to check out for washing, pressing and trimming instructions so that I don't have to repeat all the pictures again. Please make sure you have done this before starting this block Please check quilting prep 101 and the Nine patch tutorial to read prepping instructions.

http://www.frugalvillage.com/quiltprep.shtml

When finished, your block will measure 12 1/2 inches and look like this.

Take your light material and cut 4 - 4 1/2 inch squares. Lay aside.

Take your medium color and cut 2 - 4 7/8 inch squares as in the following picture. Lay aside, making sure you keep seperate from your other cuts as the triangles will be different in size.

Take your dark color and your background color and from each cut a 5 1/4 inch square. Make sure you don't undercut and make it under the 1/4 inch. You can make it just over the 1/4 inch line.

Once you have your square cut, then cut it in 4 as in the following picture. Again, make sure you keep them seperate from your other cuts.

Take your print color, along with your extra dark color and do the exact same thing, cutting into a 5 1/4 inch square and then cutting it in 4 as in the picture posted above.

Now take your cut pieces and place them exactly as you see in the following picture, on your large ruler or a large piece of cardboard. Watch how you place the dark colors. It is very easy to place these in the wrong layout!!

We're going to sew the centre block first. Taking a dark triangle and a print, sew exactly as in the picture, making sure that once sewn and pressed, you place them back in the correct order. Press towards your dark colors, so that when you do your next step which is sewing the two sewn pieces together, the seams fit into each other perfectly.

Once these 2 pieces are sewn together, press.

Now we will do the middle blocks of the top and bottom row, and the outside blocks of the middle row.

Take your background triangle and your dark triangle and sew together as in the follow picture. (sorry the color is so light). Press towards the dark color, making sure once again when you place them back where they are suppose to be, you do it in the correct placement.

We're going to finish off these blocks, by taking what you've just done and sewing it to your med. triangles. Once sewn, press towards the medium color. Again, make sure you place the block back in the right placement.

tip- measure your blocks to see if they are 4 1/2 inches. Its far better to trim them if need be now or redo now, rather than once you get your whole block finished.

We're now going to finish off the block. Take your 3 blocks from your top row and sew together, again making sure you place them back in the right position. Press!

Do the exact same thing with the next two rows. Once that is done, take your top row and middle row, matching seams and pin. If your seams are pressed wrong, press so that they face opposite each other. Do the exact same thing with your bottom row.

Once finished, press. Square off your block as you've learned in the other tutorials. If your block is out more than a 1/4 inch you need to redo.