We’re welcoming a familiar face for this week’s Blockheads block – Barb of Me & My Sister Designs! Barb’s bright and cheerful fabrics are the perfect remedy for dreary winter days. Look for On the Bright Side fabrics from Me & My Sister Designs to arrive in your favorite quilt shop starting in just a few more weeks! In the meantime, Barb is brightening our week with her Morning Star block for Group 2, Week 4 of Blockheads 5.

You can find this week’s pattern here: BH5 – Group 2, Block 4 – Morning Star by Barbara Groves

Follow along with Barb!
Instagram: @meandmysisterdesigns
https://www.meandmysisterdesigns.com/

If you’re new to Blockheads, here are a couple of quick things to know:

• This is a free quilt-along. No sign-ups are required. Just download the pattern and you’re ready to sew!
• The PDF patterns will be posted on the Moda blog and in the official Facebook group every Wednesday by 8:00 AM CDT.
• You can also bookmark this page: Blockheads 5 main page to find a convenient list of all the patterns as they are released.
• If you’d like to sign up for our blog newsletter to get blog posts delivered to your inbox, you can sign up here: Blog Newsletter Sign-Up
• If you want to sew along with a virtual Blockheads community, head over to Facebook and join our official Moda Blockheads Facebook group. Our group is an active and vibrant community of 70,000 quilters and counting! It’s a great place to be inspired and share pictures of your Blockheads progress.
• If Instagram is where you prefer to hang out, be sure to follow us (@modafabrics) and the hashtags #modablockheads and #modablockheads5 to see the latest blocks from our designers and other Blockheads.
• Be sure to get your official Blockheads t-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, water bottles, and more from our pop-up shop HERE.

(Looking for a little more information about Blockheads? You can check out the Blockheads 5 archive HERE.)

 

Something new we’re planning for this round of Blockheads is a weekly video. You can follow along with me as I sew the block of the week and share my tips and tricks and talk about different construction techniques. I’ll post the videos on YouTube and share them here on the blog. You can watch this week’s video below:

 

This week, we’re making more flying geese. Our standard method is to use the no-waste/four-at-a-time flying geese method, but I know some quilters prefer stitch-and-flip instead. If you’d like to make your flying geese using the stitch-and-flip method, here are the cutting instructions for those pieces:

For 6” finished blocks:

D: (4) 1 1/2” x 2 1/2” rectangles
E: (8) 1 1/2” squares
F: (4) 1 1/2” x 2 1/2” rectangles
G: (8) 1 1/2” squares

For 12” finished blocks:

D: (4) 2 1/2” x 4 1/2” rectangles
E: (8) 2 1/2” squares
F: (4) 2 1/2” x 4 1/2” rectangles
G: (8) 2 1/2” squares

 

A word about pressing directions: I’ve mentioned before that we don’t always provide pressing instructions in the Blockheads patterns, because a lot of times, it’s best to decide on a pressing direction based on your fabric choices, your seams, and more. (Don’t worry – we’ll be talking more about this in upcoming Blockheads videos and blog posts!)

This week is a great example of why I often opt not to indicate a pressing direction. I did end up indicating a pressing direction in Step 4 of the pattern, but you’ll notice in this week’s video that I pressed a totally different way! I usually press my seams open when I’m joining flying geese units, but this time, I felt like I was going to be happier pressing the seam toward the bottom flying geese unit. I also think the block size influenced my pressing direction – I think I would have stuck with pressing the seams open if I had been making the 12” block instead of the 6” block.

 

Are you ready to see our blocks?

Lissa is using Nantucket Summer for her blocks. She's giving us a peek at her setting with one of her blocks! You can find out more about Lissa's setting for Blockheads 5 on her blog: Modalissa.com Blockheads Update

Alison is making a fall version in 12” blocks and a patriotic version in 6” blocks. Her fabric placement is so fun!

And I am making a traditional/repro scrappy fall version and a sweet/cottage-y Americana version in 6” blocks.

Now…off you go to press, cut, and sew! And don’t forget to share your blocks with us in our Facebook group or on Instagram (#modablockheads5)!