January Riley Blake Mystery Quilt Block – Chevron

Cindy and Jina from Riley Blake just started a Mystery Block of the Month Quilt, and I thought I’d sew along. The first block in the set of nine is this chevron block. You can find the instructions in both video and pdf form on the Riley Blake blog: Mystery Quilt Block #1
 
 
I considered subtitling this post: “The Quilt Block that Almost Wasn’t,” but I want you to want to sew along, too. Instead, how about the subtitle, “The Quilt Block that Tried to Defeat Me and Lost!”? If you’ve been around me for very long, you might know already that I tend to be the instant-gratification type of sewist. I was really excited about this block, but when I read the pdf instructions and saw that it required piecing together 36 – 2 1/2″ half square triangles, I was a little skeptical about whether or not I’d make it all the way through.  That’s a whole lot of tiny triangles!
 
 
I found that the hardest part for me, though, was patiently trimming down and squaring up all 36 of those blocks! About five blocks in, I decided that I needed someone to keep me company, so I called my mom. It’s amazing how much more quickly a job that feels a little tedious goes by when you’re enjoying a great conversation.  (Thanks, Mom!)
 
 
By the time I decided that I had to hang up or my neck was going to fall off from balancing the phone while cutting and sewing, I had finished squaring up everything, and I had two rows of the half square triangle blocks sewn together. From there, things moved along quite well until I stopped for a second to see how it was all coming out and something didn’t look quite right.
 
 
Ugh. It’s a good thing that I was far enough in at that point that I was determined to get this thing done! (Somewhere along the way, I started promising myself a cup of chai and some chocolate when I was finished. The promise of chocolate has a way of keeping me incredibly focused.) A few minutes of seam ripping, and I was back on track. And, I think the end result was worth all the work. You probably won’t see me sewing up dozens of these, but I’m quite happy with the way this one came out and very glad that I conquered it, and I can’t wait to see next month’s block!