The February block of the month is an adapted heart block from Sew Precise
1-2 called Queen of Hearts. Those of you that have Sew Precise can
use the block from there if you like. I have drafted the block as a 12-inch
block but certainly can be made smaller or larger if desired. The
hearts in the corners can be appliqued instead of foundation pieced by
just cutting a heart to fit a 4-inch square (like doing Valentine’s in
grade school) and applying it by your preferred method—buttonhole around
it, machine applique, hand applique and so forth.
FABRIC REQUIREMENTS
The little nine patches should finish 4 inches, 4 ½ inches with
seam allowances. Strips should be cut 1.3 inches plus ½ inch.
I am going on the assumption that 3/10ths of an inch is somewhere between
¼ and ½ and will cut the strips 1 7/8 inch by the width of
the fabric. The nine patches can be trimmed to 4 ½ inches
when the block is completed by centering the ruler or square in the middle
of the block and trimming the excess.
Cut 3 strips of dark and 3 strips of background fabric and then seam together with ¼ inch seam allowance. Do one set by joining background-dark-background and the second, dark-background-dark. Cut into 4 ½ inch segments and then join the segments to make nine patch blocks. Make four; you can either make more blocks or calculate it yourself how much fabric is needed for one block. My math skills are not the best and I do not want to mislead you there.
Cut 5-4 ½ inch background squares if you plan on appliquéing the hearts outside squares and center. If foundation piecing the hearts, cut the background in a general shape large enough to cover the shape and take care of the seam allowance.
