Heart Block Tutorial using the Accuquilt GO! value die

from the sewing machine of the Imperfect Piecer (that's me!),
    a tutorial using the value or basic die that is included with your Accuquilt GO! fabric cutter

I am not usually able to piece precisely - either my seam allowance is off a bit or I've cut the square just a bit smaller or larger.   I don't have to worry about cutting the shapes properly with my GO! and I think I finally have my 1/4" seam allowance set.  (I've only had my 'new' sewing machine about 1 1/2 years:))

Today's tutorial is how to cut and sew a Heart block using the basic (value) die that came with the GO!

For reference this die cuts:

• Square-4 1/2" (4" finished)
• Square-2 1/2" (2" finished)
• Half Square-2" finished triangle (cuts four)

 Besides not being able to easily piece accurately, I'm also admitting I'm a dork.  To play around with the shapes and see what blocks I could make with the basic die, I cut several sheets of white paper.  No pink or blue or red added, just white copy paper. Duh!   It did the job, though:)

This block will be 8" unfinished, 7 1/2" unfinished.



You will need 
from main 'heart fabric'

• 8  (2 1/2") triangles
• 2  (2 1/2") squares
• 1 ( 4") square

from background fabric

• 8 (2 1/2") triangles
• 2 (2 1/2") squares

Note: I try to be thrifty when using my fabrics, so I cut about a 10" square of my main 'heart' fabric, then strips to cut the additional squares and triangles

I laid my pieces in rows, then picked up all the triangles and chain-stitched them to save both time and all those little thread ends from having to be clipped.  This is a tip I learned from visiting Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site - a wealth of knowledge and beautiful quilts!

After stitching the triangles, I pressed the seams open to avoid bulk , for all the other seams I pressed them flat then to one side.

 In the picture above, you can see that I have stitched and pressed the triangle pairs, and stitched a 2 1/2" square to the top of a triangle pair.  Make sure you have the triangle pairs with the square attached facing the heart!

This picture (above) shows the 3 sections across.
Two pair of triangles are sewn together for the top section
The triangle square units are sewn to each side of the 4" square for the center section
A 2 1/2" background square is sewn on each side of the remaining triangle pair unit.

Next, stitch the sections together.  See how nicely the squares and triangle points fit together? 

Here is a block I made using 4 of the Heart blocks, using an Aunt Grace fabric.  
Next time I will show you the border I am making for this block using the same basic die-

I hope to make a block or two a week using the basic die.  Stay tuned!  I have 3 projects going at the same time, I didn't plan on that, but it seems I keep finding things I just have to make;)

    Please contact me if you have any questions or if you would like to see more blocks based on the value die featured here. 

Thanks for stopping by!