Charm Square Quilt Along Part 7

Hello everyone! Welcome to this week's block in our Charm Square Quilt Along.  I am enjoying all of your blocks you are sharing on flickr and in the link party below.  All of these color arrangements are inspiring!

<div align="center">
<a href="http://moderntraditionquilts.blogspot.com" title="Charm Square Sampler Quilt Along"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQUYYoNu4QavbsYY-1Mdr801citK1JNlmeCnxkkGGovkvuiR1hO9zX2kNRdANUmspR21fQmn9i1x6v371eY65d9hHozBhD3WK7twCbsiirUnZPLVw6-6vxxCfBE44FgAr4EwwgC111DlP/w214-h212-p-no/" alt="Charm Square Sampler Quilt Along" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

If you are new to this QAL, visit the old posts.  To get fabric requirements and ideas, click HERE.

STEP ONE: Layout 16 of your HSTs that were created in part one.

STEP TWO: Sew vertical columns together.  I like to pair column two on top of column one so that all HSTs are in the correct orientation when I take them from the layout to the sewing machine.  Then repeat with column 3 on top of column 2 and then complete with column 4 on top of column 3.

STEP THREE: Pressing seams and pin-match points.  By now, you know that I am picky about this.  I enjoy the "X marks the spot rule"--but I also know that it is important to press seams to avoid bulk.  No one wants to quilt through 8 pieces of fabric together! 

How the seams are pressed to avoid bulk in the row intersections.

X marks the spot!

See where the threads cross?  "X" marks the spot!

Now, these work great for our "beginner blocks" but in this block and the last block, we have a "hidden X" to pin through to avoid blunting our seams.  It has to be this way or there will be too much bulk in our intersections.

Here is a close-up of  what I call the "hidden X".  You can still see where to pin.

The top row will have two "hidden X" to pin-match.

STEP FOUR: Sew the three rows together and press it open.  All done!

VARIATION:  If you were to swap rows 1 and 2 with rows 3 and 4 in your final row seam, you can get this variation instead (outer rows are now inner rows).  It's fun to play around.

Row-swap variation.

Now it's your turn to share!  Enjoy!
Share your projects here:

flickrPool

Link party:

An InLinkz Link-up