Castle Secrets Quilt Block of the Week Mystery Clue Five

This is a Quilt-Block-of-the-Month Mystery series. It starts today! Clues will be presented every Sunday from 6/4/23 until Labor Day. It is a two color (plus background) quilt that finishes about 90″ x 90″. Look for a list of clues at the bottom of this page. To print this clue, use the green Print Friendly button below those clues. If that doesn’t work, try pressing down the CNTRL button and the P button at the same time. Or the COMMAND button and the P button if you are on a Mac. That should bring up the printer dialog.

Just a reminder: Anyone who sends me a picture of their quilt in progress or finished, gets a free copy of the professional pattern after the mystery is over. Offer expires 10/1/23. Send your pictures to phoebemoondesigns@gmail.com.

Clue Five: The Turret Center

Assemble:

• Cut (5) strips 3-1/4″ by the WOF of the Chocolate Brown. From these strips, cut (64) 3-1/4″ Chocolate Brown squares
• Cut (3) strips 3-3/4″ wide by the WOF of the Background. From these strips, cut (32) 3-3/4″ Background squares

Make a test block first!

Cut (2) 3-1/4″ Chocolate Brown squares on the diagonal to make (4) triangles.

Sew a triangle to opposite sides of a 3-3/4″ Background square and press toward the triangle.

When you are sewing a triangle on a square, keep the square side up. That way you can make sure you are sewing through the point of the square. It will help you keep those points sharp.

Here is a picture from the Snail Trail Tutorial. Notice how the seam line is intersecting the corner of the center square, which is a four-patch in this block. When this block is pressed open that center point is perfect.

Sew the remaining triangles to the other two sides of the square, making a 5″ square-in-a-square unit.

Press toward the triangles. If all has gone well, continue making these square-in-a-square (SNS) units. Following the above directions, make (32) center SNS units and press.

If all has NOT gone well, try making your 3-1/4″ Chocolate Brown blocks a little bigger. Your final SNS block will be bigger but you can square it up when you are done. Before you do that, though, try using a thinner thread and taking a slightly smaller seam. It will save you time and fabric if you can make it work.

The picture below is from the Tea and Crumpets mystery. I was comparing different square-up-rulers in that mystery and used 6-1/2″ as my standard. The block for this mystery is 5″, so you would use a different ruler to square up your block.

See you next week!