Hi, quilty friends! I am really stoked to show what I have in store for you today. As you know my sewing wizard “Meli” has been creating #AGFQuiltBlock videos for years now, and we all know she did a fantastic job. Now, she has passed the “quilt block torch” to me..and what better way than have someone who just started off sewing, show you all some beginner-friendly blocks! Today, I will be making the “New Hampshire Granite” block! I think this block is for a confident beginner, but the outcome looks a lot harder than it is. Hang in there though, I will walk you step-by-step on how I made this block using Jessica Swift’s latest collection, “Kushukuru.” 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

Fabric A “Rainbow Jaguar” – (1) 4 ½ square

Fabric B “Lively Kumbukumbu” – (4) 4 ½ x 2 ½ rectangle & (4) 2 ½ square 

Fabric C “Spirit Honora” – (4) 4 ½ square

Fabric D “Flame Amazulu” – (12) 2 ½ square 

Fabric E “Mauvelous” -  (4) 4 ½ x 2 ½ rectangle 

Before we begin, one of the most common mistakes I was doing when I was sewing up the quilt blocks were cutting up the fabric prints in the wrong direction. For anyone starting out, keep note the direction your cutting, to avoid prints facing different directions. With this in mind, let's start with easy pieces first, grab your rectangles from fabric B and E, place them right sides together and sew at ¼ inch on one side. 

On the next step, we are going to start this corner triangle frenzy! Begin with drawing diagonal lines from corner to corner on every 2 ½ squares from fabric B and D.

When finished, grab your 4 ½ square of fabric C and start placing Fabric D 2 ½ square on the corner. Pin together and sew on the line you drew. Trim at ¼ inch to reveal your corner square triangle. You are going to repeat this on all 4 squares of fabric C. Once you get to using fabric B on the corner, be mindful that on each square of fabric C, fabric B will be placed on a different corner of each square. For example, if you are making the top right corner block, fabric B will be placed on the bottom left corner of that block, if you are working on the bottom left corner block, fabric B will be placed on the top right of the block, and so on. Please refer to the pictures below if you need more understanding. 

For this last step, once you finished your corner blocks, place the fabric in rows so you can see what direction each print is facing. Make sure your fabric B and E squares are facing the correct way, the ones on top are horizontal and the ones on the sides are vertical. Fabric B is facing fabric A in the center. Once you have everything in place, you can start with sewing row by row, matching seams. When your rows are finished, you can start sewing your block together. 

Before you know it, you’re finished! I had a lot of fun sewing this collection because there are so many fussy cutting opportunities. I can see a lot of paper piecing fans having a blast with Kushukuru, and make some vibrant projects. 

For this part of the tutorial, I really wanted to show you what I am wearing today! Featuring one of the rayon prints from Kushukuru called “Everlasting Imprint.” This print is one of my favorites yet, it's fun black brushstrokes create a really fun texture. Bonus for being rayon, it’s so lightweight and the hand is just perfection. 

You can easily dress it up or down! Today I decided to pair it with a blaze for a chic look but then you can change it up and go out to a casual dinner by switching it up with a denim jacket. Get creative, add some pop of color and make this look your own. You can make this top yourself, by downloading the pattern here.   

Thank you all for joining me today, I’m happy to carry the #agfquiltblockcollection legacy. I hope you found this tutorial helpful and stay tuned in the future for my very first video premiere! If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below.

Until next time, happy sewing! 

Jannelle