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Adding another charity block option to our repertoire...

Here we have a riff on 9 patches with one focus square:

Note: This block works best if made as a leader-ender project while sewing other things. It's also nice to have a wide range of scraps for this, so I just cut squares as I'm cutting fabric for other projects and chuck them into my pile. I do the same with the 2.5" checkerboard squares as well. I also use leftover HSTs and QSTs from other projects as focus squares, for example if a project calls for an ...

 And finally, we've got block #3, the improv block. Really what I'm looking for is a piece of one color that we can cut at least a 5" square from (bigger is good too, if it's really big, we might even be able to cut multiple squares from it, so you can really make it any size you'd like).

What you will need:

Choose one color (not white/cream or black) and pull out all of your random sized scraps of that color (if you don't have a scrap stash, you can pull out fabrics ...

So here is block #2, the HST Diamond block:

You will need for each block:

8x 4" square black background pieces - all the same (can have a small amount of pattern on it, but should read as black)

8x 4" square patterned scrappy pieces - all different (make sure they aren't too dark so they'll show up against the black)

For the ultimate scrappiness, I would recommend making two blocks at a time (so you'll need 16 of each instead of 8), since we'll be making two-at-a-time HSTs. That way you can put one of each fabric ...

I've been making these blocks forever. Whenever I have scraps, I cut them down into squares, rectangles, or leave them as is and stick them in my scrap baskets. All of the charity blocks this month will use up these scraps.

First up, the checkerboard blocks:

What you will need:

2.5" square pieces of low volume (if you take a B/W picture, the fabrics should show as white) - solid whites and creams are the best, but you can use some patterns too, just try to limit patterns with a bunch of additional colors or more noticeable patterns ...