Sunday, April 13, 2014

Four Patch HST (Boston Block) Tutorial

When I met Zoanna for the first time, she shared with me her love of pinwheels. She said "I just love the movement of the pinwheels. If I had to choose just one pattern to make for the rest of my quilting life it would be pinwheels."

Look at this, this is what I want to make next.
Please don't. At least, not yet.
Why not?
Because, I promise I can show you a simpler, quicker and cleaner method of making these blocks.

Zoanna agreed.

Here is me delivering on my promise. The block is called Boston Block, I think. I am going to call it Four Patch Half Square Triangle block. Here are the steps with pictures.



 4-PHST
Fabric Requirements

  • 4 charm squares - dark color
  • 4 charm squares - white or other pale/neutral background color
  • 2 squares - 9.5" by 9.5" of lighter color


1. Make two identical four patch blocks, using the charm squares.



 Place right sides together.

 Chain piece.

Open, iron and chain piece again.







Our two 4-patches are now complete. They measure 9.5" square.



2. Now, place each lighter blue square right sides together with the 4-patch. Stitch on all four sides using a quarter inch seam. 










 3. Now, this is the exciting part. Cut the stitched 4-patch + lighter blue square on the diagonal, from corner to corner both ways. See picture below.



Open the fold and see the magic :-D Neat, isn't it?
That is a Boston Block or 4-PHST



Open all four of them. Set aside.
Cut the other 4-patch + lighter blue square in the same way.



And open them too. Now, you will have eight 4-PHSTs. Here is the important thing - Four of them look alike and the other four are mirror images. See picture below. 





Each 4-PHST measures 6 1/4". You can square them to 6". This is a good time to starch and iron the blocks and start playing...
Here are some of the ways you can put this block together...

I love this twisty block :-) Looks way more complicated but was so simple.

Another variation

Look at that S-pattern - like the movement of the colors...

Look at this - zig zag with pizzaz...


Here is my new favorite...If you look hard, you can see the 3-dimensional effect of a cube.



And here you are, for Zoanna, the PINWHEELS, whee...

These 8 Boston Blocks will give you two pinwheels - one going clockwise and one going anti-clockwise.  Remember, you need to make these in pairs because one set will give two blocks of one kind and two that are mirror images. You need four of a kind to make one pinwheel.

Reasons to love this method
1. It is FAST. You get eight blocks at once.
2. You only cut once per block.
3. Reduces bias.
4. Does not require any special rulers.

If you liked this tutorial, please leave me a comment. Your comments make my day - they are like an e-pat on the back :-)

81 comments:

  1. Fantastic! I'll bookmark this one. Thanks.

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  2. Love it. My son runs in the Boston Marathon--this will be a perfect quilt for him ! Thanks so much.

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  3. Nice work!! I'm bookmarking this for sure; Thanks for sharing ...!

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  4. Aw, you just made my day! I feel like a celebrity having my name on your blog. And this is a great tutorial. I love the twist, the zigzag with pizzazz, and the 3D one. Looks like you had a lot of fun playing with all the options! I also like how your reasons to love this method. Makes a lot of sense. Kudoes to you, my friend, and I am still hoping for a sew-in at your house one day:).

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  5. Thanks so much for figuring this out (very, very smart!) and explaining it so clearly.

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  6. This is a really fantastic easy process. I like the twisty one and the 3d look. Thanks Preeti

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  7. Love this. Another one on my to do list.

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  8. Love this. Another on my to do list.

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  9. Preeti,. you've got it ALL going on. Great tut. Thanks for sharing
    Blondie

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  10. Thanks for sharing! I am not a pinwheeler, but I might give a try to this technique!

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  11. Love this block - especially the 3D cube effect. That might make an interesting table runner, no?

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  12. Preeti, this is awesome!!! Definitely bookmarking this :) Awesome, clearly written and photographed tutorial. You have the perfect mixture of words and pics! You rock!!

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  13. Came over here from quilting board. I love the way you have done this.
    I was also interested in your snowball explanation. I think I got it but would really love you to put a little visual tutorial up here.

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  14. This is a wonderful tutorial! Thanks for sharing this simple way to make the blocks. I can't wait to try this out sometime.

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  15. Wow. Thanks for the easy and versatile block.

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  16. Awesome!! I am going to try to print this out, if I can't, I will bookmark it! thank you for this awesome tutorial!! This looks very easy!!

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  17. Here is a well-deserved e-pat for you ....This tut is GREAT!! Love fast piecing!!
    On second thought ....make that two e-pats! :)

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  18. Thank you! This looks so do-able, even for me!

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  19. That is awesome – I can't wait to try it!

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  20. Thanks for sharing. I love pinwheels too. Easy to make this one,looks like it's spinning. Thanks again

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  21. I love what you posted here. It is really awesome. I only did simplistic alternating squares years ago, and then starting making girl and boy dolls for very sick kids (which I stlll do and they are free including postage). I am trying to nudge my way back into quilting so really love what you did here. thanks so much for doing this. My website for the dolls is:
    www.dollsforverysickkids.com
    if you want to take a look. it has stories I do, pics of a child with the doll and a bit of history. 183 dolls out as of next 2 weeks.

    thanks again.

    Vickey S.

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  22. I love pinwheels too. Made a plain pinwheel in black and white with red cornerstones for my granddaughter's quilt and it turned out great. Now I will try your pattern and way of doing it, there is such movement in your blocks. Thanks so much for the tute.

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  23. Great tutorial. I have made regular pinwheels using sew the outsides first, then slice corner to corners and sew back together. Ezy, pezy...

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  24. This is great , love all you can do with them after they're made.

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  25. at first I thought you were making 4 HSTs like jenny doan does, but the boston block is a much more fun component to work with! thanks to whomever posted this on the quilting board as well! thank you preeti!

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  26. Awsome tutorial!!! Thank you very much. Looking forward to see more.

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  27. Just found this tutorial - thank you so much for taking the time to post the steps. I am going to try it today for my charity quilts - so many exciting possibilities!
    Kathy T. in Tampa

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  28. I just found your tutorial it's great I've always disliked: making those blocks, even though I like pinwheels, I'm going to have to play with those now.

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  29. What a great block....very versatile....gonna show my quilting group how to do these....I can see lots of borders being made with this method in the future, even if only by me lol

    Hugs
    Naomi

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  30. What a wonderful tutorial! I am an editor for FaveQuilts and would love to feature your tutorial on my site with full credit to you. I know my readers would just love it and generate some nice traffic to your site. If you would like us to feature your project, our readers will simply click the link to your blog to get your full tutorial. Your project will look similar to this project already on my site: http://www.favequilts.com/Block-Patterns/3D-Stunning-Star-Block/


    My site is part of Prime Publishing and we publish 19 cooking and crafting web sites. We have over 3.5 million active e-mail subscribers and about 10 million page views per week. You can learn more about us at www.primecp.com.

    Please shoot me an email to let me know if you would like to get started!

    Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you!

    Mollyhall

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  31. Pretti, this is a terrific idea and a beautifully explained tutorial. I can't wait to do this one. I am so glad I found your site/blog. And thank you one more time for generously sharing your terrific ideas.

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  32. Pinned! Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing. xx

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  33. Great tutorial, thanks for sharing. I love the idea of a different pinwheel

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  34. Excellent. Thank you.

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  35. Fantastic tute! Have never seen or imagined so many different patterns with four patch HSTs. Thank You!! Love, love, love this!!!

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  36. Thank you for your willingness to do all this work to present these blocks & tutorials for we novice quilters. It is much appreciated. Ruby

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  37. I love your method for this block! I can't wait to get started. A few things to finish first then it will be playtime with your tut. Thank you, thank you, thank you. :D

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  38. Oh my goodness!!! This is just wonderful..thank you I can't wait to play. Thank you!

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  39. Yes we were thinking the same thing!! Love all your layouts, especially the pinwheels!

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  40. I have bookmarked this page! Reminds me of Eleanor Burns' method for making Flying Geese! Love the variations you showed too - what's not to love about patchwork...

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  41. Great tutorial, thank you for sharing your expertise.

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  42. Very cool, Preeti! I think my favorite is the first one, the twisty block, but they are all cool! This is going in my bookmarks!! Thank you for sharing!

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  43. Wow Preeti - this is very cool and very helpful! I am bookmarking your tute and will be using it sometime for sure! Thanks for sharing your expertise!

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  44. Very cool ... and so well written/photographed! Thank you

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  45. Awesome and sure I`ll try it.Thanks!

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  46. this looks like a very cool way to make HST.. thanks

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  47. This is a GREAT tutorial. Love the variation possibilities as well as the simply terrific method of creating the 4PHST block! Thanks.

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  48. You rock! Thanks so very very much.

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  49. excellent tutorial. Great, great , great.

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  50. Learned to make Boston Blocks that end up all the same by crossing over the sewing on the diagonal. Then you add the larger half square. That was fun.
    I will try this on day. I especially like the last one, and I see that one uses both directions of blocks.

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  51. This is a great way to make this block! I am excited to getting fabric together to get started, so many possibilities! Thank you!

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  52. Timeless fun block you have here. Thanks.

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  53. Excellent tute. I'll bookmark for future use. So versatile. Thank you.

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  54. nice easy to follow block tutorial, thanks I'll be saving for later and using it often.... I followed from a link in Susie's Scrap Bag

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    1. correction... susie's-scraps.com

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  55. Here's another "pat".. while sitting with the hubs watching (not watching really) the TV.. i was scanning a table runner pattern i had. It was pinwheels using this block.. cute but WAY too much work in their manner. I KNEW there must by a quicker way! Google and up come Pretti with a faster way..Lucky me! This is next on the list.. Thank you my friend for your wonderful mind:)) GrammaBabs:))

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  56. Love, love this! So many ways to use it, but it's my next quilt border. THANK YOU! Barb

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  57. Preeti, you are amazing! Thank you for sharing this tutorial. Love it!

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  58. Hi Pretti, I would like to use this technique for a quilting bee project. Would you allow me to print your tutorial for the other ladies to use when making my bee block? No more than 11 ladies will receive a printout within our quilting guild.
    Let me know, sharon Compton

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    1. Dear Sharon,
      You are a no-reply blogger and therefore I cannot respond to you via email. You and your bee mates are welcome to use the tutorial and the printout. Thank you for asking. I'd be thrilled if I can see what you make from this tutorial. Please email me at
      sewpreetiquilts@gmail.com.

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  59. Thanks for this! I love that you used 5" charm squares, it's always good to have another something to do with them!!

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  60. Laurilli J BazilleJuly 21, 2018 at 6:30 PM

    Hi Pretti, I just found your site by googling Boston blocks. I LOOOVE your tutorial.So much easier than some I've seen. Thanks so much.

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  61. I've just discovered the forum of the MSQC blogspot. Feel lucky that yours is the first tutorial I took a look at. Thanks for sharing it.

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  62. Boy did you ever do a lot with a simple block..... MORE please!

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  63. what a nice tutorial that is quick making these blocks...thanks for sharing!

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  64. Great tutorial. What a quick way to make these blocks. Thanks for showing the variations in the layouts.

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  65. this is fabulous! Just what I have been looking foor

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  66. Excellent tutorial. I am reading your blog. Very easy to understanding information. It's a very helpful blog. Thanks for sharing. Keep it up.

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  67. Perfecto tutorial que voy a poner en práctica muy pronto.
    Gracias!!!

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  68. Hi Preeti:-) I stumbled upon your blog while searching for quilty inspiration and this particular tutorial caught my eye. I am new to quilting and EPP. Very new. I love the pinwheel block and especially love your three dimensional pinwheel ♡♡☆☆ excellent tutorial as well

    Sandra
    South Kilkenny
    Rep. of Ireland

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  69. Yep... pretty darned ingenious. Thanks Preeti !!
    ~Diana K.

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  70. I love pinwheels. I love this!!! And now I love you!!! Someone recently introduced me to Boston hst in a painstakingly complicated “shortcut” fashion. Love them but wow!!! Now I look forward to making them! I’ll be using this method for a baby quilt I need in a month!!!

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  71. Thank you for this tutorial - you make it look so easy.

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  72. Thank you for this easy and simple to follow tutorial. I can't wait to try this. Once the blocks are cut you have so many options for design. Thank you so much!

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  73. Brilliant, thank you! With the colors you've chosen the block is definitely reminiscent of Boston. Question please...when assembling the pinwheel blocks together, how do you sew it without losing the "point"?

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  74. I love Boston blocks! Awesome tutorial. Thanks so much

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