Fun Blocks Inspired by English Paper Piecing

Today is January 13 and a few years ago I was making a block here and there from the New Hexagon Block a Day calendar by Katja Marek.

6" Block inspired by the January 13 English Paper Pieced version

While I am quite comfortable with EPP and these patches were not difficult, I wasn't too excited about the sizes of the patches. I realized I could easily rotary cut the diamonds, half hexagons and triangles and put them together with my sewing machine. I did just that!

Here are some photo steps:

Two 60 degree triangles (finish to 3" high)

Added a half-hexagon to one side.

Added a second half-hexagon to the other side.

Rotary cut two more half hexagons and diamonds. Notice there are NO y-seams so far. 

Stitched those last 2 seams and I was done. Hey - this was easy. Let's make some more! And I did! Notice that each of the six blocks uses a different gray print to set them into a larger triangle. But the other fabrics are the same throughout.

Six January 13 blocks stitched - and STILL no y-seams!

And putting some borders on . . .

Table Topper from January 13 block: 32" x 38"

And here's my label placed in one of those 120 degree angles!

And I made one more as a sample for my English Paper Piecing classes. I used the Sgraffito Collection by Benartex.

Another January 13 block

I no longer have my calendar - I gave it away to a local guild member. I made several blocks from it and many I converted to rotary cutting and piecing. To each his own, right?