Rambler Block – October 2020 BOM

We are continuing to do more blocks from the  “One Hundred and one Patchwork Patterns”  book by Ruby Short McKim.  The book was published in 1931, and my husband’s maternal Grandmother learned to quilt from this book.  These blocks are done in her honor.  

The 24th block for 2020, is Rambler. 

“THIS is the Rambler, an old-fashioned favorite which pieces a block about 12 1/2 inches square. It is clever either as a patchwork pillow or for a quilt top set together with alternating white blocks, the roses spotting color, and the triangle leaves rambling in formal pattern diagonally across the quilt. (McKim)

This block will be 12 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ unfinished, or 12″ finished.

Our flying geese will be made similar to the way the original blocks were done, but a quicker way to create the triangles without templates.  It can also be done with the No-waste Flying Geese method.

Fabric Cutting

Assembly

Step 1 – Preparing the pieces for assembly.

Piece 1 – Cut all of the 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ pieces diagonally in half, creating 4 triangles of all three colors.

Piece 2 – Cut the 7 1/4″ x 7 1/4″ piece diagonally both directions, creating 4 triangles.

Piece 3 – Cut the 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ background pieces diagonally both directions, creating 20 triangles.

Piece 4 – Do not cut the 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ square.  You could fuzzy cut a section of the fabric for the middle of the block, just watch the direction of the design.

Step 2 – Square in Square – Middle of the block.

Using the Piece 4 ( 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″) and four Piece 3 (background triangles)

Fold the triangle in half and the square, to find the middle to match.  Sew the first side to the square. 

Press the seams toward the background (white).

Add the second side to the square, again folding the pieces in half to find mid point.  Sew the side, then press towards the background.

Continue to add the other two sides of the square.

Square up the block to 4 3/4″ x 4 3/4″, and remove the dog ears.

If you need to trim, make sure you do it from both sides, to keep the square in the middle.

Step 3 – Flying Geese

Using two pieces of piece 3 and one piece 1 (two colors)

Sew the left side triangle to the center.

 Press seams towards the background (white).

Sew the right triangle to the center, and press seams towards the background (white). Square up each to 2 5/8″x 4 3/4″, and trim off the dog ears.

 You will create 4 of both colors.

Find the center of the top flying geese and sew the two together, repeat four times, making sure that all four are the same. 

Square up the two flying Geese to be 4 3/4″ x 4 3/4″, making sure to if you need to trim, to do so from both sides of the flying geese and to keep the seam allowance at the top of the blocks.

Step 4 – Add triangle to top of Flying Geese

Fold the top triangle in half to find the center point, and sew to the top of the flying geese.

Sew the two pieces together and press towards the triangle added.

You will do this to all four sets of Flying geese.

Step 5 – Assemble block together

Using Piece 2 (4 triangles), Square-in-square, and flying geese, assemble block 

Layout the pieces according to the following layout, and then sew them into three groups. 

Press each section, pressing Column 1 & 3 towards the pink (outside triangles) and Column 2 towards the center (square-in-square), so the sections can be nested together to reduce bulk, and to make matching easier.

Sew the three pieces together, and then press seams.  Then trim off the dog ears by squaring up the block to 12 1/2″ x 12 1/2″

You have now completed the Rambler block, the first block for October 2020.

I look forward to seeing all your wonderful blocks!  Make sure to post on the Facebook group!  Remember to add the hashtag #BOMRumbler.

Thank you for joining us for this additional 2020 block of the month! 

Click Here for a downloadable PDF of the instructions.

For the previous blocks, you can check under “Units” in the Facebook group.