Color Block Winged Square

My mother-in-law just got a new tablet, and so I decided to also make her a tablet case for mother’s day (see the iPad I made my mom for mother’s day here). For this one, I followed this tutorial at During Quiet Time for making a winged square block with a two-color gradient. I love that it takes a very traditional quilt block but uses color to interpret it in a modern way. Amy at During Quiet Time is working on a quilt full of these blocks with different colors – check them out here.

My husband suggested using navy and purple for his mom’s mother’s day gift, so I made this color gradient winged square block in navy and purple for the front of the tablet case. I have lots of effectively monochromatic prints in my fabric stash, so the hardest part was finding a nice fabric with purple and blue together in the right scale for a block to fit on the tablet case. I had to reduce the size from During Quiet Time’s tutorial to fit on the tablet case, and the final ‘quilt block’ on the front is about 6″ square – so those half-square triangles are only 1″ finished on each side. I even broke into my treasured collection of fabrics I brought back from Japan on my trip there last December for the first time for that navy cherry blossom print.

This is a great block for using up scraps because all you need for the ‘wing’ triangles is one ~2″ square of each of 6 prints.

I lined the tablet case with some navy flannel for a soft inside, and used a purple zipper to go with the colors on the front. I also used a craft-weight fusible interfacing on the flannel to make the case more sturdy.

I’m really pleased with how this turned out. This is my first tiny-piecing project, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well I managed to get most of the tiny corners and triangle points to line up. I’m completely in love with this block, and definitely see more of them in my future – although maybe on a larger scale. I love the mix of traditional and modern and how it features the two colors in a really fun way.

I wrapped it up in kraft paper and printed out this lovely free printable card onto some linen cardstock I have left over from wedding invitations. I attached it to the package with some washi tape I have that matches the card perfectly. I know its past mother’s day, but you could store this card away for next year if you like it. I did share the card on my facebook and twitter before mother’s day – like/follow me there if you use those by clicking the links above or the gray circles on my my right side bar!