Happy Monday! Today is SAHRR Border 4 reveal, and it’s my week to share the next border. I’m excited to see what you do with this easy block, although you may have to think out of the box a bit for some of your quilts. Before we get started, though, here is the schedule with links to the other hosts. You’ll want to see what they have created for their fourth borders this week, too.
- January 13: Center Block Reveal.
- January 20: 1st Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
- January 27: 2nd Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
- February 3: 3rd Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail
- February 10: 4th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts – Link up below!
- February 17: 5th Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
- February 24: 6th Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
- March 24: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!
We are now in the second half of the 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin, isn’t that wild? It seems like the weeks just fly by. This past week definitely flew by for me. I spent the first half of the week in a congested haze from a cold, then scrambled to get this border and post ready during the second half. Phew! Good thing my block choice was simple!
Okay, so let’s talk about that simple block for this SAHRR border 4. The block this week is a Sliced Square with Insert, for lack of a better name. Here is a sample of how I made my blocks. This is a very versatile block, so have fun playing around with the strip size, how many slices to cut, as well as how to lay it out as a border.
For my blocks. I used a 3.5-inch background square, cut it on the diagonal, inserted a 1-inch strip in red, green, orange or blue fabrics and then squared it to 3.5 inches. Your blocks can be any size, and you can choose to slice them as you wish. You can slice diagonally, vertically, horizontally, or a combination. Your insert strips can also vary in size – they don’t have to be 1 inch, that’s just the size that suited me. You could make your slices wider to look like the signature blocks in my 2024 quilt. If you want more of an improv look, you can make them skinny, like I did with this SAHRR quilt.
For some of you, this simple block may not be what you are looking for, or may be odd as a stand alone block, so you may have to think out of the box a bit. Keep in mind that as a “sliced square”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the square needs to be your background fabric, or any other plain piece of fabric. How about these ideas:
- A Disappearing 4-patch or 9-patch block. The block is square, it is sliced, and you insert the strips in different places.
- A Drunkard’s Path block that has been sliced, as I did in this quilt (scroll to the end bottom of the post and see the sliced circles in the quilt).
Have some fun thinking about how you can slice a square and add an insert of another fabric!
Here is my quilt, done with the sliced square border. I decided to lay out the blocks to create a zig zag look to the border.
My border is 3-1/2 inches wide. And look! I snuck those little wagon wheel blocks in the corners! My quilt has grown and now measures 41 inches square. I haven’t added the coping border, because I ran out of time, but it will be on before I add Border 5.
Prizes and Sponsors
We reached out to several companies that we all LOVE and many of them agreed to sponsor the SAHRR 2025!!! We will keep track of all of the participants that link to our Linky parties each week. We will make a list and use a random number generator to choose the winners for each prize! So, if you link up to 3 Linky parties, you will have 3 opportunities to win! If you don’t have a blog or Instagram account, contact me, or one of the other co-hosts and we will post your SAHRR on our blog. This way you still have an opportunity to win!
- One of 3 fat quarter bundles from Island Batik:
- Flutter Fields
- Shadow Blooms
- Bubbles curves and corners!
- Oliso Pro Plus Iron
- Hobbs Batting
- A pattern of YOUR choice from A Quiltery
- A quilt pattern from Devoted Quilter
- A pattern from Sew Fresh Quilts
- and more to come!
Many thanks to the sponsors for their generosity!
The Linky Party
Link up here this week! I’m looking forward to seeing your creativity! Note: This linky party will close at 11:59 pm (CST) on Sunday, Feb. 16th – please plan accordingly!
Okay, happy pondering and stitching up your SAHRR Border 4, everyone! I’m excited to see your creative work! Be sure to stop by the other co-hosts blogs for more inspiration!
Wendy
The star pattern is growing beautifully. Those zigzags really pull a punch. I think you are very clever!
Hope you are over your cold.
When I read through your post the first time, i really liked what you had done for your fourth border, but I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to find a way to incorporate your prompt into my project. However, after a couple of hours of thinking, and rereading your post three more times, I have germ of an idea for mine. Thanks Wendy. Have a great week
I just love your quilt, so fun and non-traditional. I need to think out of the box MORE .
Ooh, this is fun! These blocks in the pattern you used make a great border design, Wendy! I will not be home to work on mine for a few more days, but I can think about it as we travel. Have a great week!
Those sliced squares look great! And sneaking those wagon wheel blocks on the corner works very well. Love your progress!
I like how you used your “slice square insert” block, Wendy! Cute zigzag round!!!
This is a terrific block for this round! It offers some negative space which is so important in a quilt. The possibilities for this block or endless.
I do like the sliced square technique. I first used it after Zippy (Mary) shared a tutorial on her ‘Fiddlesticks’ pattern which are several sliced strips in a block. Reference: https://zippyquilts.blog/2020/06/21/fiddlesticks/
I think the single sliced square (yours) technique lends itself to useful applications in secondary designs – as your zigzag demonstrates. Fun!
ps-I hope you win one of the prizes this year!
Thanks for an easy versatile block selection. I noticed that the instructions for most Japanese blocks start with cutting a bunch of squares and then slicing them into triangles. BTW, I didn’t see any blocks when I clicked into the Inlinkz party. Is the problem the link or my browser, I wonder.
It’s looking great. I love your colors!
That is the perfect border to add to your quilt.
This is a favorite technique for me.
Do the “squares” have to be square? Or would it be okay to use split rectangles?
I love how your blocks zig-zag around the quilt!!! And the different colours with that yummy grunge! ♥️
that quilt is more interesting looking by the week!
I like your sliced blocks and the zigzag pattern.
Looks great! I look forward to seeing it quilted!
This new round solution is dancing around your quilt. It’s a fabulous round.
I love the variety of colors your using.
Your quilt is looking great. I have some ideas for this round but you’ve given so many choices it’s hard to decide 🙂
I love the movement of the zig zag design.
I love the zig zag look, Wendy! It really goes well with your quilt.
That border looks awesome, Wendy!
This ended up being a very versatility choice of a prompt! I really like that you used a variety of different colors as your inserts. Your quilt looks very fun!
This one had me a bit perplexed at first, but thanks to Kathleen and Emily, their thoughts and inspirations inspired both of my SAHRR quilts! I do like your zigzag border!
What a great prompt, love this block and how you used it on your round. I’m late for this week, but it’s going to be fun to piece these blocks 😉
Thank you! Have fun!
The scrappy approach really works for that border. I didn’t get very far. I’m hoping to catch up this week.
Gasp! I love the addition of this next border! The quilt top is looking so good!