Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler - July Block 2 - Lantern Light

After finishing the last block, which was called Lantern, this one called to me because it was called Lantern Light.  I really didn't get the name when I saw the sample block, but as I put mine together, I looked at it with the stripes going horizontal and it suddenly looked like a Chinese Lantern to me.

 You will need 6 strips of red for this block.  They should each be 1.5 by 6.5 inches.  In addition, you will need 4 squares of background fabric which are 2.5 inches each.

Start by sewing your 1.5 inch strips into pairs.  No need to iron yet.  

 Next, sew the pairs together.  You may press all the seams in the same direction if you like, the direction of the pressing isn't a concern for this block.  Now take your 4 background squares and draw a line from corner to corner along the diagonal.

 Place a background square on each corner with the lines forming a circle of sorts.  You will be using flip and sew corners to "snowball" your block.  Sew on each drawn line.

 I like to press my corners back before trimming.  If everything looks good then you can double sew the corners to yield bonus triangles if you prefer.  I did not in this case, because the HST blocks would have multiple bits of red.  In any case, trim away the extra fabric and you will have a beautiful 6 inch sampler block.  This block could also be made from different widths of strings to make a great scrap busting block.

Go ahead and add your star points using the tutorial found on the RSC 15 Sampler tab at the top of the page and you will have your sampler blocks done for July.  Now it is time to start putting some rows together!  Together with the pink blocks you are ready to finish off the bottom row.