Happy New Year! What better way to kick off the year than with a whole bunch of complementary block patterns. I’m joining in this month with the Quilt Block Mania blog hop, and we have 30 different designers each providing a pattern for a 12” finished quilt block. The patterns are guaranteed to be free all month long! (Free through January 31, 2021.)

The theme this month is Romance. To me, there’s nothing more romantic than a quiet dinner by candlelight. That inspired me to design this block with big, decorative candles. The block is mostly pieced traditionally, with just a little bit of foundation paper piecing for the flames. If you’re new to foundation paper piecing, I’ve included a video tutorial a bit farther down.

More Ideas

I mocked up this block in a couple of different colorways. I feel like it could work really well with just about any color scheme!

Here’s what it would look like if you made a whole quilt with this block.

Tips for Success

Printing

There are lots of different paper options for foundation paper piecing. I personally just use regular printer paper.

Make sure you print the pattern at 100% Scale or Actual Size (the wording varies with different printers). It helps to use a real computer rather than a mobile device. Once you’ve printed, measure the 1” test square to make sure it came out right.

printing tips for foundation paper piecing

Stitch Length

You want to use a short stitch length when you’re doing the foundation paper piecing. Smaller stitches perforate the paper so it tears away easily. If your stitch length is too long, you may end up pulling out your stitches when you try to remove the paper. I set my stitch length to 1.5.

Tools

The Add-A-Quarter ruler makes paper piecing SO much easier! It allows you to trim your seam allowance before lining up the next piece of fabric. It makes a huge difference in getting everything positioned correctly. Just fold the sewing line over a thin sturdy bookmark, then slide the lip of the ruler up to the fold and trim (I demonstrate this in the next section). The ruler comes in two sizes - 6” long and 12” long.

I also like to keep a separate rotary cutter for paper piecing. Cutting through paper dulls your blade much faster than just cutting through fabric. And a standard washable glue stick is a must for getting that first piece to stay in place until it’s sewn.

Video Tutorial

If you’re new to paper piecing, I recorded this video to walk you through the process. This is a good beginner project because it doesn’t have sharp points or challenging angles. And I wrote the cutting instructions to be generous to make the paper piecing easier. I hope you’ll give it a try!

Design Boards

Once my flames were finished, I laid all of my pieces out on a design board. This made it so easy to assemble the block! Check out this post for tips on making your own design boards.