Blackwork Roads: May Chunk
- vafibrearts
- May 6
- 7 min read
Hello Friends and Happy May!
As the new month settles in, I've been enjoying some seasonally appropriate rain showers!
I really love rainy days; the weather makes it's own sort of music and dampens the sounds of the busy world outside, and I've always enjoyed the peaceful experience of walking in the rain!
And after a leisurely stroll through the rain, it's nice to come home to a warm, dry sewing room to do a little stitching. And what better project than the next chunk of our Blackwork Roads quilt along?
May Chunk
This month, we're drawing very close to the end of our quilt along. In fact, the May chunk is our last one before final assembly in June!
This final chunk will be the last corner of the Blackwork Roads quilt. Like all other corner chunks, it will feature the Kings Crown and Sawtooth Star motifs in another new colour layout!
This will be the fourth variation on the block; we started with the leftmost colour arrangement in November, then carried on with new layouts in January and March, and the final version of the block in May is shown on the far right.
Each different layout created a unique design when the blocks were tiled together, giving each month's chunk a totally different effect!
The May chunk comes together to create a chain of star shapes, with the emphasis on the Sawtooth Star portion of the design and the King's Crown fading into the background; the opposite of March's chunk!
And once your chunk has been assembled, I recommend running a stay stitch around the outer edge to prevent the long bias bits from stretching. This may be the last chunk, but final assembly is still a month away!
Pattern Notes
sew all seams using a ¼” seam allowance
press each seam before sewing the next and before trimming units
to cut diagonally once, yielding two triangles should look like this:
to cut diagonally twice, yielding four triangles should look like this:
read all pattern instructions and notes before beginning to piece
Cutting Instructions
Cut the pieces that correspond to your chosen quilt size and sort them based on the units they will be used in as labelled.
Small Quilt
BG: 1 square at 6½” (for finishing)
32 squares at 2" (16 for HSTs, 16 for FG)
Acc: 16 bars at 2½”x 1½” (for GaBs)
4 squares at 2" (for TiaTs)
12 squares at 1½” (for QSs)
Lt.1: 1 square at 3⅜” (for FG)
1 square at 2⅞”, cut in half diagonally once to yield two triangles each
(for finishing)
1 square at 2½” (for finishing)
6 squares at 2" (for HSTs)
6 squares at 1½” (for QSs)
Md.1: 2 square at 3⅜” (for FG)
6 squares at 2" (2 for TiaTs, 4 for HSTs)
2 squares at 1½” (for QSs)
Dk.1: 1 square at 3⅜” (for FG)
1 square at 2⅞”, cut in half diagonally once to yield two triangles each
(for finishing)
1 square at 2½” (for finishing)
8 squares at 2" (2 for TiaTs, 6 for HSTs)
4 squares at 1½” (for QSs)
Medium Quilt
BG: 1 square at 9½” (for finishing)
32 squares at 2½" (16 for HSTs, 16 for FG)
Acc: 16 bars at 3½”x 2” (for GaBs)
4 squares at 2½" (for TiaTs)
12 squares at 2” (for QSs)
Lt.1: 1 square at 4⅜” (for FG)
1 square at 3⅞”, cut in half diagonally once to yield two triangles each
(for finishing)
1 square at 3½” (for finishing)
6 squares at 2½" (for HSTs)
6 squares at 2” (for QSs)
Md.1: 2 squares at 4⅜” (for FG)
6 squares at 2½" (2 for TiaTs, 4 for HSTs)
2 squares at 2” (for QSs)
Dk.1: 1 square at 4⅜” (for FG)
1 square at 3⅞”, cut in half diagonally once to yield two triangles each
(for finishing)
1 square at 3½” (for finishing)
8 squares at 2½" (2 for TiaTs, 6 for HSTs)
4 squares at 2” (for QSs)
Large Quilt
BG: 1 square at 12½” (for finishing)
32 squares at 3" (16 for HSTs, 16 for FG)
Acc: 16 bars at 4½”x 2½” (for GaBs)
4 squares at 3" (for TiaTs)
12 squares at 2½” (for QSs)
Lt.1: 1 square at 5⅜” (for FG)
1 square at 4⅞”, cut in half diagonally once to yield two triangles each
(for finishing)
1 square at 4½” (for finishing)
6 squares at 3" (for HSTs)
6 squares at 2½” (for QSs)
Md.1: 2 squares at 5⅜” (for FG)
6 squares at 3" (2 for TiaTs, 4 for HSTs)
2 squares at 2½” (for QSs)
Dk.1: 1 square at 5⅜” (for FG)
1 square at 4⅞”, cut in half diagonally once to yield two triangles each
(for finishing)
1 square at 4½” (for finishing)
8 squares at 3" (2 for TiaTs, 6 for HSTs)
4 squares at 2½” (for QSs)
Unit Piecing Instructions
Four at a Time Flying Geese (FG):
Select one large Lt.1 square and four small BG squares. Draw a diagonal line on the back of each BG square.
Place two BG squares in opposite corners of the Lt.1 square with the drawn lines running through the middle. Sew ¼” to either side of the drawn line.
Cut along the drawn line to separate into two units.
Place a third BG square on the Lt.1 corner of the pieced unit with the drawn line running towards the centre of the unit. Sew ¼” to either side of the drawn line.
Cut along the drawn line to separate into two units.
Repeat to yield four units total.
Trim to 2½”x 1½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 3½”x 2" for a medium quilt.
Trim to 4½”x 2½” for a large quilt.
Make 4 Lt.1 FG units.
Make 8 Md.1 FG units.
Make 4 Dk.1 FG units.
Goose and Bars (GaBs):
Select one Lt.1 FG unit and one Acc bar. Sew together along the long edge with the FG pointing at the bar.
Trim to 2½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 3½” for a medium quilt.
Trim to 4½” for a large quilt.
Make 4 Lt.1 GaB units.
Make 8 Md.1 GaB units.
Make 4 Md.1 GaB units.
Two at a Time Half Square Triangles (HSTs):
Select one BG square and one Lt.1 square. Draw a diagonal line on the back of the Lt.1 square.
Place the BG square on the Lt.1 square and sew ¼” to either side of the drawn line.
Cut along the drawn line to separate into two units.
Trim to 1½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 2" for a medium quilt.
Trim to 2½” for a large quilt.
Make 12 Lt.1 HST units.
Make 8 Md.1 HST units.
Make 12 Dk.1 HST units.
Quarter Stars (QSs):
Select one Acc square, one Lt.1 square, and two Lt.1 HSTs.
Assemble into a four patch unit with the HSTs in opposite corners and the BG triangles pointing to the centre of the unit.
Trim to 2½” for a small quilt.
Trim to 3½” for a medium quilt.
Trim to 4½” for a large quilt.
Make 6 Lt.1 QS units.
Make 2 Md.1 QS units.
Make 4 Dk.1 QS units.
Two at a Time Triangle in a Triangles (TiaT):
Select one Acc square, one Md.1 square, and two Md.1 HSTs.
Cut the Acc and Md.1 squares in half diagonally once to yield two triangles each.
Sew one Acc triangle to the right side of the BG half of the HST, and one Md.1 triangle to the adjacent BG half of the HST as shown:
Assemble the remaining pieces in the opposite orientation with the Md.1 triangle to the right of the BG half of the HST, and the Acc triangle on the adjacent side as shown:
Make 2 left and 2 right facing Md.1 TiaT units.
Make 2 left and 2 right facing Dk.1 TiaT units.
Finishing Instructions
May Side Left:
Select one Md.1 GaB, one Dk.1 GaB, one Dk.1 QS, one Dk.1 triangle, and two Dk.1 TiaTs.
Assemble as shown:
Using the block above and one BG square, assemble the May Side Left as shown:
May Centre:
Select one Md.1 GaB, one Dk.1 GaB, one Dk.1 QS, one Dk.1 triangle, and two Dk.1 TiaTs.
Assemble as shown:
Select two Md.1 GaBs, two Md.1 QSs, one Dk.1 square, two Dk.1 GaBs, and two Dk.1 QSs.
Assemble as shown:
Select one Lt.1 triangle, one Lt.1 GaB, one Lt.1 QS, one Md.1 GaB, and two Md.1 TiaTs.
Assemble as shown:
Using the three blocks above, assemble the May Centre as shown:
May Side Right:
Select one Lt.1 triangle, one Lt.1 GaB, one Lt.1 QS, one Md.1 GaB, and two Md.1 TiaTs.
Assemble as shown:
Select four Lt.1 QSs, two Lt.1 GaBs, one Lt.1 square, and two Md.1 GaBs.
Assemble as shown:
Using the two blocks above, assemble the May Side Right as shown:
May Chunk Assembly:
Assemble the May Side Left, Centre, and Side Right into the complete May Chunk as shown:
PDF instructions for the May chunk, including a few additional notes, can be downloaded here:
Friends, I have had so much fun working on this project with all of you and seeing your Blackwork Roads quilts come together! I can't believe we are already so close to finishing the project!
Please continue sharing updates on your progress in the comments below or by sending me an email. If you share photos on other sites, please tag them using #blackworkroadsquilt so I can find your posts!
And once you've finished your May chunk, look forward to release of the final assembly instructions on 03 June! We have almost reached the end of the Blackwork Roads and I'm enjoying every step along the way!
Until Next Time Friends, Happy Quilting!
~VA
Blackwork Roads chunks so far:
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