How to Sew a Tic Tac Toe Quilt Block

Did you know that this week is game and puzzle week? It is sounds like a fun week to me, so I decided to checkout some quilt blocks and see if I can find the one that related to a game or puzzle. And sure enough, I found one called tiktakto. This was probably the first game that I have learn when I was kid as soon as I could pick up a crayons, somebody thought me how to draw those lines and put excess notes in it. It is a pretty fun game and of course, I spend hours playing it. But, when you are 4-years-old or whatever, there is not of a like you can do. In any case, I am ready to get started on the block. This is a pretty easy block to sew together and I got some shortcuts to show you. This is Penny Halgren from QuiltBlockLibrary.com. Let us get started. Now, I have this interesting pile of pieces that look nothing like with the templates look like. So, I am going to show my shortcut way to sew these blocks together. The first thing I did was cut strips. So in these pieces, these patches, instead of sewing all of these together individually, what I am going to do is sew strips of the dark and the light together. So the first I am going to do is just put this right sides together and so to see. Now these two strips are sewn together. I am going to open it up and I am not going to press it yet, but I am going to sew the other white strip on so that I am going to end up with the white, blue, white unit. Now this unit is all sewn together and I am going to carry it over to my iron board to press it. I am going to press it so that the simulans are behind that blue center piece. These three strips have been sewn together, and I have piece this is long. I do not know, it is 20 inches long and I need 4-1/2 inch patches. So I will just place my little square ruler on the anterior so that I got my 4-1/2 inch marks line up there and on the other side as well and then I can just cut this strip off and then I have a foreign square that is going to fit between those squares in the block. So I am going to do that four times and we will be back to the sewing machine. So the patches now in the centers of the sides were all finished and now you can see I have just got four squares in each one of the corners and when you look at the pattern, these are square on squares. So what I have done is I have cut these white patches and they are going to go in each one of the corners. And instead of cutting triangles out, I cut squares. So I am going to show my secret way of sewing, not that it is so secret, but my way of sewing these triangles on. And basically, what I am going to do is lay the square in the corner and then stitch from corner to corner. You could draw a line from one corner to other corner, but I have done this so many times that I do not really need to have a line. So, I just kind of estimate where the other corner is and when I finished, I open that up. And you can see that that matches the corner approximately. It does not have to be perfect, but now I can use this blue as a foundation for making the square patch in the corner and that is kind of pointer. So now, I have just added the next one on. So I am going take this triangle, or I am going to take this square patch and sew it on. Now, I have got the second corner, so I am going to pull that one over and put a pin in it and then I will add the third corner the same way. Stitch from corner to corner and then I am going to add the fourth corner and I will do that with all of the corner patches. Now, this is looking more like the picture. I have got all my little corner patches and I have not pressed them and I also have not cut these back pieces away. I could trim any of these. I could trim one layer or I could trim both layers and just leave the top to make the patch. However, because this is dark fabric and this is light fabric, I am going to leave the extra layer here so that I can hide that blue. So the first thing I am going to do now is sew two columns together by simple turning right sides together. Make sure that all of these were open up or however that works and then sew down the sim. So I am just going to sew straight down and I am going to change so those two columns are together. These two columns are sewn together and so allow me to do is add this column on and then we will have it almost finished. The patches in each of these gross have opened and sewn together, so allow me to do is sub my rollers together. So I am going to start at the top and just fold this down and stitch across. The top two gross were sewn together, so now I just need to bring that bottom row up and sew the final sim. This tiktakto block is all finish and ready to be iron. So here is our finished tiktakto block. You can put it up. You can put it on point. It is pretty fun, very colorful. Happy game and puzzle week and find a kid teach him to play tiktakto or playing another game that might be little more complicated. In any case, I hope you enjoy watching, sewing these block together and join us again next week where we will have another video. In the meantime, this is Penny Halgren signing off from QuiltBlockLibrary.com. You can, if you are not already there, go to the site at QuiltBlockLibrary.com and find the free pattern download. You can get this pattern for free. Thanks for joining us. Peaceful piecing!