Quilting: Making Easy Blocks - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. This block is called "Endless Stairs", and it has a very cool look when there are multiple blocks all pieced together in a larger quilt. I really like it cuz its pretty, its fun to make it look kind of funky and depending on the color of fabrics that you use you can make sort of a more modern look but its also a pretty easy block to make. To start you just take two strips of fabric, I have them about 20 inches long. One that is 3 inches, one that is 2 inches. And you piece them together so you have one long strip like this. And this is a 4 and a half inches wide right here. So then you go and you cut out of this long strip, 4 squares that are 4 and a half inches by 4 and a half inches, so you will end up from a strip like this, you will get 4 squares like this. And then it is just pretty standard patchwork. You arrange them in to the block and piece them together. This is kind of a fun block, it is called "The Spool" because it sort of looks like a spool of thread, which you can tell more when there are multiple ones pieced together. But again, its a really simple one. It is basically just squares as you can see its 3 squares of one color and two squares of the other. And then the four-squares along in the corners are something like this. And to make a square like this, this is what I would do, I would cut out the two different colors. Cut them out in squares that you are using. I would fold one of them in half like this, iron it down. So you have this mark along the diagonal. Layer the two pieces like this. If you are using a patterned fabric it would be right-side facing. You stitch along that line that you had in the fold, so you would get something like this. Then you would cut off that extra fabric, open up the square and you have your, kind of, little square made up of two triangles. So then you have 4 of those and you have your other solid squares pieced together to make this final block. This last one is more typical in the type of work that I do, in that it is not really measured and that its improvisational. Its kind of a fun, funky look. To get this I really just, it is very easy but you kind of have to let go of some of the measuring and some of the precision. And I love it, its always a great way to use scraps of fabric and I always have scraps of fabric because I can never throw it away. And you cut 3 sort of wonky, no right or wrong here, sort of tapered strips of fabric like this. And then you would take 4 squares of fabric that are roughly 3 inches, 2 and a half to 3 inches. But then again, they are not even precise squares as you can see. And you stitch them together like the two, and they are going to not line up, they are going to be wonky like this, as you can see. So you do that twice so you have two sort of wonky looking things like this. And then you will stitch those along this strip right here. So you will end up with a little piece that is like this, that is obviously, all of the edges are uneven at the ends and that kind of thing. So once you have this I then cut this into an exact 4 inch by 4 inch square. And once you have that I just take two 4 inch strips and stitch them along the edges to make a border. So it is just kind of fun because the middle has a kind of off-kilter look, but by adding the border strips and trimming and measuring it, you end up with something that is a predictable, precise size that can be used in making a larger quilt.