Rocky Mountain Puzzle Quilt Block

The Rocky Mountain Puzzle quilt block won't be a puzzle for long.

Not after you learn the secret!

Solve the puzzle with quick pieced HST and a bit of partial seam piecing. That's all there is to it.

Time to cut up and sew!

Now I stitched this sample with my Sunday Sew-In gals (there's nothing like a day filled with quilting, good company, laughter and never-ending lattes!).

As luck would have it, my quarter inch foot was back at home.

And my Quick Quarter ruler was keeping it company!

Now there's no way I'm going to consistently eyeball a decent 1/4" away from the marked lines on those five pairs. (It's just not in my nature!)

But there's always more than one way to get things done in quilting!

So I simply marked the sewing lines instead—a quarter inch away from that center diagonal of the block.

Very easy to stitch with an open toe applique foot.

Below you can see a stitched #1/#2 (upper left), cut in half (upper right) and the two resulting HSTs with SA pressed to the dark.

Repeat the process for the remaining pairs of #1/#2 squares.

Now check the accuracy of your stitching using the chart below. Trim as needed.

HST Dimensions
Finished Block Size	Trim HST to…
8"	2½"
12"	3½"
16"	4½"

How'd you do?

Because I prefer sewing with oversized patches, trimming is always a necessary step in my piecing.

Stitch half of the first #4 to the center #3.  Start your sewing from the edge with the #3 and #4 patches aligned.

The pin (red arrow) shows where to stop stitching. I don't usually backstitch here since there's just a bit of stitching. Nothing to put any strain on the individual stitches. 

If you feel better taking a backstitch or two...go ahead.

After sewing, you can see it's partially sewn. The arrow points to the end of the stitching line.

This partial seam is pressed flat first to set the seam, then out towards the #4.

Add the next #4 to the side containing the #3 and #4 patches.

Below the third #4 is added. (The red arrow points to the first partial seam.)

Add the final #4.

All that's left is to finish the second half of the first seam. 

The pin to the right of my fingers shows where this final seam will end.

I do overlap my stitches here to secure the seam.

One final pressing and the center of the Rocky Mountain Puzzle looks like this.

With RST, stitch the units in the center row together. SA are pressed toward the center.

With RST, sew the rows together. Use pins as needed. 

Check out 'Perfect Points for Impeccable Patchwork' for help with matching points.

Our Rocky Mountain Puzzle quilt block is complete.

And from the back so you can see how the SA all fit together.

Our Rocky Mountain Puzzle is a puzzle no more!