Any desperate housewives out there?

Jane (Want it, Need it, Quilt!)  is running a really fun program of block tutorials called the Desperate Housewives Quiltalong at the moment.  You can make some or all of these 8" blocks, as desired.  This week it's my turn and I will be showing you how to make a paint chips block.  

1.   Pick 15 fabrics in five piles of similar tones (eg bluey purples) but different values (darker, lighter).  I used Kona solids for this block but you could also try it using prints.   

2.   Cut a 2 1/2" X 1 1/2" rectangle from each one.  From the background fabric (mine is white), cut 2 WOF strips 1" wide and then cut these as follows:  10 pieces 1 1/2" long; 6 pieces 7 1/2" long and 2 pieces 8 1/2" long.  Lay out the coloured rectangles in the order in which they will lie in the block.  

3.   Sew the coloured rectangles into rows with the 1 1/2" white strips as separators.  

4.   Sew these rows together using 4 of the 7 1/2" strips as separators.  

5.   Sash the whole block by sewing the 2 remaining 7 1/2" strips down the sides then the 8 1/2" strips along the top and VOILA you have an 8" paint chips block.  

If you make this block, I would love it if you would add a picture of it to both the Desperate Housewives Flickr group as well as my Lily's Quilts Flickr group.  To find all the other block tutorials from this Desperate Housewives series, click on the button below.