Quilts, Crafts and Kids
So, I’m starting a new quilt. I have 2 others I am going to finish, but when this arrived, I just had to go ahead and start. 
The bundle had 3 color groups. I decided to separate them and make the blocks color-coordinated.
I am so excited about this quilt!
In response to my tutorial about how to make a nine patch quilt block, someone asked if I had any suggestions about how to make a 9 patch quilt using 4 fabrics. So I decided to play around with 4 fabrics and see what all I could come up with.
(But really, what do I know? I just love to buy fabric and try to actually finish make quilts. So, what I would suggest is just to play with your fabric and see what looks good to you. Although, one thing I have learned is that contrast is almost always good. So what I did was use 2 dark and 2 light fabrics, which provided contrast.)
My first thought was to use 2 fabrics in each square. Then separate them with sashing. (Sashing is just a piece of fabric that separates all your quilt squares. I love sashing. I need to do a post on sashing……)
Anyway, here’s an example of that.
Then I played with the squares.
Here’s a block using 3 fabrics.
Here’s one using 4 fabrics.
In the previous 2 pictures, I had my darker fabrics at the corners and in the middle. In the next 2 I have the lighter fabrics at the corners and in the middle.
This one is using 3 fabrics.
This one has all 4 fabrics.
Like I said before, I think the best thing to do is just play around and see what you can come up with.
Just my personal preference… after playing with the fabrics, if I was going to make a 9 patch quilt using 4 fabrics, I think I would go with my first instinct and use 2 fabrics in each block and use sashing. But that’s just me. You might think differently!)
I do think I would definitely use sashing and I also think I would make sure I had a 2 darks and 2 lights to provide contrast.
Have fun!
After my post last week I couldn’t stop making these blocks.
I made this one, which made me want to run out and make a toddler quilt. Wouldn’t it be cute with white sashing? (I wanted to add another “step” of the blue fabric, but I was all out of that fabric.)
Then I made this one, which I guess is the inverse of the one from the other day. I started with a color in the middle instead of white in the middle.
Then I pulled out some Christmas fabric that I love. Of course, it’s the week before Easter…. but why not make a Christmas pillow cover? I added linen “steps” between my quilt fabric. I love it! I need to bring in different textures and fabrics more often. I used this fabric to make this Christmas quilt and these Christmas pillows.
I tried to make a teeny-tiny block, but I didn’t have the patience to finish it so I just threw it away. Wouldn’t recommend that!
Anyway, have a good weekend!
While I’m waiting for the batting to get here for this quilt and still not in the mood to finish this one, I looked through my scraps and decided to actually use some of them to make a courthouse steps quilt block.
I love this block. They’re quick (all squares and rectangles) and cute, and there are about a million different ways to approach them. I decided to use white and my more solid, colorful scraps.
Want to make one? I’m going to give you my measurements that I used, but you can use any measurements you want. The size of my completed block is 7.5 inches square.
Cut a 2 inch square.
Now cut 2 rectangles (2 inches long ((the same length as the white square)) and 1.5 inches wide) to sew on the sides of the square.
Pin both pieces of fabric, right sides together, to the white square.
Sew them together. It looks like I’m going to sew over my pins, but I’m not. You shouldn’t either! From what I hear, you can really mess up your sewing machine doing that!
Press seams to the darker fabric. (But, let me point out something I’ve noticed. I always try to press to the darker fabric when making blocks like this one, but sometimes the fabric just does not want to go in that direction. I don’t know why, any ideas? Something to do with the way I’ve sewn it, perhaps? Anyway, in that case, I usually just let the fabric do what it wants. But it is ideal, in my opinion, to press towards the darker fabric.)
ta da!
Now get another piece of fabric and cut 2 strips 1.5 inches wide and longer than the piece you just sewed with the white square. Don’t worry about measuring the length! (This is why I like making these.)
But, if you can’t stand the idea of not measuring the length, by all means, measure away! I just like not having to measure sometimes. As I’ve said before, I am many things…..but a perfectionist is not one of them!
Now pin them (remember right sides together!) and sew just like you did before.
Sew.
After you press your seams towards the darker fabric, you should have this.
Use your rotary cutter and quilt ruler to snip the edges off to make a nice square.
Now you have this.
Now add a layer of white. (Of course, if you want to add a layer of color, that’s fine, I’m just telling you what I did.)
Just cut 2 strips 1.5 inches wide and longer than the block.
I won’t bore you with repetitive pictures, but just like earlier, you’ll pin those white strips to the block, sew them together, press your seams to the darker fabric, and trim the edges.
You’ll have this.
Repeat the steps again by adding strips of white to the top and bottom. 1) Cut 2 strips 1.5 inches wide and longer than the square. 2) Pin them to the square. 3) Sew. 4) Press seams towards darker fabric. 5) Trim edges. Done!
You’ll have this. (It’s under the quilt ruler because I was squaring it up. You can square your block any time during the process you want, you don’t have to wait until you’re finished.)
You can stop here or add as many layers as you’d like. It’s up to you.
I added one more layer of color to make it a 7.5 inch square.
Cute, huh? And pretty quick, too.
When (and if) I actually complete an entire quilt with these, I’ll probably put sashing between the squares.
I love it when you make something that looks complicated and like it took forever when in reality it was super simple. The disappearing nine patch quilt pattern is that way.
Wanna make one? Well, you came to the right place! Here we go…
First, make a plain ol’ nine patch block. (directions here!)
After you’ve made your nine patch, find the middle of the block and use your quilt ruler to help you cut a straight line down the middle.
Now cut down the “other” middle.
Now you should have 4 pieces that look like this. See? It looks like it took forever, doesn’t it?
You can arrange your blocks any way you want. Oh, the possibilities!
Here’s one option. All the white in the upper right of each block.
Another possibility. Kind of haphazard. Probably my least favorite.
And another. This one’s my favorite. I like all the white at the corners.
These were just three choices. Like I said earlier, there are many ways you can arrange these blocks. Another reason why I like it.
You may or may not need the next few steps. It’s just going into more detail about how to actually sew the block together. If you sewed the nine patch, you probably already know all this stuff. But just in case…….
You’ll sew block 1 to 2 and Block 3 to 4. (right sides together!)
Iron your seams.
Sew number 1 to number 2. (right sides together)
Iron your seams, square it up and you’re done!
I’m in the process of making my son a twin quilt for his bed. I decided to make it using an hour glass quilt block pattern. Since I’m making (what feels like) a million hour glass blocks, I thought I’d write up a little tutorial.
I’ll go ahead and say that you can find this tutorial all over the Internet and everyone seems to have their own little spin on it, so this is just how I make them.
And I’ll go ahead and say that if you’re totally new to quilting, use my pictures to guide you as much (if not more) than my words. I try to make my tutorials as clear as I possibly can, but a picture’s worth a thousand words, right? Also, go ahead and read the entire tutorial before you start making your blocks. When I was new to quilting, I found this helped tremendously.
Ok….first cut your squares.
I cut mine 5.5 inches. You can cut yours any size you want. This tutorial will work with any size block.
Then put right sides together and draw a line down the middle, from one corner to the other. (It doesn’t matter which corners you use.) I used a regular pen (It was actually one of those Sharpie pens, they’re pretty bold.) and my quilt ruler and just drew a straight line. It doesn’t matter what kind of ink you use because you’re not going to be able to see your line when you’re finished anyway because you’re going to cut right down it.
Now sew a straight line down beside both sides of the line you drew. Sew 1/4 inch away from each side of the line. I used my quarter inch foot to keep my seams exact. (And if you don’t have a 1/4 inch foot, buy one. Now. Seriously. They are not expensive and they make quilting so much easier, exact and enjoyable. Just Google quarter inch sewing foot and you’ll see lots of options.)
I sewed down one side of the line I drew…….(remember, using a 1/4 seam allowance)
and then I flipped it over and sewed down the other side of the line. (again using a 1/4 inch seam allowance)
Now take your square and place your quilt ruler on the line that you drew. Your quilt ruler should touch both corners. (use my picture if you don’t understand!) Use your rotary cutter and cut straight down the line.
Don’t move your fabric at all. Take your quilt ruler, place it on the square (Now your square is in two pieces, but it should still look like a square because you haven’t moved your fabric yet.) lining up the other two corners and cut straight down that way, too.
Now you should have 4 pieces that look like this.
Take those 4 pieces and iron them open. Press your seams towards the darker fabric.
Take the 4 pieces you’ve ironed and arrange them so that you have 2 blocks that look like this. (These have not been sewn together, yet.)
Now you’re going to prepare these to be sewn together. Arrange them placing right sides together. (I put the green arrow to try to show you that I was folding the top piece down so that it lays on top the piece under it.)
Pin them together, if you want. (Not 100% necessary, in my opinion, but I like to pin these before sewing.)
Now sew them together, using a 1/4 seam allowance.
Now you should have this.
Go back to your iron and iron them open. Use your best judgement on which way to iron the seams. As far as I know, it doesn’t really matter, since there’s now way to totally iron all your seams towards the darker fabric. I iron the way the seam seems to want to go, if that makes sense. If I’m wrong here, someone let me know, but it seems to work just fine!
ta da! This is what you should have!
And you’re all done!
Squaring up quilt blocks was a step that I used to skip altogether. But then I just I drove myself crazy trying to stretch, pull and creatively iron my squares to make them work and ended up with some really wonky quilts. (Which is really fine, after all, this is supposed to be a fun hobby!) But, the more I quilt, the more I want my quilts to look really good, so I’ve started squaring up my blocks most of the time.
Here’s how I square up my quilt blocks. As with most things quilty, there are probably 3000 different ways to do this, but this is the way that works for me. And, a little heads up, you’re probably going to want to rely on my pictures more than my writing! (This was much harder to explain than I anticipated.)
In this post, I used a 6.5″ square quilt ruler and 5.5″ quilt blocks. (You can use your quilt ruler to square up any quilt square that is smaller than your ruler.)
Place your quilt square under the ruler and line up the corner of the quilt square with the 5.5″ corner of the ruler. To find the 5.5″ corner of the ruler, find where the little lines meet to form a right angle. And if that is about as clear as mud, just look at the pictures below.
(It probably goes without saying, but if your quilt square is a different size from mine, then line it up accordingly.)
Here’s a view of the entire square. You’re also going to try to line up the sides of your quilt square with the 5.5″ line on the ruler. I say try because it’s almost impossible to get this exactly perfect (at least it is for me) but close to perfect is really good enough to let you make a nice, squared up quilt.
I also use the diagonal line to try to line up my corners.
After you’ve lined everything up, trim the sides to make them even.
Repeat on all 4 sides. I usually at least check all 4 sides and make sure everything lines up pretty well. I don’t always have to trim all 4 sides.
Sometimes you’ll find that you don’t really need to trim anything and that’s great! That means your quilt square is already square!
For more beginner sewing tips, check out my Beginner Sewing Series!
Chain piecing is a great way to speed up the quilting process and it saves a little thread, so it also saves money. (Granted, not a lot of money, but still.)
I quilted for several months before I even heard of chain piecing. And when I learned about it, I was scared to try it. I don’t know idea why. It’s very simple.
So, what is chain piecing?
Well, it’s kind of like an assembly line for quilt squares. Your chain is your thread and you’re connecting your quilt blocks with that thread.
Here’e how to do it.
First, sew a block exactly like you’d normally sew it.
When the block is sewn, do NOT clip the thread. Just pop your foot up just like you normally would.
Place the block between your thumb and finger and gently pull back.
And now start sewing your next block exactly the same way as you would if you weren’t chain piecing. I’m not sure exactly, but I guess I leave a little less than an inch of thread between blocks.
Another view.
You can do this as many times as want. I usually chain together about 25 or so, clip and start over. I don’t like them getting too piled up behind my machine.
To separate, just clip with scissors.
This really will save a lot of time because you’re not having to stop and clip your thread every few seconds.
And now you have another little sewing trick to use!
My 5 year old has been asking me to make him a blanket for quite awhile and I’ve finally started on it. (If said 5 year old would ever give me more than 5 minutes to myself I could have made him a dozen blankets by now, but that’s a post for another day.)
I decided to make a little pinwheel quilt using some fabric that I bought quite several months ago. It’s probably a little babyish for him now, but he says he likes it, so I’m using it! It’s perfect, too, because it’s a dark and a light fabric, perfect for a pinwheel!
Step 1) Pick out 2 fabrics that compliment each other, one dark and light. (Of course you can use more than 2 colors, but if you’re new to quilting, I think it’s easiest to start this way, but you can do whatever you want.)
**To make your pinwheel block, you’re going to need to do Steps 2-8 TWICE! (So you’ll do step 2 two times, step 3 two times and so on.) Just scroll down and read through the instructions to understand why.**
Step 2) Next, cut a square out of your dark fabric and a square out of your light fabric. (I cut my blocks in 3.5 inch squares.)
Step 3) Take one block of each fabric and place them right sides together.
Step 4) Draw a line diagonally down the middle of the square. Make sure it goes straight down the middle by lining up your quilting ruler the way I did in the picture. Notice where the arrows are pointing in the picture below. The corners should line up exactly.
(Just a little trick I’ve learned. That white under the fabric is the non-slip stuff you buy to put in your kitchen cabinets. I just cut a small square and use it when I have to write on fabric because it helps keep fabric from shifting.)
You’ll need to keep your hand on the ruler to prevent it from slipping and it doesn’t matter when type of marker or pen you use to draw your line because you’re just going to be cutting straight down it anyway. (So don’t worry about using disappearing ink or anything.)
This is what your block will look like with the line.
Step 5) Sew a line 1/4″ from both sides of the line you drew.
To help keep my lines straight, I drew a quarter inch line on my sewing machine foot with with a permanent marker.
Line up the line you drew on your fabric with the quarter inch mark on you drew on your foot. Then sew.
If my captions in the picture above need more explanation, when I first started sewing, my instinct was to watch my needle, but it’s too late to make changes to the way your feeding your fabric through if you’re staring at the needle. If you watch the fabric as you feed it under your foot, you’ll do better. The arrow in the picture above shows where to watch your fabric. If your line on the fabric is lined up exactly with the 1/4 line you on your foot, your lines should be perfect!
Step 6) After you’ve sewn your 2 lines, cut straight down the line you drew.
Now your fabric should look like this.
Step 7) Iron your blocks open. I always iron my seams towards the darker fabric.
Step 8) Your blocks will have little tails. Just trim those right off. (This step isn’t 100% necessary, I just don’t like working with those little tails.)
**Remember! You should have done Steps 2-8 twice to be able to continue on with Step 9.**
Step 9) Arrange your blocks into a pinwheel pattern. It’s easier just to look at my picture than for me to attempt to write an explanation that would probably confuse you! Just play with your blocks until you get it right.
Step 10) Fold your blocks over to prepare them to sew. I folded mine from left to right. (Right sides together!)
If you’re looking at your block, you’re going to want to sew down the left side.
Step 11) Sew together using a 1/4″ seam allowance.
Step 12) Iron seams open.
Now you should have something like this.
Step 13) Fold over, putting right sides together.
Step 14) Sew your line. (1/4′ seam allowance)
Step 15) Iron. (again!)
Ta daa!! You’re done! You should have a cute little pinwheel block.
This particular block, while very cool-looking, has lots of steps that can make it seem tedious, but there are some things you can do to make it go a little faster. For one, you could simply make big blocks, meaning you have to do each step fewer times. You would follow these steps exactly, just start with 6 inch blocks maybe.
This quilt is going to me small, just a lap quilt for a 5 year old, so I wanted small blocks.
I’m planning on creating posts that will take you through step by step the entire quilt I’m making, so I’ll show you what I do to make it not take quite so much time. I will let you know as soon as I’m done!
Here you go, this one might save you a little time if you use the tips and how I made the pinwheel quilt top.
Have fun!
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