Tutorial: Squares and Strips Bed Quilt

This is a great quilt for a beginner who wants to tackle something big…and a good way to use a fat quarter bundle that’s collecting dust (wouldn’t we all love that problem?!).

* The blocks are all 8" finished (8 1/2" unfinished).

* Each fat quarter will make 4 + 1/3 blocks.   Each 1/4 yard will make 4 + 1/4 blocks.  So if you know the number of blocks you want…divide that by 4.3 or 4.25, and that’s how many fat quarters or 1/4 yards you’ll need.

* The table below is a guideline…measure your mattress to make sure what size you’ll need.  Remember that a large quilt can shrink as much as 4" in each direction depending on the batting.

	Size	# of Blocks	# of Fat Quarters	OR   # of 1/4 yards
Throw	56" x 64"	56	13	14
Twin	64" x 88"	88	20	21
Queen	88" x 96"	132	30	32
King	104" x 96"	156	36	37

1. If you’re using fat quarters… download and print the cutting diagrams HERE.

If you’re using 1/4 yards…download and print the cutting diagrams HERE.

Be aware there is VERY little waste if you use fat quarters.  This is ALL of my scraps from 3 fat quarters:

No wasting fabric here!  Once your comfortable cutting, stack 2 fat quarters or 1/4 yards and cut at the same time.  If your FQ’s are wonky and you’re short a strip or 2…just substitute it for something else…no one will know. ;)

2.  Choose a 4 1/2" square and sew a 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" strip from a different fabric onto each side of the square.  Press out.  Repeat with a 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" strip on the top and bottom.  Press out.   Repeat until all of these pieces are gone.  You’ll have 1 of these blocks for each fat quarter or 1/4 yard you cut.

3.  Sew the remaining 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" strips into sets of 4 until they are gone.  I like to press my seams open.

4.  Sew the 2 1/2" squares together into 16 patch blocks.  Sew the squares into rows of 4 first and press, alternating the pressing direction for each row (or press seams open).  Sew the rows together to make a block and repeat until the squares are gone. 

There aren’t many of these blocks…but if you want more variety in your quilt you can always make some more with scrap squares!

5.  The rest of your blocks will be your plain 8 1/2" squares.

6.  Layout the blocks randomly:

	# of Blocks per Row	# of Rows
Throw	7	8
Twin	8	11
Queen	11	12
King	13	12

 

6.  Sew the blocks into rows and press, alternating pressing directions with each row.  Sew the rows together and press. 

* When sewing together a large quilt like this, I sew the blocks together into sections.  I layout and sew one quadrant at a time, then sew the 4 quadrants together to make the large quilt top.  It’s like making 4 mini quilts and sewing them together to make the large quilt…and its much easier to handle under my sewing machine.

* My fabric is Seaside by Riley Blake Designs, and Vintage Modern (the red, green, and grey rectangles) by Moda.   Which is why I called it my Seaside quilt for those of you that asked…no one said I was good at naming quilts!

Happy Quilting!

Seaside Bed Quilt

The boys were gone for the weekend so Sophie and I got some sewing done.  I loathe making large quilts…but I forged through and got it done while I had the time.

(she’s checking my seams)

It’s a Queen size at 88" x 96", and since I don’t really use quilts on our bed it’s the perfect size to fold and lay across our King bed for looks.

I’m glad to see this one done and ready to send to the quilter….now I remember why I don’t make many big bed quilts!

There’s a tutorial coming this week for it…if Sophie lets me put her down and use my other arm anytime soon.   :)

Boy Pants

I made my husky little Ryan some pants.  They are perfect summer jammies and passed the "jumping on the bed" test.

Now to make some for his puppy…and get those little feet in the bathtub pronto!

A tutorial can be found here…the fabric is Now We’re Goin Places by Timeless Treasures.

Pick, press, stack, and cut

The fabrics are picked out, pressed well, and are being cut…slowly.

They’ve been hanging there for days waiting for some attention…today they might actually get some.

The scale of the prints in these fabrics are perfect…they were meant for a quilt.

Time to get off this computer and cut!

Luv a dub dub…

…baby fresh from the tub.

Love that girl…and this fabric:

My favs from the line Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. 

(Don’t worry…I love my baby more…lots more)

She’ll be 3 months old tomorrow…how’d that go by so fast?

Robots

I’ve been hoarding this fabric for 2 years.   It was drawn and printed by my talented friend Ariel and I love it.

I made a quick baby quilt for a friend and those little robots were perfect  for this pattern (the road trip quilt tutorial).

  I especially love the colors in this one.  I wasn’t so sure about them when the fabrics were being cut, but once it was sewn together I fell in love with the orange.

Now to find a backing…and piece some batting scraps because I’m all out of big chunks.

I sure do love sewing boy quilts.   Who says boys aren’t fun to sew for??  Not me!

ps.  I loved reading your comments from my "Modern Quilting?" post.  I think most of us agree that it doesn’t matter what you call it…we just like to quilt!