Making a Classic 9 Patch Quilt

Well, Hello there, Friends!  I know, I know.....It's been SO stinking long since I even ventured into blog land.  I'm only venturing now because this is the best way to get patterns to my students for my classes.  So, here's a freebie for anyone out there!

For a 54X63 quilt you will need:
2 3/4 yards of solid (background) fabric
5 coordinating fat quarters ("Chain") (I am using Bluebird Park by Kate and Birdie Paper Co. for Moda)


Start by cutting your fabric into 3.5 inch strips.  You will not be cutting all your solid fabric into 3.5 inch strips so DON'T GET CARRIED AWAY! You will end up with 25 printed strips and
10 solid strips.  Cut the remaining solid fabric into (21) 9.5 inch squares.  Set those aside until the end.

After cutting with your rotary cutter,  cut the folded edge of your solid pieces with scissors to make two strips.

Now start sewing strip sets.  You will make 5 sets of solid, print, solid.  Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance place a solid and a print right side together and stitch.  Attach another solid to the other side of the print the same way.  Aren't those bunnies so super cute?

Now, make 10 sets of print, solid, print using the same method as above just making sure you have a solid in the center.

Iron all 15 strip sets making sure to iron toward the printed OR solid fabric.  It doesn't really matter which but pick one and stick with it.  This will make it easier to get really great points that match up!  A good rule is to iron toward the darker fabric.  In my case, it's the printed fabric.

Now, grab a strip set and square up the end of it.  Don't know what that means?  No worries.  Place your ruler on your strip set as shown in the picture.  It doesn't have to be in any specific place, just in enough that it cuts all the selvedge and jagged ends off.  This part is important:  Because of the sewing and ironing the top and bottom edge of you strip might be "wonky".  You should like up your ruler on one of the seams to make sure you get a straight cut.  Notice the 15" line on the ruler is lined up with the bottom seam on the blue piece?

Now that your strip is square, flip it around and start to cut into 3.5 inch strips.  I measure with my ruler, others measure off the cutting mat.  Whatever works for you.  You will be able to get (5) 3.5 inch strips from each of your larger strips.

Continue cutting until all your original strips are cut into smaller, 3.5 inch strips.

Now is when your quilt starts to take a little shape.  You're going to grab two of your print, solid, print strips and one solid, print, solid strip and sew them together to make your 9 patch block.

If you did a good job keeping track of your ironed seams then when you place your fabrics right side together they will sort of "nestle" into each other and you'll be able to feel that you are keeping your corners together.

Continue sewing until you have made (25) 9.5 inch squares.  You will only be using 21 squares on the front of your quilt.  The extra 4 squares give you the ability to trade out any squares you decide you just don't fit well from a design standpoint.  Extra squares can be pieced onto the back or used in a different project!

Lay out your quilt, mixing and matching until you are happy with your design. If you use your bed as a design station be warned that it could be wrestled on by an adorable 4 yr old and his handsome dad.  Just sayin'.

Begin sewing together one row at a time from left to right.  Once the squares are  pieced with your 9.5 inch solid squares, sew the rows to complete the rest of the piecing.

The quilt shown is not as big as the one the directions are for.  You will have one more row in width.

Happy sewing!

In My Spare Time

People are always asking what I do in my spare time....As if I have any....But on the occasions I MAKE time to go do something just for fun this is my all time, #1 favorite thing to do.  The crowd isn't usually this big but this one happened to be at the Valdez Quilt Festival so the crowd was rather large.  Quilters from all over the state came to learn and socialize.  The halls leading to the classroom were lined with yummy fabrics just waiting to be caressed....and purchased.  I have to admit to buying Hannah some Lorax fabric.  She came with me as my official "baby holder" so I could sew hands-free.  It was her payment.

OK, so, on to what I was actually doing.  I signed up for the Mystery Quilt.  I love Mystery Quilts and I hate them all in the same breath!  I love them because of the Mystery.  I hate them because of the Mystery.  Ha!  It's a catch 22!

Once you sign up you receive your fabric requirements and cutting instructions for step #1.  Here's where the mystery comes in....YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FINISHED PRODUCT WILL LOOK LIKE!  The directions are somewhat vague...."You need X yards of light fabric", You need X yards of medium fabric", and so on.  They are kind enough to tell you when a directional (meaning striped or something where you want the heads to be upright, that sort of thing) fabric is a dumb idea but that's about it.  You complete step #1 at home.  I always sign up at the last minute so I always end up doing step #1 at the "class".

Here I am just quilting away.  This time I went "shopping" in my own stash so I could use up some stuff that had been  hanging around for a while.

Once I got to step #4 I realized they were going to be throwing a twist at us.  The blocks NEVER look this complete on the 4th out of 8 steps.  My guess was that we were going to be cutting them up and sewing them back together in a different way.....

I was right.  The next step revealed the cutting.

We then used some strips we had made earlier, but didn't know what we would be doing with them, to piece the cut up triangles back into a block and these are what I ended up with....

I left class with 4 out of 12 finished blocks.  It will literally only take me about 10 minutes each to do the remaining blocks.  I should get on that....In my spare time. ;)