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9 Patch Sampler Quiltalong Completion

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Today we will take a look at the processes involved in the 9 Patch Sampler Quiltalong Completion.  These are pinning the quilt, quilting and then binding the quilt.

Pinning (or Basting) the Quilt

1.  Press the backing well and lay right side down onto your floor or table.

2.  Using your tape, tape the backing to the floor or table.  Pull it taught but don’t stretch it.

3.  Place your batting on the backing

4.  Place your well pressed quilt top, right side up on top of the wadding.

5.  Pin the quilt.

You will find a detailed description of the pinning process I use here. 

Quilting

  1. Decide how you want to quilt –

Stitch in the ditch – where you stitch along the ‘ditch’ formed by the seams.

Straight lines – following seams or diagonals

Free Motion Quilting

I will be using Straight lines and you can see details of the method I use here and here

2.  Have fun!

I decided to draw up a plan:

I started at the centre and worked my way out.  I decided to use black thread.

Front

and back

Binding

  1. Choose your binding fabric – I have chosen a stripe.
  2. Decide if you are going to apply your binding totally by machine (you sew it to the back first) or if you would prefer to hand stitch your binding (sew it to the front first) . The only difference in process is whether you start at the front or back of the quilt.
  3. Trim your quilt
  4. Prepare  the binding
  5. Apply the binding

You will can see the method I use here.

and I have to be happy with the stripe matching in the join at the end!

Congratulations!  That is the 9 Patch Sampler Quiltalong Completion.

I hope you have enjoyed our Quilt Along and that you are happy with your new quilt!

Don’t forget to give your quilt a label – I am calling mine ‘9 Patch Sampler in Black & White’ – now that’s original!! I would love to see your 9 patch sampler completed so please send me a photo so I can share the results.

I have had a fun time and am open to ideas for our next venture.

Until next time

Nanny xx

WEEK 1: Make a 9 patch sampler

WEEK 2:  Make a Railfence Variation

WEEK 3: Make Half Square Triangles

WEEK 4: Make a Shoo Fly Block

WEEK 5: Make a Friendship Star

WEEK 6: Make a Contrary Wife Block

WEEK 7: Make a Spool Block

WEEK 8: Make a Churn Dash Block

WEEK 9: Make a Formal Garden Block

WEEK 10: Make a Greek Cross Block

WEEK 11: Make a Chevron Block

WEEK 12:  Make a Birds in the Air Block

WEEK 13:  Make a Double 9 Patch Block

WEEK 14:  Make a Card Trick Block

WEEK 15: Make an Ohio Star Block

WEEK 16: Make Your own Block

WEEK 17: Complete the top

WEEK 18:  Backing with a Disappearing 9 patch

WEEK 19:  Completion of the 9 patch sampler

 

Make a Birds in the Air Quilt Block from Charm Squares

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Today we are going to make a Birds in the Air quilt block using charm squares.  As with any of the blocks, you may choose to use a different combination of LIGHT, DARK and OTHER – there is no right or wrong!

 

 

WHAT YOU NEED:

DARK :  5 x 5″ squares

LIGHT:  4 x 5″ squares

OTHER:  2 x 5″ squares

LET’S SEW!

  1.   Make 2 DARK and 2 LIGHT into  HST’s
  2.   Repeat using 2 LIGHT and 2 OTHER
  3.  Take one of each of these and put aside (you will not need them here)
  4.   Trim the HST’s and the remaining  DARK squares to 4.5″
  5.  Organise your squares:

6.  Sew your 9 patch and press

NANNY NOTE:  You will have 1/4″ seams on the outer edges of your triangles.  A photo mishap meant that this was taken after it was added to the quilt top, hence it appears to finish at the points.

I really like this one!  Of course you can see that if you were using it in a quilt you could save a lot of work by cutting the large triangle formed by the DARK in this case as a single triangle.

Until next time

Nanny xx

Make a Greek Cross Quilt Block from Charm Squares

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Today we are going to make a Greek Cross Quilt Block from charm squares.  You will notice how similar it is to a Churn Dash. It is an example of how we can, by varying the fabrics and the direction of each square within the 9 patch,  achieve a totally different block.

 

WHAT YOU NEED:

DARK:  4 x 5″ squares

LIGHT:  4 x 5″ squares

OTHER:  1 x 5″ square trimmed to 4.5″

LET’S SEW!

  1.  Trim the OTHER square to 4.5″
  2.  With 2 x Light and 2 x Dark squares make make HST’s
  • diagonal line
  • scant 1/4″ either side of line
  • cut between the lines

3.   Take the other 2 x Dark and Light squares and

  •   Fold the light squares in half and finger press or draw a line down the centre.
  •   Place the light square and a dark square, right sides together and sew a scant 1/4″ either side of the centre line. (better too scant than not enough)
  •   Cut along the line between the two rows of stitching.

NANNY TIP:  Don’t forget if you are using a Directional fabric, you will need to join one pair of squares in one direction and the other pair in the other direction

4.  Trim all squares to 4.5″ squares

5.  Organise your squares:

6.  Sew your 9 Patch and press.

That leaves us only 6 more blocks to complete for our 9 Patch Sampler.  Have you started to try them out to see how they will look all together? How about sharing a photo of your blocks – I would love to see them!

Until next time

Nanny xx

Make a Shoo Fly Block from Charm Squares

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Today we are going to make a Shoo Fly Block from charm squares.  Shoo Fly is a common block used in quilting.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Dark:  3 x 5″ squares

Light:  6 x 5″ squares

Nanny Note:  You will notice that I have used a directional fabric here, but because it is a busy print, I wasn’t concerned that it would spoil the effect of the block.  

LET’S SEW:

  1.   Trim 4 Light and 1 Dark  to 4.5″ squares
  2.   Take the remaining 2 Dark and 2 Light and make Half Square Triangles
  • diagonal line
  • scant 1/4″ either side of line
  • cut between the lines
  • trim and press OR press and trim

3.  Press toward the Dark

4.  Organise your squares

Nanny Note: I could have turned the 4.5″ squares to make it all directional but did it this way to demonstrate the difference.  If it offends you aesthetically, make sure you have them all facing the same direction!

5.  Sew and press your 9 Patch

Shoo Fly

Now, as that was so easy, I am going to post another block  this week using the same recipe!

Until next time

Nanny xx

 

Make Half Square Triangles from Charm Squares

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Today we are going to make a Variation of the 9 patch .  We will make Half Square Triangles from Charm Squares and add them to the 9 patch.  This will add more variety to our 9 Patch Sampler.

 

WHAT YOU NEED:

  • 4 x 5″ squares  Dark and
  • 5 x 5″ squares Light

LET’S SEW!

We are now going to make a Half Square Triangle – this is another shape that is used in many quilting designs and with careful measuring, stitching and trimming you will have no troubles!

1.   Take one Dark and one Light and on the wrong side of the Light, draw in the diagonal.

2.  Place it right sides together with the remaining Dark and stitch a scant 1/4″ either side of the line.

3.  Cut between the lines

 

You now have two half square triangles! That was easy wasn’t it!

4.  Now comes the trimming:

To make it easier, I have placed masking tape along the 45 degree line on my rule.

Nanny note:  I am going to show you two methods of trimming – you might like to try both and decide which works best for you!

Method 1

Take one of the triangles and place your rule so that:

  • the 45 degree line is along the stitching line so you can just see the stitching
  • the 4.5″ line on the rule is running down the left and meeting the other 4.5″ line at the bottom left .

Now trim along the edge that is showing (top right – sorry I already trimmed)

Press seam towards the dark and you should have a 4.5″ square.

Method 2

Press the seam towards the dark

Place the rule 45 degree line along the seam, moving it along till you can see 4.5″ both ways – mine runs down the left side and along the bottom and meet where they meet the 45 degree line. (see the green pencil)

 

Trim the 2 sides – top and right

Turn the square around and repeat the process to square it up.

This trimming is an important part of quilting – we keep squaring, trimming and checking as we go and this results in blocks that go together easily and end up the size we are after!

5.  Trim the other squares  3 Dark and 4 Light to 4.5″ squares

6.  Organise the squares:

Nanny note:  

When you join a half square triangle to another square, you will notice that the diagonal does not join into the corner of the other square – dont panic!  That is what is supposed to happen- it is the 1/4″ seam allowance for when you join to the next row.

 

Nanny note – pressing:  when you join a HST (Half Square Triangle) to another square ,  press so that the seams including the diagonal seam lie flat even if it means it will be towards the light square.

Sew and press your 9 patch.

Well done!

Next week we will continue using charm squares, strips and Half Square Triangles to make variations of the 9 patch to add to our Sampler.  Don’t forget to show us your blocks – I’m loving the different fabric choices!

Until next time

Nanny xx

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