Hello and happy Friday! Welcome to part four of the scrappy quilt sew along inspired by a wonderful scrappy quilt I found in my Grandmother’s collection! I’ve had a lot of fun figuring out this pattern from her quilt and sewing my blocks, and today I am sharing the next step…the design to set the blocks together!
Scrappy Quilt Sew Along Part 4
Previous Post Information:
First: Cut Solid Squares
Part 2: Make 9-Patch Blocks
Part 3: Make Quarter Square Triangle Units. (Click on each assignment to get details for block construction then see the diagram below for quilt lay out).
The Quilt Layout
Now that you have your solid squares, your 9-patch units and your quarter square triangle units it’s time to start putting them together as shown in the diagram. You can see from the photos why I felt it was important to have a good amount of contrast in between the lights and darks in the quarter square triangles–it really helps the pattern to show up well.
Row Details
Notice that every other row features solid blocks and quarter square triangles with the dark prints on the sides. Alternate rows feature quarter square triangles with the darks on the top and bottom. These blocks alternate with a combination of solid squares and nine-patches.
This is one of those quilts where you will probably want to lay out all of the blocks before sewing. This way you can make sure the colors and prints you’ve used are distributed evenly throughout the quilt.
Tips…
Be careful not to do what I did in this photo. Notice that the bottom left quarter square triangle is turned in the wrong direction!
So…your assignment for this week is to sew those blocks together! Next Friday I’ll be sharing my Grandmother’s quilt (it’s quilted now!) along with my progress!
One final note (as I mentioned briefly last week), the origin of this quilt design is no longer a mystery! A blog reader, Andrea from Pennsylvania, saw my original post about my Grandmother’s quilt and immediately recognized the pattern. She e-mailed to tell her story and wrote up a lovely blog post about her journey in making this very same scrap quilt. Basically, twenty two years ago seven members of her family, inspired by her Aunt, made this pattern–exchanging blocks so each quilt could be extra scrappy! Andrea tells the story so beautifully on her blog (with wonderful photos of the quilts). You can go here to read her post. Thank you so much, Andrea, for sharing your story and for publishing it on your blog!
Of course my grandmother must have got the idea to make her quilt from Quilter’s Newsletter. She was an avid reader of that magazine from the time she began quilting. Now I’m left to wonder, though, if she might have exchanged blocks or fabrics with others in her guild or sewing circle to make her quilt. It’s definitely very scrappy.
Tammy J says
What a fun story. It's so nice to see connections like this. I'm still putting fabric together, but will be making this quilt soon. Thanks for sharing with all of us.
Hildy says
Thanks for sharing the layout with us! I hope to make this quilt sometime later this year. Have a wonderful weekend!
Beth LaMotte says
What a sweet story to go with a darling quilt. I have 8 more 1/4 square blocks to make, then assembling begins! This quilt is a great scrap buster. Many thanks.
Sharon Wood says
Sherri,
Thanks so much for this scrappy quilt-along. I have enjoyed it so much, and making the blocks was such fun. All of my blocks are finished, and I'll be putting the blocks together soon. Thanks again.
Sharon
Dyann Cox says
Small world indeed…..Andrea seeing your blog post and sharing her family sew along and showing you the pattern as it was in the day your grandma made this quilt. What a wonderful story from Andrea, how fun that would be to have a family to share a swap with. Swaps have been going on for decades 🙂 Your Grandma would be proud, I am looking forward to seeing her finished quilt…..it is a 2 generation quilt finish. Bless you for the finish and for spiriting this sew along 🙂
Andrea says
Sherri, I am still marveling at the fact that your grandmother stitched the very same quilt we did! Thanks so much for posting about her quilt, and allowing me to reflect on our special memories as a result. Thanks for all you do for the quilting community!
margaret says
thank you for this last part, will be having a go once the charity makes are all done, have a stall to fill by the end of august so my personal bits are on hold for now but saved all the links. Off to check out the link re Andrea now
Kerry says
Thank you for sharing Andrea's post – I clicked to read and what a terrific story. I did enjoy. What a history for you both!
Rosa says
Thanks for the quilt along .Hope to join all the blocks next week.Your quilt is stunning!
Monica says
I read Andrea's story on her blog. That was so heart warming. What a small world. 🙂 I'm till working on putting my blocks together, using Christmas fabrics. Going to the quilt shop today to buy backing. YEAH. Thanks for the quilt along opportunity, I"m glad to have been a part of this. I enjoy your blog and seeing your projects on FQS, too. Thanks for the inspiration.