Hey all! There I was, just quilting away on a billion other projects and I said to myself, “Self, let’s do something scrappy!” I asked my dear Nesties if they knew of any scrappy quilt alongs were going on in blogland, but they ended up talking me into doing one myself. Eek! Well, of course I like easy patterns, so I thought a nine patch quilt would be fun.
So, while I’ve never even written a tutorial before, I’m going to try my hand at this quilt along thing! I think if we start it with the goal of doing a nine patch a day, we will get there sooner than we think.
To start, let’s do the math. I’m more of a do it as you go type, so this is new for me! Haha For the throw size, you will need a total of 140 (4.5”) nine patch blocks. If we do one block a day, you’ll need 20 weeks for this project. Of course, you can work ahead if you want, but this is just a project to work on your stash and get a quilt done on the side of other projects. Sometimes you just need to look at something else. Anyway, back to that nasty math part! To make 140 nine patch blocks, you’ll need a total of 1260 2” squares. That sounds like a TON (ok, it really is), but just stack those fat quarters and cut a few at once. Or just cut as you go. If I did my math right, you should be able to get 1260 2” squares out of 14 fat quarters. I’m leaving the amount of different fabrics up to you! For those of you who want to work out of your stash and use anything and everything you’ve got, have at it! For those who like a coordinated, thought-out look, go buy 14 coordinating fat quarters. For sashing, you’ll need about 2.5 yards (I estimated…I always buy extra and cut up the leftovers for my scrap bins) of a solid color, and then another fabric for a border (optional). And batting, binding, and backing of course, but I usually by those fabrics after finishing the quilt top. Everyone is different, though.
Ok, so let’s imagine that you have 1260 2” squares cut out. Or 9 of them, that works too… Take two different colored squares (A and B) and sew them together. Then take two more different colored squares (A and B) and sew them together without taking the first set off the machine. Same with the third set.
This is called chain stitching and will save you time and money (that little bit of thread will add up!). Anyway, do a third set of the two fabrics and cut the ends. Leaving that chain together, sew the last three squares to the chain you have, making sure you have two ABA rows and one BAB (which will be the middle) row. Make sense? Sorry, I'm not great at this! :)
Now, I press my seams apart. It makes for a smoother finished quilt and it is easier to do the actual quilting when it comes to that.
However you do it will be fine, but this is how I do it. Easy, right? Now do that every day for the next 140 days.
I’m not cool enough to know how to make buttons or logos or flicker groups, or whatever , so we’ll just do check ins on the nestie crafts board, if that is cool with you ladies! Please post a comment here to let me know you're doing the quilt along with us (with your Nestie name if possible). If I'm missing anything or you have questions, please don't hesitate to let me know or ask! I've never really done anything like this, it's more just for me to have someone to be accountable to for a block a day type thing, so if I'm too disorganized, let me know! lol
*****Edited to add: One of the members made a Flickr group for us to share photos and discussions on. http://www.flickr.com/groups/nestiequiltalong/ *****
