Who needs a cute idea for using up charm packs?! They are so cute and bundled together as a collection, so we buy them, but we don’t know what to do with them :)
This week, I had a brainy idea to do something not so typical with a charm pack I had laying around! First, I laid out all (42) 5” squares in an on-point grid, six across and seven down. I started auditioning greens as the fill-in squares but then I thought better of it.
Instead, I used a nice calm neutral taupe/gray. I cut (30) 5” squares to fill in the middle.
For the outside edges, I cut (6) 7⅝” squares twice diagonally to yield (24) side setting triangles (you will only use 22 of them). The corner triangles are cut from (2) 4 ⅛” squares, cut once diagonally, to yield four corner units.
I sewed all these squares and triangles together into diagonal rows. Then, I sewed those rows together into the beginnings of a quilt top.
Now the fun begins! I cut the quilt top apart down the middle of each row. I measured 2 ¼” from the seams and lined my long ruler up to get a nice straight cut.
I laid all the rows out on the design wall, spreading them apart so I could add narrow sashings. Here the green makes a reappearance as the sashing. I cut 1” strips from selvage to selvage. If I do this again, I will make the sashing 1½” wide because 1” was kind of tricky once I got going.
I cut a length of sashing, just long enough to join the first two sections together. I stitched it down to one side of the row and then pressed it out flat.
In order to make sure my blocks lined up across the sashing, I marked where the seams should land on the other side of the sashing with a fabric marking pen.
Pin in place and stitch the sashing to the opposite section. Press that seam out flat (I pressed both seams in towards the sashing).
I repeated this process with each row I added. The narrow sashing strips got longer until I had to sew a couple of them together end to end to make the long center seams.
I worked my way in from opposite corners until I joined the two halves together with the last sashing.
Now, it’s time to cut again! I laid the quilt top out and cut it apart going the other way, halfway between the seams again. Just like before, I used my long ruler and lined up the seams on the 2¼” line.
Back up on the design wall, this time with gaps going the other direction.
For this sashing, I cut a 9” wide strip of my green and a 1” wide strip of pink for my corner squares. I sewed these two together and pressed the seam towards the green.
Then, I cut 1” wide sashing sections. You'll need a total of 42 of these sections. I was just barely able to get all I needed from this one unit!
I cut (12) 1” squares from my pink corner square fabric. This will act as the start of each row. Row One is one sashing section plus an added corner square at the end. Row Two is two sashing sections plus a corner square added to the end.
Here is Row Three with its three sashing sections, sewn end to end, with an extra corner square added to the starting end.
I used the same pen marking strategy, as before, to make sure my seams/blocks were going to line up across the sashing. The little corner squares help line up the intersections where the opposite sashing strips came through.
This was a little slow going, but man it was turning out so cute I kept at it!
Finally, in the end, I gave it one last press with starch and trimmed the edges down straight.
I think I’ll add a border and maybe scallop it too… more on that next week :) Isn’t it so fresh and fun though?!
Happy Sunday everyone,
Krista