9 patch and Snowball Doll Quilt Tutorial

Sometimes I have ideas in my head and they just scream for me to get out the fabric and create them. This month has been all about two quilt blocks, the 9-patch and the Snowball block. (There will be a longer post on that later!) And this is the idea that's been percolating in my imagination and the quilt I really wanted to make from those two basic building blocks.

This little quilt will finish at about 15" x 21", perfect for a doll quilt, or if you like to collect miniature quilts, this one will look great hanging on your wall or peeking out of a basket.

You will need the following fabrics to make this quilt:

• Assorted scraps (or a pack of 5" charm squares)
• Light colored fabric (one fat quarter or use assorted light scraps)
• Binding (coordinating color - one fat quarter)

I keep almost all my scraps and occasionally I will cut them up into various sizes, the smallest of which are my 1.5" squares. I pulled out an assortment of the duller fabric squares and left the bright colors for another time. The light fabric I used is just a plain white cotton - again, from my scrap bag.

Cut 212 dark scrappy 1.5" squares for both the 9-patches and the snowball blocks
Cut 18 white or light 1.5" squares for the centers of the 9-patch blocks
Cut 17 white or light 3.5" squares for the centers of the snowball blocks

9-patch blocks from scraps

Using an assortment of eight (8) dark 1.5" squares and one (1) light 1.5" square, make eighteen (18) nine patch blocks. Press.

Arranging the 9-patch and snowball blocks

Use your remaining dark squares and the seventeen (17) light 3.5" squares, make 17 snowball blocks. You'll have four small dark squares and a large light square per block. Lay them together as shown and sew across the diagonal as shown by the ruler below. Trim the corners a quarter of an inch past the seam you just sewed and press your small pieces out to the corners.

Making a snowball block

Lay out your blocks, alternating 9-patch and Snowball blocks, five blocks across and seven blocks down. Rearrange until you are happy with where the colors end up. Sew blocks into rows and press towards 9-patch blocks. Sew rows together and voila! You are done! Easy peasy! 

Final block arrangement

Quilt as desired - little quilts like this are great for learning or practicing hand quilting or free motion machine quilting. Trim the quilt to prep for binding.

Cut 4 binding strips along the longest length of the fat quarter for the binding. (I use 2.25", but you can use 2.5" if you like that width better for binding.) Join these diagonally to make one long strip. Here's a great binding tutorial from Missouri Quilt Company http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCWpxBRs20

What do you do with your scraps?

---Ann

Americana Doll Quilt

Americana Doll Quilt - FOR SALE HERE

 While sorting through my scraps of fabric (I have 2 rubbermaid tubs full!), I came across these little 1.5" squares I pre-cut from the left-overs of a quilt I made last year. These are from the American Banner line of fabrics from Moda. Have I told you that I love these fabrics? Even though I'm not American, the red, blue and tan colors speak to my country side and I love seeing what I can make with them. When I start with fabrics, the design sort of grows organically, and as I sewed this, I saw in my mind a miniature quilt that I have with similar design, but this one is a little larger finished.

Piles of 1.5" squares

 First I sewed them together in little 4-patch units - very scrappy, just tried to make sure each 4-patch was made of four different fabrics. I made 21 little units.

 

Little 4-patches

I wanted to put the little 4-patch units on point, so I got out my iPhone and used a sweet little app called QuiltRef to calculated what I needed for side triangles and corner triangles. Finished size of the 4-patch units was 2", so I entered that in and found I needed 4.25" squares for the side triangles (cut in 4 diagonally) and 2.5" squares for the end triangles (cut in half diagonally). I needed 12 corner triangles, so I cut 6 squares 2.5"x2.5" and cut them in half once diagonally. I needed 36 side triangles, so I cut 9 squares 4.25" x 4.25" and cut them in half diagonally and again on the other diagonal. If you need more of a visual, Quiltbug.com has a page showing setting triangles. Lay these out on your design wall or on your sewing table and carefully sew together. There will be some bias edges, so if you want to use your walking foot to minimize stretch as I did, go for it. Trim the sides so you have a quarter inch seam from the 4-patch points to the outside edges.

Sewn in strips

 I only had limited amounts of the prints large enough for borders and sashing, so I auditioned what I had and came up with this layout.  I didn't have enough red for another border, so I had to be satisfied with using it for the binding. The strips are cut the width and length of the 4-patch units, so measure up and match what you have. Pin at both ends and the middle before sewing to avoid the nasty stretchies of the bias edges.

Auditioning sashing and borders

Then, just find a great backing fabric. I used a little piece of matching stripe that I had quite a large piece of. Layer with your choice of batting, quilt as desired and attach binding.

Finished doll quilt

A peak at the back!

And a beautiful little doll quilt is done! This is a great project for a confident beginner. The bias edges can give some trouble, but if you stitch slowly and don't push or pull the fabric as it goes through your machine, you should be just fine!

--Ann

Linking up with:
Quiltsy WIP and Whatnot
The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday #80