Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I’ve got a fun project for you today. Take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this great? Depending upon the colors you use you’re going to see all kinds of different patterns appearing and disappearing. And this is just a beautiful line. To make this quilt what you’re going to need is one packet of 2 ½ inch strips, 40 of them. We’ve used Delilah by Doodle Bug for Riley Blake. You’re going to need some background fabric for this. And we have used 1 ¾ yards. And that also includes this first border right here. This outer border out here we’ve used 1 ¼ yards for that outer border. And it’s looks like a little five inch border and just makes a great, great quilt. The size of this quilt is 73 by 73. For the backing on this quilt we’ve used this cute heart print. It only came in the 40 inch wide fabric so we had to use 4 ¼ yards. We did a vertical seam but it’s just so pretty on there. It makes a great quilt. Again the quilt is 73 by 73 so it’s a real nice size. Now the block we’re looking at is this one right here. It’s a little nine patch that we’ve bordered and so it kind of floats in there. It has a really cool look to it. And so let me show you how to do that.

First you’re going to take your 2 ½ inch strip and you’re going to cut four 6 ½ inch pieces. Now I’m going to, and those are your, those are your outer borders right here. And those are your four 6 ½ inch pieces. And so I’m going to leave my strip long because I may have to use that fold. And I’m going to trim off my selvedge right here like this. And then we’re going to count over 6 ½ , one, two, three, four, five, six and a half. There we go. And remember you’re going to need four of those. So we’re going to count over 6 ½ again. One, two, three, four, five, six and a half. Now for your little nine patch in the middle you’re going to need five 2 ½ inch squares. So we’re just going to take the rest of our strip right here. And I’m going to cut two 2 ½ because my strip is folded I’m getting two at a time. So two, four and I’m just going to go ahead and cut six. You could open it up and just cut five if you want. Five is really all you need. Then you’re going to need some of your background squares. So we’re going to need 2 ½ inch squares, we’re going to need one, two, three, four, let me get it over here so you can see it. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight background squares. Now you’re going to get 16 out of a 2 ½ inch strip. So you’re going to be able to, out of one strip, you’ll be able to do two blocks.

So what we have to do now is we have to assemble our nine patch first. So we’re going to do our colors in the corners like this and one in the middle and then two more colors on the outside. And then we’re going to fill that in with our white squares. And we’re going to do three rows of three. This is going to be a little nine patch. A lot of times when we do nine patches we make strip sets but because we’re bordering it we need to take good use of all of our fabric. And this is just seems like an easier way to do that. Alright so now we’re going to sew these together in three rows of three. So let’s go ahead and do that. And I’m going to sew two, two and two. I’m just going to go right down this row and sew two, two and two like this. . And I’m going to chain piece them so I’ll just grab the next two like this and lay them right sides, match up my edge. And then two more here. And then I’m going to go back and add my other pieces to the top. So again I’m going to add my color. You know if you have a, one has to have two colors and a white and one has to have two whites and a color. And if you lay them out just right then when you get them all sewn together and chain pieced you’ll be able to just lay them right together and sew up those rows. So it looks like mine is going to work. It doesn’t always work, sometimes I have to take and cut them all apart because I was like, what was I thinking. Alright so now you can see this is going to go together nicely as a nine patch. And so I’m just going to fold these rows over. I’m not even pressing my seams. I’m going to just start. And then where my seams match up I’ll make that inner seam go to the outside and the outside go to the in or vice versa, whatever works for you. You just want to lay flat next to each other. To me the point of quilting isn’t perfect ironed seams it’s a nice flat block. So you just do what works for you and there’s no quilt police. Nobody is going to look inside your quilt. Alright, there we go. I’ve got that one on there and then this one over here. Alrighty. Now we’re going to press this open. It’s going to be nice and flat.

And we cut our side pieces on there, 6 ½ inches. And we’re going to put two of these side pieces on there like this, just like that. And then I’ll show you how to do the top and bottom. So we’re going to lay these right along the sides and sew a quarter of an inch right down the side. And then this one over here, I’m just going to put that on the opposite side. Now remember too if you have a, if your seams weren’t exactly perfect and you have one of your sides is a little bit longer, put the longer side on the bottom and the feed dogs will take that extra fabric in and make it line up perfectly. Alright now I’m just going to press this back. Now to do the top and bottom we have our two 6 ½ inch strips right here. They’re going to go right here in the middle, here and here. And to make those fit and finish our block we’re going to add a little white square to the corner of each one like this. So what you want to do is you want to take your little 6 ½ inch strips over to your sewing machine and we’re going to assemble those units. Sew a white square, a white 2 ½ inch square is going to go on either side of that 6 ½ inch unit. And we can just sew one and sew the next like this. We’ll clip our thread and turn those around and put a white square on the other side. Just like that. Alrighty, one more. Now we’re going to clip these apart and then these are going to go on either side of our block. Now I’m going to go ahead and press mine, just roll them out like that. And then I’ll be able to lay that right on that block. So now this is going to go right on the top here, fit right on there. And this one is going to fit right on the bottom. So let’s sew those, add those to the top and bottom of our block. And I’m going to sew this quarter of an inch right down the side. Now it seems as though I press my seams going the same direction as the middle piece but don’t worry about that. When you attach them just push them the other way and then when you iron them for the last time you just make the seams go the way you want. So here’s my this side, now we’ll do the other side right here. And again I’m just going to lay that on there, take a few stitches and make that first seam match up. Ya I should have, I ironed the other one the black ones are ironed out so I should have ironed these top ones in. But I’m just going to make them go in as I sew them and then when I press them they’ll lay the right way. When I press them for the second time. Alright now we’re going to press this and I’m just going to run my iron over these and roll my seams into the middle there. And then open that up. And we’ve just made our cute little floating nine patch. Isn’t that darling?

And so then we’re just going to put these together. When you get ready to put them together you’re going to just lay them out like this and just sew them straight together. And I’m going to put mine in a four patch here so you can see it a little better, just like that. And let’s take a look at what we’ve got up here. We’ve got one, two, three, four, five, six, and one, two, three, four, five, six. So we used 36 of our 40 strips. If you wanted to make it bigger you just add more strips. When you get a cool black and white line with this it’s fun to think about what other color you could put in there instead of the white. You know we used white for our little squares but what if you did that with a green or a hot pink, it would just be so cute. So this is a really quick and easy block. We hope you enjoy making it. And we hope you enjoy this tutorial from the MSQC.