Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. And I’ve got a fun project for you today. Take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this great? And doesn’t it look like so much work. Well wait until I show you how to do this because this is super easy. So to make this quilt what you’re going to need are two packs of print squares, five inches. And we’ve used Blooms and Bobbins by Melissa Morra for Riley Blake. You’re also going to need some background squares of five inches and three inches. And so we went with yardage on this. And the yardage we used for this was 2 ¼ yards. Our outer border right here, this was a five inch border. We used a yard of fabric for that. And our backing right here, isn’t that a pretty backing? The backing we used was 3 ¾ yards. And so it makes a quilt that is 57 by 65 so it’s a great size. This is a good picnic size quilt. And when you see how easy it is I just think you’ll want to make them.

So what we’re going to do is, this is a disappearing four patch block. I know you can’t really tell it but that’s what it is so we are going to take two squares of print and I mean, ya two squares of print and two squares of background. So we’re going to lay it out just like this like a four patch. See how that makes a four patch. We’re going to lay these on top of each other. And we’re going to sew them together and just make our little four patch. So we’re sewing a quarter of an inch right down the side. And I’m just going to lay this right on here, line these up carefully and then go a quarter of an inch right down the side. Now I’m going to do the same thing to this one. You’ll notice that it’s laying color up. When you put one white side up and one color up then you know they’re going to fit together as a block. And this is one of those quilts that once you make one block, you know I always make one first to make sure it’s going to work, then you can chain piece them all day long. And it just goes so quick. Alright so we’re going to open these up and it should still look like a four patch and it does. And we’re going to lay these right together and again sew a quarter of an inch right down the side. And we’re just going to stitch a few, I like to call them anchoring stitches, and then I come to the middle and I make sure that those two seams, one is going this way, the other is going the other. They’re nested together. You can’t feel any space between them. I sew to that part and then I match up these ends. Alrighty. So now let’s press this open. And we have us a nice little four patch. Alright so I have a little rumple in that seam. I know it’s turned over so I’m going to turn it over and press it, make sure it lays down. And this one too. Sometimes you know when they get a press going the wrong way, sometimes it’s hard to convince them. Alright, now we have a nice little four patch. And you want that to lay pretty nice and flat because now we’re going to cut it.

Now the normal four patch is cut at one inch. And I wondered what would happen if I just cut this at an inch and a half. So basically that cut is up to you. You can cut whatever, whatever size one you want to cut. And I am going to cut this at 1 ½ from the center seam just like this. But wait a minute, I could use my rotary mat for this. So this will make it a lot easier if you have a rotary mat or if you have a small cutting mat that you can turn because you want to, you know, this makes it, it just makes it so much easier. Ok so here we go. I’m at an inch and a half from that center seam right there. And I’m going to make a cut on all four sides. And so carefully lift your ruler and turn your mat. And again if you don’t have a rotating mat just use a smaller cutting mat and you can just pick it up and turn it. And one more here. Make sure these stayed lined up. Don’t want any crazy blocks in there. And then I’m going to do one more turn in over here. And again one of the things that’s fun about this block is that this cutting measurement is really up to you. So you could go tiny or bigger, whatever size you want to do.

Alright so now we have this block that is cut on all four sides and what I’m going to do is I”m going to swap these two and I’m going to swap these two. And then I’m going to turn this center block so that the color lines up with the big block on both sides. And now we’re going to sew this back together. So I’m just going to lay these together like this and do these first little sections here and then I’ll add these other ones on the other side. So I’m just going to go a quarter of an inch and I’m going to keep them all connected. Then I’ll sew the next two. These two you want to make sure these two seams line up right here, so we’re going to lay these together. And if you’re putting them on and you’ve got color on color you know it’s wrong so watch that because there were a couple of times I was putting them together and I had forgotten to turn that center square and I was like, whoop, wait a minute. You know, because when it’s supposed to be opposites. Alright so here we go another. Now what I’m going to do is I’m going to take these out and I’m going to flip these over now and start from the bottom. So the first square I’m grabbing is the bottom square. And you actually can do this any way you want. This is just the way, the way my brain works. Ok then this one. And again just make sure you’re putting color to background and then your center is you know it’s right. And then one more here. Now take a look at it because it should be exactly as you laid it out. You should be able to now just fold these rows together and make them work. So we’re going to go here. And we are going to sew this one. Make sure those little seams line up. And one more I’m going to check here. Feel it with my finger. And it’s just nice and nested. Alright now comes the other side. And we’re going to do the same thing. A quarter of an inch seam right down the side and match these up. Let’s see there. Alright this way and then this way. I kind of let the seams go the way they want to. You know some of them kind of have a mind of their own. And I just let that happen. And then I’m just going to press this. Make it nice and flat. And make sure there’s no pleats or folds. Flip it over if you have seams that are going, you know, that you want to go a certain way, this is the time to do that. And we’ve got this darling little block here. Now comes the fun of this block.

So what I’ve done with this block is I’m going to take a three inch square and I’m going to snowball these two corners right here. And basically what I’m going to do is I’m just going to lay this corner in here. And you can draw the line or iron the line from side to side. I’m just going to press a line so I can sew. But you do either one whatever one you like best. If you’re going to press the line make sure you lay it so that the crease is, you know, the V is going, that you’re sewing in the V, instead of on top of the mountain. And so I’m going to put one of these on both sides like this. I’m just going to lay it in here and match it up. And again you know for another change a whole other quilt, this square could be a different size as well. So don’t be afraid to play with these blocks, you know, I just think that’s kind of fun. I’m going to take off my guide here and just sew straight on this seam. We’re not sewing on both sides. We’re just sewing straight. I matched the block up in the corner and I’m just sewing straight across. So again I’m going to turn this one, match it up in the corner and then I’m just going to sew straight across. And this is a three inch block. Alright so now what we’re going to do is we’re going to trim these off like this. One more cut. Then we’re going to press those open. And we have this darling little block. Look how cute this is.

Now the fun for me in this block comes in the layout. So let me just, let me just show you how that comes together. Our layout back here is very simple. And I did that so you could see how simple this was. I put them all going the same direction. So my, my snowballed square always to the upper left. And you can decide. Like if you want, you know, all your blues, you want to put them blue and pink together. This depends entirely on your fabric line. You’re just going to sew those together. And it’s going to be awesome. But the fun for me is in the different things that happen when you start playing with this. So if I put this together like this with all my whites in the corner and one more, let’s see. Oh this one hasn’t been snowballed. That’s why this is messing me up. I’m going to add two snowballs to that real quick so I can show you this design. Hang on, I better put a line because this is really fun. So part of the fun for me when you go along and you’re making something and you’re like, oh! You know, you lay it out differently and you didn’t see that happening and I love that part. Alright so let me add these and I’ll just trim them off real quick but then you’ll see what I’m talking about. Alrighty so I’m just going to cut these off. I’m going to grab my scissors real quick. You can see there’s loads of ways to do this. Rotary cutter, scissor. Iron a line, draw a line. Change your measurements. This is so versatile. Alright so let’s take a look at this. Alright we’ve got this together now.

Now in this fabric it’s a little hard to see. But this makes a star. It makes a star when you do it. So I made it in two colors so you could see it. And this is what you get. Isn’t that something? You know you do the two color fabric and all of a sudden you have a whole different block. Now you have to know that if you put this together on this quilt block after block after block, and I know because I tried it, you lose the star. You know, the next, as you line up the next one these center triangle blocks and square blocks take over and you lose the star so if you want to keep the star you’re going to have to sash it. But how cool is that? Just by moving these around and doing something different, you know, you get a whole different layout and a whole different quilt. So this is really fun to do. It’s fun to play with. Change the layout. See what happens if. But let’s take a look at our quilt back here for a minute. So we’ve got ours all set up so the blocks are all going the same way. And we’ve got one, two, three, four, five, six, across and seven down. And again that makes a pretty decent sized quilt. But don’t be afraid to play with this and try some new things and see what’s going to happen if. Change your measurements if you want. Change your layouts. This is a great little quilt to make. And we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Snowballed Disappearing Four Patch from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.