Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I’ve got a great project for you today. Let’s take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this fun? It’s just pretty, I love the batiks. This is the block we’re talking about. And it’s a really easy project to do with strips. It’s all about those 2 ½ inch strips. So to make this quilt what you’re going to need is one package of 2 ½ inch strips. And we have used Paradise Petals by Kathy Engle for Island Batiks. And it’s a gorgeous line. You’re also going to need 1 ¾ yards of black background fabric. And that’s going to take care of all these squares and this first border. For this outer border out here, it’s a nice 5 ½ inch border. And you’re going to need 1 ¼ yards for that outer border. So let me show you how to do this because this is really fun.

So you’re going to go through your pack and I have a bunch of strips that are opened here. And you can see how pretty they are. And you’re going to choose three strips and you’re going to sew them together. Now I have some sewn together right here. So I have a set of these already sewn together right here. And you can see I’ve sewn them together using my quarter of an inch. And they’re all ironed toward me. And we’re going to make some cuts on this strip set. And the first two cuts we’re going to make is a 6 ½ inch square. Now you’re going to want to measure how tall yours are. So however tall they are, that’s how wide you’re going to cut them. And if you do the exact quarter of an inch they’re going to be 6 ½. And I’m just going to straighten this out this edge right here in the front that has all your little selvedge. With a batik you don’t get much selvedge and so it’s, you know you’re not losing much there. There’s no little holes or anything like that. So we’re going to count over six and a half. And we’re going to cut two squares that are 6 ½. And you’re going to do this out of each strip set. So there’s our two 6 ½ inch squares. Then we’re going to bring this over and we’re going to, we’re going to cut two 12 ½ inch pieces next. And I’m going to, again I’m just going to straighten up this edge right here. And then cut two 12 ½ inch pieces. So I’m going to count, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve and a half right here. And I’m just going to trim those and cut. So once you’ve cut your 12 ½ inch you’re just going to set this aside. And these are going to make the strips for our block.

Now we need to cut 6 ½ inch black squares as well. So you’re going to take your background fabric. You’re going to cut 6 ½ strips and you’re going to sub cut those into 6 ½ inch blocks. Now one thing to remember is that when you sew your seams together, if your block comes out a different size, again this one was 6 ½ so we cut it 6 ½ to make a square. If say it came out six you’d want to cut these to match it at six. So just remember that, you know because it depends a lot on your seam allowance. And I don’t want you to be frustrated because the seam allowance isn’t quite right.

So let me show you how we put this together. We’re going to take our first black square and it helps me to build a block first. And I make sure that my, I’m going to pick one color. And I’m picking the light, light purple. And I’m going to put those toward the center of my block, just like that. These next ones I”m also going to make sure that the purple goes next to the block. And I’m going to have a dark square in this corner and a dark square in this corner. And again make sure my light purple comes together to form, to circle that square. That’s how it goes. These two units we’re then going to sew together and these units we’re going to sew together as well. So let’s go to the sewing machine and do that. I’m just going to attach this on here and line it up and sew it down. Now I’m using a lighter thread. Normally I would use a darker thread. Oop I’ve got a little snag here. Here we go. Get all my threads out of there. And then we’re going to do the other side. And then we’ll sew that center row together. This is a very fast block. It’s a fun one too. Thread’s unthreaded. I know we have a lot of scissors but I just bit my thread. This happens to us sometimes our thread comes out. And we are all about rethreading because it doesn’t work to sew with no thread. There we go. Alrighty. And now our center we’re going to put this and we’re just going to make sure that we remember that the purple is going toward this, our black square. And then I’m going to flip this around and remind myself again that the light purple goes to the square because that is something that I forget right there. I’ll get my block all done, I”ll be like, what? This doesn’t look right at all. Alright let’s go over here and press these. And I”m just going to roll them back like that. And then this one I’m going to roll it toward the, the black. That will help it nest. There we go. And then we’re ready to put these on this side and this one on this side. And see these are your only seams that you’re matching up are these two right here. So we’re going to lay them on top of each other and sew down. And this makes such a nice big block. And then our next one over here. Ok. I’m going to flip, I have a seam that’s, I’ve got going the wrong way. I’m going to flip underneath and go ahead and flip it the other direction so they nest better. There we go. And then I”m going to bring this to the ironing board. And just press that nice and flat. I’ve got a little thread right here. So I’m going to clip that off. And this is your block just like this.

So let me show you how this fits up here. So we’ve got this row right here. It goes like this. And you’re going to keep it the same every time you put it together. You’re just going to line it up like that. So let me show you. I’ve got some blocks over here that are already made because this is kind of fun to see what happens. I love watching the secondary things that happen when you do this. So we are always going to have our dark square up to the right. And we’re just going to sew them together like this. And you’re going to have three in the top row like this and then, here’s our top row right here. And then four down. That makes a pretty good size quilt. And you’re basically, you’re just going to lay these on top of each other, sew your quarter of an inch seam and sew them down. Now when the next two rows come together right here, see how this lines up right here. You’ve got your little three strips and your three strips and those line up and form a unit. It’s one of those things that does kind of visual tricks with our eyes. And I love it when those kinds of things happen.

So let’s see what size this quilt makes because it’s a pretty good one. It’s 68 by 86. So it’s a good size quilt. Let’s look at the backing on it. That’s fun. It’s fun to use some of these big prints on your back. And you’re going to need 5 ¼ yards for your backing. So it’s just a great project, easy and quick. A lot of fun. Don’t hesitate to play with that layout. I mean if you, if you start changing your layout and putting your squares together you’re going to get all kinds of different things. So don’t be afraid to try that as well. And we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Townsquare quilt from the MSQC.