Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I’ve got a really fun project for you today. Take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this fun? This is a super easy block and we’ve added a little pizzazz with this friendship star sashing. I can’t wait to show you how to do it. To make this quilt what you’re going to need is one roll of 2 ½ inch strips. And we have used this pretty My Sunflower Garden by Jane Shasky for Henry Glass. You’re also going to need some background fabric. It’s all this white. It takes all the squares, the first border, all the sashings, and that’s going to be five yards. Your outer border is 2 ½ yards out here. And this is a nice big border. You know it’s a six inch strip but we also cut out of that yardage, we cut all of our friendship stars so they were all the same. You’re going to need some backing. You’re going to need three yards of a 108 on this quilt. This is nice big quilt. Look at the little bumble bees on this. Isn’t that cute? It’s a nice big quilt. It’s 97 by 97 so a great size. Alright so let me show you how to do this.

So what we’re going to do from your background you’re going to cut eight inch squares. And so we have here, we have one, two, three, four, five, six times six. We have 36 eight inch square you’re going to cut. And we’re going to set those aside. Then we’re going to take our 2 ½ inch strips right here and we’re going to make several cuts from those. So we’re going to cut, I have them folded in half here. And we’re going to start by cutting off our little selvedge edge right here. So we’re just going to cut off this little selvedge piece and our first cut is going to be eight inches. So we’re going to count over, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So we’ll cut two of those. Remember my piece is folded so we’re cutting two at a time. So two eights. And then we have two 12s. So we’re going to count again, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. And so right here. Two eights and two 12s and out of this tiny piece right here we are going to cut an inch and a half square. That’s a great use of a strip. We used every little piece of it. I’m just ironing the fold out of that. And then I’m going to cut a 1 ½ inch square. So I’m going to make sure this is nice and straight. We’re going to start on a straight side. And I’m going to put my ruler on here like this. So I’ve lined up my inch and a half marks right on the side of this block right here and I’ll cut up and I’ll cut across and that will give me an inch and a half little square. And you’ll need those. Those are the ones that go right in here this little tiny dot inside the, of our block.

Alright so now we’re going to take two of our eight inch and we’re going to put them on either side of our eight inch background square. So let’s go to the sewing machine and do that. Alright we’re just doing a regular quarter of an inch . And I generally do that by lining my, the edge of my fabric up with the edge of my presser foot and, and then I move my needle back and forth if I need to move it at all. If you don’t have a needle that moves you just want to measure a quarter of an inch. Alright now I’m coming around to the other side and I’m going to sew the other eight inch piece on the other side. Alright, now what we’re going to do is we’re going to go press these flat. And we’re going to add the top and bottom piece. So I’m just going to roll these back like this. So the dark stays to the dark. Alright now we’re going to cap it with these other two squares. So we’ve got the 12 inch right here and here like that. So let’s come over here. I know this is not looking like what you thought it was going to look like. We have a trick in store so hang on. This just makes a really easy way to do this. Alright now I’ve got this top one on, now I’m going to add the bottom. Right here and sew down the side. Alrighty let me get this thread in here and we’re going to press them open. Just like that. And then I’ve got a couple little pieces here that are peeking out. I’m just going to trim those off, make sure it’s all nice and square. There’s my rotary cutter.

So once you get your whole little eight inch block bordered on all four sides we’re going to cut this in half two ways, vertically and horizontally. An easy way to do that is just to fold it in half. So I’m going to take this over to the ironing board and I”m going to make me a crease line so that I know exactly where to cut. And I”m going to do that going both directions. You can also measure your block, of course. This is just easy. Alright so I’m going to start with this one right here. I lay my ruler right on the edge of it. And I’m going to make a cut just like that. And then we’re going to do the same thing over here right across. Alright now what we’re going to do with our blocks is we’re going to flip them around like this. We just made the turn. And then just like you can see up here we put a little sashing in here with a tiny little cornerstone. So this sashing, this inside sashing is going to be an inch and a half. And it’s going to be the same length as your blocks are. So, oop I thought I had a piece cut but I guess I don’t. We can just remedy that right now. I’m going to put a piece right along here. Sew it down. And then we’ll trim that off. And we’ll sew this piece to that piece. We’re going to do the same thing on both sides. And then we’ll add our sashing strip here that has our little tiny cornerstone in it. So I’m going to go, what I’m going to do actually is I’m going to chain piece two of these at one time. So I’m going to lay this little piece of 1 ½ inch right here along the edge. And then I’m going to put my other block right inside there. And this is, make sure I’ve got them going right here, yep. Here we go. I got a little angley turned around right there. Nobody noticed, right? Nobody noticed. Alright sew right down the side of this. Alright now what we’re going to do is we’re going to trim these, or trim them in half. See here’s my little seam and I’m going to trim off this tiny piece. And we’ll iron these open. Just like that. And one more over here. I just realized you couldn’t see if I put the iron in front of you. Alright so now what we have to do is we have to, we have, oh here we go. There we go. We’ve got these two going this way and we’ve got. Now you know my real trouble. Alright so we’re going to put these on here like this. And we’re going to sew down this seam and we’re going to sew down this seam. And that will make our two halves. That will connect our two top halves, our top half and our bottom half. Now the top half is done and we’ll sew the bottom half. Now I didn’t watch which direction my seams were sewn in so I have, I don’t know if you’ll notice this, I have one long this way and the short this way. You can make those so that they’re all the same. I don’t feel like it really matters. I don’t notice that in mine. But some people will be like, oh but your straights should be in the straight. You do what makes you feel comfortable. Alright so I’m going to press that flat. And I’ll press this one flat. Then what I’m going to do is I’m going to add that sashing right down the middle. So let’s look how that is going to look. Oop, this goes this way and this goes that way.

Alright so now we have a little sashing. We have one here where we’ve sewn a tiny little cornerstone in here. And see how it’s just going to fit right in there. And this sashing is actually the same size as this block. And so I’m going to trim these off so that it’s just the right size right here and over here. And then we’re going to lay this right sides together. And we’ll match up these center lines right here. So see where this tiny little square is, we’re going to make our seams, we’re going to nest them. So one seam will go that way and one seam will go that way and there will be no, you won’t feel anything in between them. Alright let’s sew this down. Alright now I matched up this seam and I”m making sure that my seams are nesting up on this one as well, folding them. Line up the rest of my strip and I can sew them right down. Alright now what I’m going to do is I’m going to add that other half to this, just like this. Go ahead and line that up. Make sure it’s going to match up in my center. There we go. Now if I were making this whole quilt I would kind of chain piece all these blocks. You know I would sew, I would sew all my blocks around, then I would cut them all, then I would chain piece them on long strips of inch and a half fabric. That’s just how I sew. When I sew I sew all the same thing together at one time. But since we’re just showing you a block we’re doing it this way. Alright so now I’m going to press this open. And this makes a darling little block. Alright. Take a look at that. How cute is that?

Alright now to set these together we’re setting them with a 2 ½ inch strip. And on our 2 ½ inch strip we are going to snowball two of the corners. So this is what it’s going to look like when we’re all done. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to take my little strip here and I’m going to snowball my corners. And you want to make sure your corners are going the same directions. So I have some 2 ½ inch pieces here that I can cut out of the border yardage remember. You’re going to cut 2 ½ inch strips. Each strip is going to give you about 16 of these so you get a nice amount. What I’m going to do is I’m going to finger press these over so I have a line so just like that. And that will give me a sew line. And then I’m going to use this strip as my guide and I’m going to lay them right with my sew line going the same direction. So I’m putting them, matching up right on the edge. And again your sashing strip is going to be the length of your block. So we should check that out. Mine is just a tad longer so let me just trim that a little bit because you want these to match up really good. And, and then we’re going to put a 2 ½ inch square on either side and my sew line goes this way and so this one is also going to go the same way. So just like that. So we’re going to sew this way and we’re going to sew, wait for it. Nope we’re sewing the other direction. So we’re sewing, nope, we’re sewing this way and this way. I was right, I was right. We’re sewing this way and this way. Whew that was a close call.

Alright here we go. Across this corner. And you might want to put a pin in yours when you pick them up so that they don’t move around or shift on you. I’ve got a hold of this one with my hand and I just realized that probably doesn’t look very good. That’s alright. I’ve got it on there. Alright so now we’re going to fold these back and look at them and make sure that they do match up with our other strip and they do. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to trim these off just like this. And then iron them, press them down so they’re nice and flat. Now I want to show you how this all goes together because this is really fun to layout.

So when you’re ready to lay your blocks out you’re just going to set this sashing strip right in between, between every block. So along here you can see. Every block has a sashing strip and they all have this little corner on it right here. Then you’re going to lay in your middle sashing strip. And so it’s going to go like this. Then you’ll have your center square. And remember all these little squares are cut from your border fabric. And then we’re going to pull this one over here like this. And then when we add our next row, look at this. Look at that, your little friendship star appears and it’s just darling. Now the strips along the top, you’ll notice our friendship stars are only set in. So on your outside rows you’re not going to add a square to that so pay attention to that so you know that that’s what’s happening. But then you’re going to sew these rows together, you’re going to lay them out like this. You’re going to add a whole big long, you know, row of them and then you’re going to sew your row in between together to put it on there. And I mean it just goes together so slick. And it’s got this great little friendship star at every little junction. So then you’re going to add your first border out here, a little 2 ½ and you’re going to add your outer border. And it just makes this darling quilt and a pretty good size quilt too. So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the Four Corners quilt from the MSQC.