nanna-up-north

I’ve decided to do this tutorial because I got a request for the pattern from grammyof4 after I posted this as a quilt using 3 fabrics. Actually, my quilt uses 4 fabrics but since I don’t know what magazine I used nearly 20 years ago, I thought I could just show how to make it. It’s a log cabin type block so it’s pretty simple. Just please be patient with me as I’ll need to download quite a few steps.

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My quilt measures 81” x 89” including borders. The blocks are 4 ½”x4 ½” with about ½ being red centers and ½ being blue centers. There’s a total of 363 blocks plus the triangles along the sides, and borders. The colors I chose were (1)red, (2)blue, a (3)cream tone-on-tone and a (4)cream print with small red and blue pattern. You can use any colors. For the tutorial, I’m using (1)red and (2)blue and (3 and 4)muslin… so actually this will show only 3 colors.
Just a side note. All my strips of fabric for the blocks are cut 1 ½” wide. You could make the strips wider and that will make the blocks larger. It would be fine but I like the look of the smaller blocks.
Okay, here we go…….

nanna-up-north

Step 1- Cut 1 ½” red strips(color 1), blue strips(color 2) and the (color 3) muslin strips. Sew some red and muslin strips together and sew some blue and muslin strips together using ¼” seam. Everything will be ¼” seams so I won’t repeat that. Press seam allowances to the dark fabric.

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Step 2- Now, cut each of your strip sets to 1 ½” widths. Each little piece will measure 1 ½” x 2 ½”.

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Step 3- Using a 1 ½” strip of color 3, line up the cut pieces and stitch them onto the long strip of (color 3) muslin. Do keep the small pieces stacked the same way. That saves a lot of problems later. Press your seams (I press them toward (color 3) muslin.

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Step 4- Now, cut the squares. They will now measure 2 ½” x 2 ½”.

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Step 5- You are done with color 3. Now, you do the same thing with color 4. Using a 1 ½” wide strip of color 4, line up the squares and sew them onto the strip. Press and cut. Then add the other side of color 4 to make it square again after it’s pressed and cut. In the pictures, I’m using the same fabric for color 3 and 4 so I hope I’m not confusing you. Just like doing a log cabin block, you are adding layers. Your finished square after color 4 will measure 3 ½” x 3 ½”.

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Step 6- Now you are ready for the last layer. If the center is (color 1) red, you’ll add the (color 2) blue to the outside. If the center is (color 2) blue, you’ll add the (color 1) red. Add the last layer just like the previous steps. Your finished block will measure 4 ½” x 4 ½”. Once you have enough blocks, you can start putting it together.

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Step 7- This quilt is ‘on-point’. So, you will need triangles on the ends of the rows of blocks. I cut 4 ¾” squares and cut them in half, corner to corner. I sew them to the ends of the rows of blocks before I sew the rows together. This quilt starts with one block, then 3, then 5, etc. until you get to 25 blocks in a row. I did 3 rows of 25 blocks and then started back smaller again, 23, 21, 19, etc. until I got to 1 block at the other opposite corner. This is a picture of the pillow sham. The quilt corners look the same. Then, I pictured how the blocks and triangles will fit together.

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A little hint: Place the blocks together so that 2 centers and 2 outside rows of the same color fit together. I took a picture of that for you so you can see what I mean.