Round Robin Quilt Block

Today I am participating with Becky in her Around the Block Quilt Series, where so many fantastic quilting people are making their favorite quilt blocks and sharing them.  And it really was an honor when she asked me to participate.  I still consider myself a new quilter.

So when she asked that we make our favorite block, I decided that because I am so new to quilting that whatever block I am working on is on is usually my favorite!  I think that is the way it will be for awhile…..until I feel like a more seasoned quilter.  And the quilt I am working on this month is a “Granny Square” quilt, which hold particular sentimentality because I remember as a girl watching my grandma make blocks and blocks and rows and rows of granny square crocheted afghans.  She was always busy with either crocheting or knitting and I remember her loving handiwork.

Most tutorials out there are for 2.5 inch squares to make the granny-square block, so I had to do some math.  Scratch that….my husband did the math.  I am not a mathematician…..and I am glad he did the math, because it worked out so that each block is 12.5 by 12.5 finished size.

I made mine in a square and then cut it on the bias at the end.  The only tricky part is the cutting at the end…because they end up being squares on the bias, I just pressed and starched mine really well, so they wouldn’t “grow” when I cut them to the finished size.  And it worked perfectly!  I am not quite done with the whole quilt, but I will share my process for one block.

Cutting:

*One middle square–red in my case, 4 pink squares, 8 green squares, and 12 squares of Kona snow  all cut to 3.5″ inches square.

Step 1:  I sewed my second row first but you can do it anyway you would like.  I put together one Kona snow, one green and one more Kona snow in a row and then pressed the seams to the green side.  (You can press open if you prefer.)

Step 2: I then joined my end cream piece to that chain of squares I just made.  This will form rows 1 and 2.

You will now need to join rows

Step 3:  I then did a row of 5.  One snow, one green, one pink, one green and ended with one last snow.  Press all seams toward the darker colored squares and then join the rows together.

Continue with row 4: one snow, one green, one pink, one red, one pink, one green and end with one more snow.

Row 5:  Same as row 3

Row 6:  Same as row 2

And ending with one more Kona snow at the end.

You now should have something that looks like the block above.

 

And here is where I pressed the block really well and then cut it down to the 12.5 by 12.5 inch size.

And you are done!!!

Thanks a million Becky for including me in your group…..I have been loving the blocks that everyone has done so far…and feel like I am learning too!  Make sure you check out her series…there are some great giveaways that she has added as well.  Head here to see all the rest of the blocks!

~Elizabeth