Nifty Nines Quilt-Along - Daisy Chain!

Hi, all!

Welcome to Week 5 of the Nifty Nines Quilt-Along!  If this is your first time here, take a look at what you've missed...

Week 1 - Lattice Play...

Week 2 - Time For Chevrons...

Week 3 - Easy Peasy Giant Disappearing 9-Patch...

and Week 4 - Great Granny Grunt!

Each week's quilt utilizes nine-patch blocks in a different format. All the quilts are relatively easy, can be made from scraps, and are approximately 60" square or thereabouts, the perfect size for a lap quilt.

This week's quilt is no exception - it looks complicated, but is actually very simple!

So let's get started - here's the tutorial for Daisy Chain!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

Nifty Nines Quilt-Along

Daisy Chain

Size - Approx. 60” x 60”

Fabric Requirements:

Background fabric - 3 yards.  This can be all one fabric, or a mix of several light colored solid fabrics if preferred.  From the background fabric, cut:

50 6.5” squares

200 2.5” squares

Scraps or a mix of fabrics totaling approximately 2 yards.  Cut 450   2.5” squares from print fabrics.

Block Construction:

There are two basic blocks that form the body of this quilt.  

Block A looks like this: 

Block A is a simple 9-patch, with the print squares in the corners and the center.  Make 50.

Block B looks like this:

Block B is a simple snowball block.  To make this block, take a 6.5” background square and lay it right side up.  Lay a 2.5” print square right side down on each corner, lining up the outer edges.  Stitch from corner to corner of the print square, across the corners of the underlying background block.  If you need to draw a diagonal line on the print square to make this easier, please do.  You may find you are able to eyeball the straight line.  

After you have sewn the corners on, trim the outer part of the corner off 1/4” from the stitching line.**  Press the print corners out, making your square block a square again!  Make 50.

**NOTE:  You can make yourself a bunch of “bonus HSTs” with Block B by stitching a second line of stitching parallel to your first stitching line and about 3/8” to 1/2” towards the outside corner of each print square before cutting, and then cutting between the two lines of stitching to create your snowball block.  You will then have a tiny HST left over (mine trimmed out at 1 3/4”) to play with afterwards!

Quilt Construction 

This is the easiest kind of quilt to me - a simple checkerboard.  Alternating your 9-patch blocks and your snowball blocks, lay them out in a 10x10 grid.  The chain forms right before your eyes!  Sew your blocks together.  

TIP:   When I’m working on an easily assembled quilt such as this, I will lay it out on my design wall, then pull off a column of blocks to work on at my sewing machine.  Starting at the top, I will pull off the left top block in my left hand, and the block next to it in my right hand.  Continue down the column, laying the blocks in your hand on top of the one you are picking up.  Then go to your machine and lay the two piles down to the left of your machine in exactly the same orientation (right on right, left on left).  Lay the right hand block on the left hand block, face down, pick up the pair and sew the seam.  Do not break the thread!  Chain piece all of the blocks in your stacks this way.  Now I will usually go to the top pair of blocks and put a pin in the top left block so I don’t get the top and bottom mixed up.  Press if you want, alternating seams right and left, or just go ahead and sew your pairs of blocks together at this point, finger-pressing the seams to each side as you go.  Then take it to the sewing table, press your seams, and put the column back up on the design wall.  Do each column this way, then sew the columns together.  Easy peasy!

Quilt as desired, bind, and you are done!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

I really enjoyed making this quilt - the beautiful colors and light, spring-y feel of the Chez Moi Mimi fabric I used made for a happy quilt.  I also used up several different light shades of solid cream fabric that I had in my stash.  I think it adds a little depth to the quilt to have some slight shade variations in the solids!  

I also did some playing around in EQ7 with a totally different fabric combination...

Isn't that fun?  I think it might be the perfect way to use some of those black and white fabrics I have stashed away!  I think the possibilities are endless with this design - possibly even playing with more negative space for a modern look.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

As always, remember that if you want a PDF version of this tutorial, please leave your email address in a comment below and I'll send one to you.  And if you make one of the Nifty Nines quilts, please post a picture to the Flickr group - I'd love to see what you make!

Just one more week of the Nifty Nines Quilt-Along - I hope you'll come back for a little more inspiration before the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge begins!

Hugs!

Sarah