Simple 9 Patch Quilt Blocks From Fat Quarters

Over the last few years I worried about what I was going to do with my life once my kids were all grown and out of the house.  Well, almost all of them.  Elizabeth is still here and I am oh so grateful for her. She just lights up my life and I dread the day she leaves but I know she is ready to go.  Anyway, I had seen some cute sewing projects on Pinterest (that evil time sucking webpage that can take over your life - you know what I'm talking about) and decided to start looking into some fun and easy projects to do to fill my time.

Unfortunately, I found so many things I could probably quit my day job and just sew my life away.  I can't do that but I have taken the time to be thoughtful about what I want to do and I found this sweet project I wanted to share with you.  It is called 9 patch from fat quarters.  If you don't know what fat quarters are, don't worry.  I will explain and you will see how easy this is.  Hopefully you will find it as enjoyable as I have!  Here is where you start:

To begin you will need 2 fat quarters.  Fat quarters are pieces of fabric that are cut approximately 18" X 22" and using these measurements you will end up with eight 9 patch blocks.  If this doesn't make sense now, it will soon!  Keep in mind that all your strips will be cut 2 1/2" wide and when you cut those strips, you will be measuring 2 1/2" cuts as well.  Your seams will all be 1/4" seams so when you take 1/4" off each side of your blocks, that leaves you with a 2" block.  That's why in some of these pictures the blocks don't look the same size.  They will be once all the seams are sown.  Just thought you should know before we get started.

I always wash and iron my material before using it so that there isn't any shrinkage after I have made my project so if you haven't done that yet, I would do it now before you start this project.

Fold the 2 pieces of material in half with the selvages meeting and lay on top of each other to cut your 2 1/2" strips.  You will need to cut 5 strips of your darker colored material and 4 strips of your lighter colored material so make sure that you lay your darker color on the bottom and the lighter color on the top.  After you have cut the 4 strips of the lighter colored fabric and the darker colored fabric together you will lift away the remaining piece of lighter colored material and make your last cut of your darker material.

Trim the edge of your material that you plan to use for your end piece before you start cutting your strips so that your cuts are even.

Since your lighter material is positioned on top of your darker material, but four 2 1'2" strips.  Then lift the extra lighter colored fabric off of your darker colored fabric and cut one more 2 1/2" strip of your lighter fabric.

After cutting your strips, take a strip of your darker material and lay it face up.

Now take a strip of the lighter colored fabric and lay it on top of the first strip facing right sides together.

Sew a 1/4" seam down one side of the strips.

Press the seam toward the lighter strip.

Lay another darker colored strip on top of the lighter colored strip right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam down the side to join them together and press the seam toward the darker strip.

This strip will be your darker/lighter/darker strip of fabric for blocks with this design and you will need to make two of these.

Now you are going to sew strips that will be make the blocks with lighter/darker/lighter patch blocks.  Take a strip of your lighter colored fabric and lay it face up and lay a strip of the darker color laying face down. Sew your 1/4" seam down one side joining the two pieces together and press the seam toward the darker strip.

Lay a second light strip on top of the darker strip and sew a 1/4" seam down the side joining the pieces together and press the seam toward the darker strip.

Now you have 3 sets of strips that are ready to cut!

Lay the sets of strips down on top of each other.  They don't need to be exactly on top of each other because you are just cutting these into strips again but you are trying to line up the sides so that you can trim the edges so that you have a straight edge to measure off of.

Cut the edge making it straight.

Cut your first 2 1/2" strips.

Now, pick up this first stack that you just cut and lay it out as in the picture above. You have your first block!  Go ahead and cut 2 1/2' strips with the rest of this fabric.  This set of strips will be enough to make 8 blocks.

Now you are ready to sew a block together.  Pick up one of the strips that has the two darker blocks on the outside and put it face to face with a strip that has two lighter colored blocks on the outside and sew a 1/4" seam to connect the two together.

Press the seam to the side and you now have your first blocks sewn together.

Pick up another row of strips with the darker blocks on the outside and sew it to the strip with the 2 lighter blocks on the outside that you just sewed to the first strip.  Press the seams out.  You now have your first completed block!  Yay you!

Now you need to pick up a strip of your lighter/darker/lighter blocks and lay it face up and put a strip of your darker/lighter/darker blocks on top of the first way faces together.  Sew a 1/4" seam and press the seam to one side.  Take another strip of your lighter/darker/lighter blocks and put it face together with the darker/lighter/darker blocks and saw a 1/4" seam and press the seam to the side.  You now have a quilt block that is opposite from the first block you made.

Continue this process until all of your strips have been sewn together and when you are done you will have 8 blocks from the 2 fat quarters you have used.  You should end up with 4 blocks of each configuration.  I used 4 fat quarters since I had the extra material so I ended up with 16 blocks.  Aren't they so cute?

You can used these for a runner, a quilt, a shoulder bag, a baby blanket a wall hanging or anything else you might come up with.  Give this simple quilting pattern a try and I promise, you will be hooked!