“Crumb Along With Me” Crumb Quilt Along #4

Are you still “crumbing” along with me?  I am guessing at this point some of you are in love with the process….some of you are dashing around trying to catch up and some of you are wondering why you ever thought you wanted to do this.

Up this week are nine patches and four patches.  Both are very do-able.  Here’s a nine patch from the original quilt….

To make a nine patch if you want you can just cut five squares of one color and four of another color and sew them into a nine patch…add some crumbs and you’re done.

I think this method is faster and allows for a little more wonkiness.  Take two strips of fabric.  The pieces don’t have to be the same width.  Your blocks will be wonkier if you use strips that have a different width.  Sew the pieces together…Notice this time I am sewing with my Civil War Crumbs.

Press.  Cut into three segments.  Cut two extra squares of the one color and one of the other color.

Add the squares as shown.

Sew them together….NOTE…my seams don’t match.  Usually they are off much more than in this example.

I love to make the nine patch look like it’s inside a square.  To do that, add triangles to each of the sides…first to two of the sides.

…then to two of the other sides.  While I am sewing blocks I am continually sewing little crumbs together making strips.  I have many of all sorts of widths.  When I need them, I just add them onto what I’m sewing.

Add what you need and trim your blocks up.  Here are two of my nine patch blocks along with some “regular” crumb blocks.

To make a four patch it’s even easier….cut two strips to equal length.  Sew them together press and cut. You should have this.

Sew them together…add crumbs to the sides and trim.  Here’s a finished four patch.

As long as we’re on squares….maybe you want to try a 16 patch.

In Monday’s post I talked a little about planning your quilt.  You’re going to need to decide how many of each block you’d like.  When I made the original quilt I made lots of “regular” crumb blocks.  This time around I am only making a few…I prefer the blocks with a pattern.  If you didn’t catch Monday’s post, you can follow this link. There’s some information there that you might use in making some decisions about your quilt.

If you want to make regular crumb blocks, I’m going to let Bonnie Hunter , the original crumb gal, explain how to make them….follow this link to find out.  She has a few quilts there that you might want to look at and consider for possible layout designs too.

Now you’re wondering how many blocks to sew this week..How about two nine patches and two four patches?  Try a few “regular” crumb blocks too.  As I said in Monday’s post, I am making mine in a 6 x 7 layout. That means I need 42 blocks plus whatever I need for the outside border….because most of my border is covered with alphabet letters, I am aiming for 50 blocks.  Those of you who aren’t adding letters or words will need more blocks.

Up next week….we’ll tackle a few blocks that feature triangles.

Make sure to stop back on Thursday….my newest Moda Bake Shop quilt will be revealed and Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring a giveaway…..

Here’s a linky if you want to show off your progress…Remember you can post of Flicker or Facebook too.