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.
Thanks for this helpful post, I like the tuto for the elongated 9-patch! So many possibilities…
I’m keeping all your posts but I haven’t been able to keep up! Life does have a habit of getting in the way of the best laid plans :~) Having a lot of fun following along and I’ll work up my version soon hopefully!!!
I’m so glad you showed the closeup of the crumb quilt – I have been wondering about how to top stitch since all the squares are so “wonky”. I couldn’t imagine what would look good.
Shock! I am the first one to link up. This is a fun project! After I get home from work, I will start working on the patches. Fun!
~Linnea
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having trouble sleeping so when I get into the sewing room, I make a few crumbs. Having fun… these are addicting.
I have jotted down a couple of block ideas that I can use my scraps from my GO dies on. Since I cut in multilpes of 4 I just grab a chunk and cut a sq/rec/or tri shape and have 4 similar to play with.
it is fun to see the progress, thanks for hosting this crumb along! cw
I saw what upstatelisa is doing and I’m about to start today. I can’t wait to use up some crumbs.
These look both fun and easy. I have some leftovers from Carolina Crossroads that will be perfect for Nine Patches.
I have not yet sewn any crumb blocks but I am printing the directions adn when I finally get my machine back from the shop I will give it a whirl…looking forward to it!
These are very addicting! Thanks so much for hosting this. Mindless and playful sewing is just what I need right now.
Oh, these were a breath of fresh air…no troubles and went together really well. This was a fun part of the quilt. I will be sewing some more this weekend.
Just stumbled upon this quilt-a-long. I see that I’m not too far behind so I will be joining right in. I have already added this to my Facebook page. I just love crumb quilts!!!!
Kathy
Love your crumb project. I started making crumb blocks after reading Quiltville.com (Bonnie Hunter). I like her fabric users system. I have been cutting scrap pieces all weekend trying to empty a scrap bin. Great projects in your participants’ blogs, too.
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