sewcreatelive: Pink Nine Square Baby Quilt

My sister made this darling baby quilt (top picture) and I wanted to make one like it with my scraps.

Here are the materials you need to make her quilt:

8 X 8 squares 2/3 yard fabric

White squares 3 X 3 1/2 yard fabric

Pink print squares 3 x 3 1/8 yard fabric

Tan print squares 3 x 3 1/8 yard fabric

Grey print squares 3 x 3 1/8 yard fabric

Coral print squares 3 x 3 1/8 yard fabric

Grey print squares 3 x 3 1/8 yard fabric

Borders 1/2 yard

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Here are the fabrics you need to make my quilt:

Light pink squares 1/8 yard

Pink dot squares 1/8 yard

Pink print squares 1/2 yard

Small white squares 1/8 yard

Small cream squares 1/8 yard

Large white squares 1 1/4 yards

Borders 1/2 yard

For the small squares (3" x 3"), cut 3" strip across fabric crosswise grain.

For the small white squares (3" x 3"), cut four strips 3" wide.

Pink print fabric cut 5 strips 3" wide

White solid fabric cut strip 3" wide

Cream solid fabric cut strip 3" wide

Light pink solid fabric cut 1 strip 3" wide

Pink dot print fabric cut 1 strip 3" wide

Four cornerstones cut 4 squares 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Large white solid squares cut 13 9.5" x 9.5"

Borders cut 4 strips of 3 1/2" x 37 1/2"

Here are the cut strips

Place the strips in groups of 3, depending on which colors/prints you want grouped together for the nine-square blocks.

Sew these strips together in groups of three. Press seams to one side.

Cross cut the sewn strips at 3". Be sure to stay perpendicular to cut edge.

Organize all cut strips.

Assemble the strips and sew together to create the nine-square blocks.

After sewing the first two strips together, add the third strip.

Sew third strip on.

Press seams towards center.

Place each nine-square and white squares on table to decide which direction to lay the nine-squares. Turning them will change the look of the entire quilt.

I tried several different arrangements.

Begin to start sewing blocks together.

All strips are sewn.

Press seams to one side.

Also press on the right side to make sure seams are opened.

As the rows are sewn together, nest the seams as much as possible. This will ensure that the intersecting seams will match.

Press seams to one side on all rows.

Create the border. I chose to have cornerstones on my border

Sew on the side borders without the cornerstones. Press.

Press on right side.

True up the corners 90 degrees.

Check both sides of each corner to make them square.

To create the top and bottom borders, first sew one cornerstone to each border. Press,

On the other side of the border, mark where the cornerstone seam will be. Mark a pin 1/4" out from first pin to allow for seam allowance. Cut off rest of border.

Sew cornerstone to other side of border.

Sew border to top and bottom of quilt.

I was able to use my sister's longarm quilting machine and had so much fun. Check through the pictures and see a video. Then go to the end of the blog to see instructions for the quilt binding.

I used a quilt template to stay accurate with my designs.

It is now quilted. The back and batting are larger and will need to be trimmed off.

Trimming off the excess.

The long steel rulers make it easy to cut with the rotary cutter.

Make sure the corners are square.

For the binding, first measure the perimeter of the quilt. Decide how many fabric strips needed for the perimeter. Cut 3" strips to do the French fold method.

To sew the strips together, put two strips perpendicular right sides together. They will be sewn like the angle shown.

Sew strips together, trim and press open.

Now fold strips in half lengthwise, wrong sides together.

Before sewing to the quilt edge, place binding on the quilt to make sure that the seams will not end up at the corners. This would be too bulky to do the mitered corners.

Place binding to back side of quilt. Sew binding to the quilt edge at 3/8", stopping 1/2 before corner and stitching off diagonally. DO NOT BEGIN AT A CORNER BUT NEAR A CORNER, LEAVING THE FIRST 7" UNSEWN. Using a walking foot helps to prevent the fabric layers from shifting.

Flip binding up so that the edge is straight up from the quilt edge.

Fold binding down so that fold meets top of quilt and raw edges match.

Continue sewing the binding to the next quilt side. Continue this process for each corner. Stop sewing 7" before meeting the beginning of binding.

Overlap your unsewn binding edges.

Mark where the edges overlap. Then measure 3" over and mark.

Cut the rest of the binding off.

Open up the two binding tails.

Overlap them at the corners perpendicular. Mark the stitching line.

Sew seam and trim to 1/4". Press open.

Fold the binding again and match raw edges to quilt edge. Pin in place and sew.

I like sewing the serpentine stitch on my binding. It is strong, decorative, and hides any errors. You can also sew a straight stitch but it is more difficult to make everything look straight on both sides of the binding. On my Bernina it is stitch #21. I change the stitch setting just a bit.