Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Stepping Stones Sampler Lessons 9 and 10 - Cornerstones and squaring up your blocks

 Now that your blocks are all done, it's time to get the cornerstones pieced and ready to go.  You actually have three options for this step.  You can do solid cornerstones, and just cut sixteen squares of your sashing fabric.  You can make nine patch cornerstones, which are fun, and what I did with my Enchanted Forest quilt.  Or you can make snowball blocks - I did these for my version with the cats in the sewing room fabric.

For my nine patch blocks I used three fabrics, placing the green in the center of the nine patch.  I thought it was a neat way to make this quilt just a little different.  



These little nine patch units are super easy to piece using strip piecing.  You will make three sets of strips, the top middle and bottom. For a regular nine patch, you will just use one color of strip and the backround. 

Place your center strip and upper strip right sides together, lining up the seams and edges.  

Cut enough strips for all of your ning patch cornerstones, keeping the pairs together.  Sew, matching seams and press toward the upper strip.

Cut the remaining strips for the lower side of the block.  

Sew to comeplete nine patch cornerstones and press seams toward outside of blocks.

If you want to make snowball blocks for your cornerstones, start with solid squares.  Cut four background squares for each cornerstone block.  Draw a diagonal line on the back of each background square.

Place right sides together on the corner of the block and sew on the drawn line.

Each of the four corners will get a square sewn to it.


Trim 1/4 inch from the seams.

Press corners out to complete the snowball units.

The second part of this lesson is to prepare the finished blocks for sewing together and cutting the sashing strips.

Use a 12 1/2 inch ruler to check your blocks for size.  If you've been accurate in sewing and cutting they should measure 12 1/2 inches.  If your blocks are not all 12 1/2 inches you might need to do some adjusting.  The goal is to make sure that all your blocks are the same size.  If most of your blocks are 12 1/2, but four of them measure 12 inches you will want to figure out how to adjust those smaller blocks.  Sometimes you can repress your block to make sure it is the right size.  Another option for dealing with a small block is adding border strips to bring it up to size.  If your block is too big, you might need to trim it a bit, but often this results in points being cut off.  Of course, you want the best look for your blocks, but in the end this is your quilt, and you get to decide!  You will definitely be happier if all of your blocks are the same size when we assemble the quilt top next month.

Last but not least, follow instructions for cutting your sashing strips!  Make sure you cut them to the size of your blocks if your blocks are not 12 1/2 inches, and you will be set for putting your top together next month!  

Have fun!  I'd love to see your color choices and progress, so feel free to share - use the hashtag #steppingstonesquiltalong and #pamelaquilts on instagram so we can find them easily.  I'm resisting the temptation to start a new version, but will be sharing pictures of the four I've made so far as we go!

Thanks for quilting along with me!

Buy my pattern here:  Stepping Stones Sampler

Find the list of blog posts here:  Stepping Stones Quilt Along



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