Maggie's Quilt Tutorial

I recently completed Maggie's retirement quilt.  Here is a tutorial for the blocks I used although, warning, the instructions are written from memory, and haven't been tested.

For this quilt, make:

a) 25 heart blocks and 21 chain blocks.  

b) 16 half chain blocks

c) 12  4 1/2 x 7 1/2" plain background blocks that go between each 1/2 chain blocks 

d) (4) 4 1/2" background squares for the corners.

Heart Blocks

Cutting instructions:
(1) 4 1/2 x 2 1/2"
(1) 2 1/2 x 2 1/2"
(2) 3 1/2" square cut diagonally
(1) 2 1/2" square cut diagonally (bigger one to be used in center as shown and the other to be cut in half again as shown)
For the borders cut two of each: 2 1/4 x 5" rectangles and 1 3/4 x  7 1/2" rectangles

Lay out as shown

1.  Sew smallest triangles on first

2.  Sew one middle size triangle to 2 1/2" square

3.  Sew 2 1/2" square unit to 4 1/2 x 2 1/2" unit

4.  Sew large triangles on as shown

Next you will lay your ruler onto your square, making sure the 2 1/2" line is centered.

Then you will slice off a bit of the side and top heart, leaving 1/4" seam allowance at the bottom.  Flip around and trim to 4 1/4" (top to bottom) x 5" across

This will give the heart a bit more roundness

Add the borders.  Top and bottom are 2 1/4 x 5" rectangles and sides are 1 3/4 x  7 1/2".  Square up the block to be 7 1/2" square

Chain Blocks

1.  For the chain blocks, cut many 1 1/2" x the width of the fabric (wof) of main fabric and also many 1 1/2" x wof of background fabric (not shown)

2.  Also Cut many 3 1/2" and  5 1/2" x wof, strips of background fabrics

3.  For the HALF chain blocks, also cut 2 1/2" and 4 1/2" x wof background strips

1.  Sew all of the 1 1/2" strips of your main color and background strips together as shown.

2.  Slice these strips into 1 1/2" pieces

Assemble the center 9 patch and then add two layers of borders.

1.  Construct the center 9 patch as shown (you will need 1 extra 1 1/2" square of main color)
2.  Add a 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" strip to the side of the 9 patch as shown
3.  Add the corresponding pieces to each side as shown.

I press to one side but open as shown to reduce the bulk where the four seams meet.  Sometimes, often actually, I have to clip the seam to achieve this.

First layer of border

Second layer of borders

After adding the second layer borders, square up to 7 1/2"

Construct the half chain blocks similarly to the main chain blocks, except, leave off the last section of the middle 9 patch and the side background strips will be 2 1/2 and 4 1/2"

Sew all the blocks together.
For finishing the quilt top, I added a background border of 1 1/2" and then the red border is 2" and then another 6" background border.

These instructions haven't been tested, so if you run into a problem, you need clarified, email me at sunshineintheattic@yahoo.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  Also if anyone makes one of these quilts or you put your own spin on it, I'd love to see it!

Sorry I don't have the exact yardage, but I think the background is about 4 yards and I used a charm pack and some stash fabrics for the hearts.  The chain block main fabric was about 1 1/2 yards.