Red, White and Blue Strip Quilt

Supplies:
Inexpensive muslin for foundation squares
Good quality plain white cotton fabric for centers
Washable glue sticks
Red and blue fabrics cut 1 ½” - 2  ¾” in width.  Cut strips to make the best use of fabric you have on hand.  For example: if you have a 6”wide piece of fabric cut 3 - 2” strips.  If you start with 5” wide fabric, cut 2  - 2 ½” strips.  Do not cut strips smaller than 1 ½” wide.
Rotary cutter
81/2” square ruler
Nice but not necessary: rotating cutting mat
Extra fine Sharpie markers for signatures and messages
Iron and Ironing board

Directions:

1.  Cut Foundation Blocks 9” square

2.  Cut white strips 2” x 13 – 14” in length

3.  Using glue stick, put glue down the center of white strip.

4.  Center white strip, diagonally from corner to corner, on foundation square.  This will secure            the white strip to the foundation block to prevent slipping. You don’t need to measure, just eyeball the placement.

5.  Select 4 – 5 each of red and blue fabric strips.  These strips may be of various widths.  We have found this adds character, pizazz and verve to the quilt.

6.  Place a red strip Right Sides Together (RST) on top of white strip. Align edges and stitch using a 1/4” seam allowance.  Open strip and press with iron or finger press.

7.  Using next red strip, place RST on top of first red strip.  Align edges and stitch using a 1/4” seam allowance.  Open and press as before.

8.  Continue until red half of block is completely covered.  You will notice the edges will be uneven but these will be trimmed later.

9.  Turn your foundation fabric and repeat steps 6 thru 8 using blue fabric strips.

10.  Once all strips have been sewn and pressed, block is ready for trimming.

11.  Place block wrong side up on cutting mat and center the 8 ½” ruler on the block.  Make sure the ruler is on the foundation block and the diagonal line is centered in the middle of the white strip.  The diagonal line should be running diagonally from corner to corner of the foundation block.  Trim edges of block to 8 ½” square. Blocks are now ready for signatures or messages.

12.  Make a total of 72 blocks.


PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

We strongly suggest using a smaller stitch length.  We use 2.0 to prevent seams from opening.

You will sew 4 blocks together to make a larger block.

FIRST HALF:
Take 2 blocks place them so red portion forms a triangle with white strips intersect at the TOP of block.  Place RST and sew using 1/4” seam allowance.

SECOND HALF:
Take 2 blocks and place them so red portion forms a triangle with white strips intersecting at the BOTTOM of block.  Place RST and sew using 1/4” seam allowance.

Iron seams open!  Place first half of block, RST, on top of second half of block.  Red strips will be meeting red strips and white strips will intersect at outside corners.  Match seams and sew using ¼ “ seam allowance.  This will result in a center red square on point with blue at each corners.

Each large block completed makes 2 rows .  Repeat 15 more times - you will have used 64 small blocks and will have a total of large blocks.

Sew groups of large blocks together to make the top 8 small blocks wide and 8 small blocks long. (4 large blocks sewn together makes 2 complete rows) When sewing rows together, make sure to match seams.

FOR THE LAST ROW:
You will make only the TOP HALF of the larger block. using the 8 smaller blocks you have left.  The row will be 8 blocks long.  Sew this row RST to the rest of the completed blocks.  Your finished top will be 8 small blocks wide by 9 small blocks long (64 x 72 inches).