"Grace and a Prayer" Quilt

This is the first posting about making blocks so that I can create my own red, white and blue quilt like the one that came together for Emma's Hope. I'm calling my quilt "Grace and a Prayer" but you might want to give your own name to the quilt that you make. It might be called "My First Quilt" if you are a beginner or "My Lazy Daisy" quilt if you already know how to quilt but you are looking for a slow, relaxing project. I guess you could also call it "The Slowpoke Quilt" as the pace I am planning for this project will take us through to next spring! I chose my name because it was "Grace and a Prayer" - actually lots of prayers that got me through the past few years during lots of family health issues. I thought about giving it the name "Dei Gratia" which is Latin for "by the grace of God", but I am going to use that name on another project that I'll do in wool when the weather cools down.

When I was first approached to do the quilt for the Emma's Hope fundraiser, I had many concerns, but when you see the end result of the quilt one doesn't know that. The nice thing is that the finished quilt is with Emma and her family. Those who made blocks sent many prayers and good wishes. To follow Emma's progress, you can go to HopeForSweetEmma .

I had a plan from the beginning and so, I asked you all to make 6-1/2" square blocks and/or 12-1/2" square blocks. I knew that I could make a quilt "happen" with these sizes and it would look great. One of the first bloggers to respond that she would make blocks was Pat of A*LittleOfThisAnd*A*LittleOfPat blog. Pat sent nineteen 6-1/2" squares that she and two friends, Kaye and Sherry, had made. Some were used as 6-1/2" squares and some were sewn into 12-1/2" squares. So here, now, are the simple directions for making four-patch blocks.

You will need an assortment of fabrics, your rotary cutter, ruler and mat. I will assume you know how to use these. :-) All sewn seams are a quarter inch!

To make one 6-1/2" square block, you will need two contrasting fabrics. I have chosen a red and white polka dot to go with a white with red dotties. ;-) From the red, cut two 3-1/2" squares, then cut two 3-1/2" squares from the white. In the picture above, you can see that one set has been sewn together. Sew two sets as shown in the bottom section. Press the light colored seam to the dark fabric.

Next, pin your two sets together, then stitch and press so that you end up with a block like the one in the photo above. You can make lots of these blocks in a variety of colors combinations. Or.......

Make four identical 6-1/2" square blocks and then when sewn together, you will have a 12-1/2" square block. By simply turning the blocks in different directions you can end up with a whole new block design. Shown below are a few more variations.

Now, to make a really simple 12-1/2" block you can cut four 6-1/2" squares and sew them together as you did for the 6-1/2" blocks. This works great for large print fabrics that might have flags, flowers or other designs that would be lost if cut up for the small blocks.

That's it, the first block session for my "Grace and a Prayer" quilt. I will make a few of these and then post another block design sometime next week. I'm going to make an assortment of blocks as I want to do a couple small wall quilts, one for the Care Center in Dayton, Iowa and one for the Senior Citizen Center in Lehigh, Iowa. And when I've completed those, then I'll make a big quilt for us.

Lights out for tonight!

Sandi