Quiltville Custom Quilting
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Bricks and Stepping-Stones!

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(What to do when the bins of 2" and 3.5" scrap strips are overflowing!)

Size: 60"X75"

This is a really great quilt to make when you need one in a hurry! The large size of the bricks makes them a good place to use up those 'bigger' prints that are too big for smaller blocks. The black and white four patches really add alot of spark and motion to the muted background of the medium to dark prints. The only rule when choosing fabrics for this quilt is to have all the bricks darker than your lights in the four patches.....and the only place where there is BLACK is in the fourpatches. No black bricks, or the four patches would disappear against them. The object here isn't about color, it's about contrast!

Cutting the bricks:
you will need 112 bricks cut 3.5" X 6.5"

To make the 4 patches:

For the lap size quilt shown, you will need to make 112 4 patches from 2" strips.

You can dig through your 2" bin of scrap strips for all the lights and all the blacks as I did, or you can go to your Fat Quarters or Yardage to cut 2" strips to strip piece them. Because I made mine from various strip lengths, no exact strip count is given. However, if you are cutting them from full 44" yardage, you will need approx 12 strips of light, and 12 strips of black. You might end up with a few extra four patches because I based this measurment on 40" wide fabric after washing, ironing, and trimming (and room for a few mis-cuts!)

When I am subcutting for my 4 patch units, I like to take the strip with the seam pressed towards the dark, and cut it in HALF along the fold. Then I flip one of the half strips over so that the seams are opposing! This helps distribute the fullness of the seams when cutting, but it also makes it so you can just feed those little subcut pairs through the machine already matched up into their four patch units :c)

Now for the fun part!

This is where you stack up your bricks to the left, and your 4 patches to the right!
You will want to be sure all the 4 patches have the blacks running in the same way shown here.
I call this unit "sewing the matchstick!" Sew all 112 4 patches to all 112 bricks in this manner.
Press the seam allowance towards the bricks when you are done.

This is your block unit! It is NOT a square, it is a rectangle made of two 'matchstick' units which finish at
6" X 9".

Take your stack of matchsticks, and divide it in half, flipping one half the other way. Lay them out as shown, one pile with the four patch at the top, and one pile with the four patch at the bottom. Sew these right sides together, and press towards one side. The only thing I watch for here is that I am not sewing two blues together, or two reds together, etc...otherwise, it is completely random!

Now for playing on the floor time :c)

Following the quilt layout above, lay your brick blocks 8 across and 7 down. I know that sounds funny, but remember they are longer than they are wide.

Stitch the bricks into rows, and then sew the rows together to complete the quilt top.

I finished my quilt by adding a 2" cut inner border of black, and a 5" cut outter border of blue/black check. I backed it with flannel and quilted it to death!

If you make this quilt and want to send me a pic, I'll be happy to include it in the quilt photo gallery!

Here is one that Betty in Houston made!
Kairle O made this one!
Another from Lynn D in Chicago!
Sybil pieces on an old treadle machine!
Bev B Made this one for Quilts of Valor!
Dawn made hers in brights!
Mary Anne made hers in water/penguin fabrics!
Valerie B's with a vibrant red border!
Carien's beautiful Bricks & Stepping Stones!
Carol C used teal instead of black in her stepping stones!
Ginny M made hers with treasured cat fabrics, and her kitty approves!
Helen was challenged by being given some "less than beautiful" fabrics for a charity quilt. It turned out lovely!!
Jackie K made this quilt and this quilt with brights and blacks!
Vikki C made hers in blacks and reds!
Pat D's has red and white four patches!