Four Patch in a Sqaure

It's funny how fabric you loved in 2012 might not be a favorite in 2021.  But when I found some forgotten Lucy's Crab Shack charm packs it brought back fond memories and a desire to make a simple, no stress quilt.

A great source for Four-Patches using 5" squares is Mary from Me & My Sister Designs and her video from The Fat Quarter Shop.  I followed every step of her video to make all my four-patches.

Each four-patch was supposed to end up 4.5" unfinished - but mine didn't - so I trimmed them to 4". 

This extra trim meant that I could cut a 5" square into 4 pieces,  twice on the diagonal - and make a square in a square (or economy block).  The math worked out.  Even a 4.25" center square 4-patch was too large to accomplish my goal - using up all the Lucy's Crab Shack charm squares and no other fabrics.  

Other inspiration came from Jolene of Blue Elephant Stitches - and her lovely quilt and post here. She also has a link to a tutorial on how she made her quilt - and here is my tutorial of the same block but in a larger size.  

The final trim of the block is 5.5" with hardly any waste at this stage.   So, that's what on the sewing table right now - a simple, very beginner friendly block made with  pre-cuts.   

Materials: 

Lucy's Crab Shack from Sweetwater

Four-Patch Tutorial from Me & My Sister Designs here

Thanks to Blue Elephant Stitches for inspiration

January 2021

Lucy's Crab Shack Charm Pack (#16)

Lucy's Crab Shack quilt from Moda (Sweetwater).  4 charm packs in a repeat design make the bulk of this - plus another charm pack that is not toally used up, but needed for the border.  Each 'square' was made with 6 charms across by 7 charms down - and then sewn all together into one big square.  (count from the white bikes on the top left as a starting point to see pattern)

The back is Burgundy (or Crimson) dot to dot minky - with a layer of muslin between the quilt top & minky.

Charm squares cut in half and made into strips, then combined with Kona white accents (smaller white divider was cut 1.5" and the border was cut 2.5" and trimmed to 2").

Simple quilting making an 'x' through all the squares was done with a larger stitch - and slowly sewn with a walking foot.
Binding was the coordinating aqua blue with bikes - machine stitched on the back first, and then the front.  

Finished size: 55" wide x 72" long.
This means that a minky purchase of 2.25 yards will back this quilt - as it comes in 60" wide.