Two Colour Quilt Tutorial

A few people emailed me and asked for the pattern to the blue and white lap quilt I made for my mother. You can see it here. I decided to put a little tutorial on this blog, because I do not have a pattern as such. I learned to make this quilt at one of our Bee Nights. It is a great way to use up scraps because pieces can be as small as 3 1/2 inches by 2 inches. This quilt is lap sized and will measure about 36in. by 48in. Block size is 6 inches finished.

Once you have decided on the colours you will be using, cut the fabric into 2 X 3 1/2 inch strips.
You will need 192 of each colour group. In my case, 192 pieces of red fabrics and 192 pieces of off white fabrics. Start by sewing two of the background or light fabric strips together. You can strip piece these if you like. You will need 48 blocks. Press seams to one side. It does not matter which way the seams are pressed. If you are using only one background fabric, you could make this unit by cutting a 3 1/2 inch square and eliminate this seam.Now sew a red or colour strip to each end of the first unit. Iron seams to the red or colour fabric.

Now piece a light strip and a colour strip end to end, like so. You can chain piece these also. You will need 96 of these. Now stitch these units to the rest of the block. Always have the red or colour piece at the top left of the block. That way you won't get them confused. The bottom strip has the red or colour piece at the bottom right, like this.

Sew 48 blocks like this. Each block should measure 6 1/2 inches square. (finished 6 inches square) To layout the blocks rotate every second block so that the red or colour units form a sort of cross or star-like pattern. I have laid these out so you can see the 'cross' but I would not recommend sewing them together in blocks like this. Rather, I suggest sewing them together in rows. That way you can make the seams all go in one direction on each row and blocks will butt together more easily. Good luck with your quilt. It is a very easy pattern. If you need any more information, just leave me a comment and I will get back to you. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. It is also good to have a helper like Oscar!