RUBY AND SPRUCE
Deck the halls with a sweet, seasonal mini quilt, topped off with patchwork baubles and cool, curved corners
Deck the halls with a sweet, seasonal mini quilt, topped off with patchwork baubles and cool, curved corners
YOU WILL NEED
■ Background fabric: ¾yd
■ Green fabrics: four (4) fat eighths
■ Pink fabric: one (1) fat eighth
■ Red fabric: one (1) fat eighth
■ Binding fabric: one (1) fat quarter
■ Backing fabric: 1yd
■ Batting: 36in square
FINISHED SIZE ■ 30in square
NOTES
■ Seam allowances are ¼in.
■ Press seams open throughout,
unless otherwise instructed.
■ RST = right sides together.
■ CST = Corner-square Triangle.
■ WOF = width of fabric.
■ Pattern assumes WOF is at least 42in.
■ Press all fabrics well before cutting.
FABRICS USED
Fabrics are Kona Cotton Solids by Robert Kaufman in Grasshopper, Leprechaun, Basil, Kiwi, Lipstick, Melon, and White.
CUTTING OUT
1
From the background fabric cut:
■ One (1) 6½in x WOF strip. Subcut into one (1) 6½in x 11in piece, two (2) 6½in x 4¼in pieces and four (4) 6½in x 2¾in pieces. From the scraps of this strip cut four (4) 2in squares.
■ Three (3) 3½in x WOF strips. Subcut the first strip into eight (8) 3½in squares and one (1) 3½in x 12½in rectangle. Subcut the second strip into three (3) 3½in x 12½in rectangles. Subcut the third strip into four (4) 3½in x 9½in rectangles.
■ Six (6) 1¼in x WOF strips. Subcut into one hundred and seventy two (172) 1¼in squares.
2
From the four (4) green fabrics cut a total of:
■ Thirty five (35) 3½in squares.
3
From the pink fabric cut: ■ Seven (7) 3½in squares.
4
From the red fabric cut: ■ Four (4) 3½in squares.
MAKING THE BIAS BINDING
5
Trim the selvedge off your binding fabric fat quarter and trim the other edges straight. Place the fat quarter flat in front of you with the shorter (approx 18in) length on the left and right and the longer (approx 21in) length across the top and bottom. Fold the bottom right corner up towards the top edge. Match the edges neatly, then carefully trim off the folded edge with a long ruler (Fig A).
6
Move the top triangle to the left of the fabric you started with, matching the straight side edges (Fig B). Sew together along these straight edges. Press the seam open.
7
Cut five 2½in wide strips along the diagonal edge (Fig C). Using this method will allow you to easily cut bias strips with minimal piecing.
MIX AND MATCH SHADES OF GREEN AND ADD A POP OF PINK FOR A MODERN TOUCH
PIEICNG THE BAUBLE BLOCKS
8
On each 1¼in background square, mark one diagonal line on the wrong side, from corner to corner.
9
Place a 1¼in background square in each corner of a green square, as shown. Sew along the marked lines and trim using a ¼in seam allowance (Fig D). Press the triangles away from the centre to complete the four CSTs (Fig E). This makes one bauble block.
10
Repeat step 9 with all the remaining green and pink 3½in squares to make forty two bauble blocks.
PEICING THE BOWS
11
Add CSTs to two opposite corners of a red 3½in square as before, using the background 1¼in squares (Fig F). Repeat to make a second identical block.
12
Repeat step 11 with the remaining red 3½in squares, using the background fabric 2in squares.
ASSEMBLING THE MINI QUILT TOP
13
Arrange all the bauble blocks, bow blocks and background pieces as shown in the Layout Diagram.
14
To assemble the corner blocks, sew seven bauble blocks and two background 3½in squares into a nine-patch. Join a background 3½in x 9½in to the left side, and a 3½in x 12½in strip to the top. Repeat to make the other three corners, making sure to adjust which side the background strips attach, referring to Fig 1.
15
Make the bow unit by joining two baubles and the red bow units in three rows of two. Join the rows together, then join a 2¾in x 6½in background strip to the top (Fig 2). Make sure the bow blocks with the larger background corners are at the bottom, to form the tails of the bow.
16
Make the side units by joining the bauble blocks in a four-patch. Then join a 2¾in x 6½in background strip to one side. Join a 4¼in x 6½in background strip to the opposite side. Make two of these units. Make the bottom unit in the same way, but omitting the 4¼in x 6½in background strip (Fig 3).
17
Join the pieced units into three columns, with the remaining 6½in x 11in background strip in the centre column (Fig 4). Join the columns to complete the quilt top, pressing seams open.
QUILTING AND FINISHING
18
Press the quilt top and backing well. Make a quilt sandwich by placing the backing fabric right side down, the batting on top, then place the quilt top centrally and right side up. Baste the layers together using your preferred method.
19
Quilt as desired. Robin quilted a grid of vertical and horizontal straight lines across the mini quilt, using a white thread. Trim off the excess batting and backing fabric and square up the quilt. 20
Use a bowl or plate as your guide to trace a curve on each corner of your quilted sandwich. Neatly cut away the corners, following the lines you drew with a pair of scissors.
21
Sew the five bias binding strips end-to-end using diagonal seams. Press the joined strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together.
22
Sew the binding to the right side of the quilt, carefully easing the bias binding smoothly around the curves.
23
Fold the binding over to the back of the quilt and hand stitch in place around the edge to finish.