Hi there! I’m Jolene from Blue Elephant Stitches. I’ve always loved the look of crocheted granny square throws. Since I don’t know how to crochet, I came up with a quilt block that would give a similar look. I wrote that tutorial on my blog about a year ago, using scrappy squares.
Here is a revised version using a jelly roll which makes it go so fast! I tried to write this tutorial in a way that made the best use of strips, yet still gave a scrappy look, since you don’t want all your blocks to look the same. When you use this method, you will have two blocks of each color set.
Quilt dimensions: 52″ x 62″
1 jelly roll ( I used Posy by Aneela Hoey) you will only use half the strips
Main Background fabric – 2.5 yards
Border (optional) – 1.5 yards
Binding – 0.5 yard
Backing – a piece of fabric measuring at least 56″ x 66″
Batting – a piece measuring at least 56″ x 66″
1. From your Main Background color cut:
16 strips – 3″ x width of fabric (these strips will be for your blocks)
13 strips – 2.5″ x width of fabric(these strips will be sashing)
2. Choose twenty strips from your jelly roll that you want to use in this quilt. (the remaining strips can be
used for binding, or saved for another project) Separate into two piles of ten. One stack will be for your
inner granny rings, and the other set will be for your outer granny rings.
3. Now we will subcut our strips as follows:
Inner Granny Rings – cut all 10 like the diagram below:
Outer Granny Rings – cut all 10 like the diagram below:
Background – cut 10 of your 3″wide strips like the diagram below:
Background – cut 3 of your 3″ wide strips like the diagram below:
Background – cut your remaining 3 strips into 3″ squares. (you will need 40 of these squares)
YAY!! the cutting for your blocks is done! Your stacks should look a bit like mine above. Now let’s get ready to assemble them.
4. We are going to assemble these blocks in sets. Each set will make two blocks, so we will make 10 sets of blocks, for a total of 20 blocks. It works best to first sort the sets into piles so that we don’t get mixed up and sew the wrong strips together.
We’ll start with our Inner Granny Rings.
Take two 5 1/2″ strips from the same fabric, and their two matching 10 1/2″ strips. Put them together in a pile. Do this for each of the 10 sets. You should now have ten 5 1/2″ strips left. These will be for those little center squares. Put one on each pile, making sure they are a different fabric..
Now we’ll add the outer ring fabrics to these piles:
For each set, there will be two 5 1/2″ strips and two 10 1/2″ strips of the same fabric. Place one set together with each pile, keeping in mind the values and colors, since you want these fabrics to have contrast to each other.
Now we just need to add our background fabric:
To each set add two 5 1/2″ strips, four 10 1/2″ strips, and four 3″ squares.
Now we’re ready to sew them together!
5. Take your sets to your sewing machine and sew the strips together as shown below. (do one pile or block set at a time)
Press these seams open.
Now cut your sets into strips that are 2 1/2″ wide. I gave you an extra half an inch when we cut out our strips, so you may have a little bit to trim off.
Arrange your strips as shown above and sew together. You will have enough for two blocks from each set.
Press these seams to the outside, as I’ve shown above.
Now you can trim your block. I trimmed mine to 9″ square, but yours might be slightly different. The most important thing is that your blocks are all square, and all the same size.
Sew your nine remaining block sets together, and you should end up with 20 blocks! Now we can just add the sashing and the optional border!
To make a border like mine, cut your strips 6″ wide.
To make rounded corners like I did, quilt your quilt as usual, then choose your desired round shape, trace it onto each corner and cut it off. Use a bias binding to finish your quilt. Binding made on the bias will make it possible to sew around the curved corners.
52″ x 62″ finished quilt! I hope you find this tutorial useful! I’d love to see your finished quilts.
Jolene Klassen
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