How to Make a Grandma’s Favorite Quilt Block – June Quilt Block of the Month
Today is June 1st, and with it comes our next Block of the Month in our Polka Dot Chair Quilt Block series. This month, we will be making Grandma’s Favorite Quilt Block. I really love this block; it may be one of my favorites. It combines elements (the pinwheels and the plus sign) from some of the previous blocks of the month.
UPDATE: You can now purchase a PDF with ALL of the block instructions for each month in one place!! Click here to PURCHASE
We are down to the last three blocks in our annual series. I hope you’ve loved playing along, I’ve had a great time dreaming up the blocks to share with you each month.
Currently, I’m working on four quilts using our block of the month quilt blocks: one for my teenage son, one for Christmas, and one to use on the bed in our RV, featuring low-volume fabrics. Let me tell you a secret: the fourth quilt is DONE! It featured many fabrics from my Wonderland and Derby Style fabric collections, and a few months ago, I decided to finish it up in time for Quilt Market.
What the Finished Quilt Looks Like
I want to keep the rest of the blocks secret for now, but I thought I’d share a few shots of the finished quilt with you.
We went camping for Memorial Day weekend, and I took the quilt along with me in case I found a fun place to photograph it. For those of you that have not ever made a block-based quilt I think the photos show you a bit about how the blocks come together.
For this particular quilt, I chose to add a swiss dot sashing after we finish our last block, I’ll share directions to do that along with other block assembly ideas and techniques.
Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt did the machine quilting and did a fantastic job as usual. She never ceases to amaze me with her mad quilting skills.
About the Quilt Block:
Okay, now for the block. It’s called Grandma’s Favorite. I saw it long ago and filed it in my “someday” folder. It seemed like the perfect block for this month’s project.
I recommend using 3 fabric colors for this block (not including the background). To get the effect you want, keep the 4 squares that form the plus the same color.
For this block, I chose to use my darker fabric as the plus and my lighter fabric as the pinwheels. That way, the pinwheels blend into the background a bit, and the plus is able to come to the front when you look at the block. For the center square, I fussy cut one of the bunny heads from my Wonderland line.
How to Make a Grandma’s Favorite Quilt Block
Yields: One 15 1/2″ x 15 1/2″ block before finishing.
Cutting
4 pieces background fabric each 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″
3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ piece for center square
4 pieces each 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ for the PLUS
8 pieces each 4″ x 4″ for pinwheels
8 pieces background fabric each 4″ x 4″ for pinwheels
marking pencil
basic quilting tools
Step One: Create the Half Square Triangles
Using the eight 4″ x 4″ background and eight 4″ x 4″ print fabric pieces, create 16 half square triangles (HST’s).
To do this layer 1 print piece on top of one background piece right sides facing. Draw a diagonal line down the center of one of the pieces. Stitch 1/4″ on each side of the line and cut apart on the line you drew.
Press seams to the dark side of the fabric and trim the pieces down to 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″.
Step Two: Lay the Pieces Out and Construct the Block
After you have completed and trimmed the HST’s lay the sewn triangles and cut blocks out in rows as shown above. Stitch together one row at a time. Stitch row 1, Press seams to one side. Next, Stitch row 2, press seams to the opposite side of row 1. Repeat for all 5 rows.
Then just stitch the rows together. When you’re finished, trim your block down to 15 1/2″ x 15 1/2″.
15 Inch Free Quilt Block Patterns
- Plus Quilt Block Pattern
- Pinwheel Quilt Block Pattern
- Sawtooth Star Quilt Block Pattern
- Half Square Triangle String Block Pattern
- Turnstile Quilt Block Pattern
- Shoofly Quilt Block Pattern
- Keystone Quilt Block Pattern
- Log Cabin Quilt Block Pattern
- Friendship Star Quilt Block Pattern
- Grandma’s Favorite Quilt Block Pattern
- Ohio Star Quilt Block Pattern
- Dresden Quilt Block Pattern
Just a quick reminder: This project along with ALL of the other projects on this blog are offered to you for free. The only thing that I ask is that you do not use them for any commercial purpose. If you have a shop, this is not meant to be a program for you to use in your store. It’s meant to help build the online community of people who all LOVE quilting. Please respect that so that I can go on sharing these projects for everyone.
