Hello my fellow quilters. My name is Erin Grogan and I’m the modern quilt pattern designer, educator, and author behind Love Sew Modern. I love sharing my quilting knowledge with others and creating modern quilt patterns that spark a sense of nostalgia. You can get more free patterns from me by joining my VIP list. The first pattern you’ll receive is for my curves lovers.
Over the many years of teaching quilters I’ve learned that there are an endless amount of different styled quilters in the world, but there’s one thing we can all agree on. We love fabric. Some of us will only buy fabric with a particular project in mind and accumulate a stash of scraps. Some of us will buy fabric simply because it calls to us and makes us smile. We might be accumulating a slightly larger stash than the project based fabric shopper. Either way, we love fabric and we want to give the fabric a sense of purpose.
At the start of the new year I noticed a lot of quilters announcing their plans for a “No Spend 2025.” Which included not purchasing new fabric this year unless they absolutely had to. This got me thinking about my own fabric stash. Although I know it’s not realistic for myself to not buy new fabric this year, it just brings me too much joy. I would like to shop from my own stash before heading out to the quilt shop. Sometimes when I love a fabric line, but I don’t know what I want to make with it I will pick up a charm pack (5” square pack of fabric) or a layer cake (10” square pack of fabric). However, this is a silly thing that I do because I never sew with them. The quilts I tend to make use either yardage or fat quarters.
So we are kicking off this new year with creating a project that puts my unused precuts to good use. If you’re using a 10” precut you can cut them down to (4) 5” squares. Sometimes precuts can come a little off in their measurements. Don’t worry too much about this because we will be squaring our blocks down. If you don’t have any precuts laying around you can also use your larger scraps. For my block I’m using a Ruby Star Society Meadow Star 10” precut bundle I found in my stash.
Lovely Patch Block Fabric Requirements
Fabric A (a mix of charm pack squares or scraps): (4) 5” squares
Fabric B (Fabrics for Heart): (2) 5” squares and (2) 4 ½” squares
Fabric C (Background or light color): (6) 5” squares and (4) 2 ¼” squares
To begin making my Lovely Patch block I’m choosing to cut my 10” precut squares down to (4) 5” squares for my Fabric A and Fabric B. Then I’m using some leftover cream background fabric for my Fabric C to make my block. We will be using the Two-At-A-Time method for piecing our HSTs.
Creating my Half Square Triangles
- Mark a diagonal line down the center of all Fabric A and Fabric B 5” squares.
- Place a Fabric A 5” square right sides together with a Fabric C 5” square.
- Sew ¼” away on both sides of the marked line.
- Cut down the marked line and press towards the dark fabric. This should create (2) HST.
- Trim the block to 4 ½” square.
Repeat these steps with the remaining (3) Fabric A 5” squares and the (2) Fabric B 5” squares. You will create a total of (8) Fabric A 4 ½” HSTs and (4) Fabric B 4 ½” HSTs.
You will discard (2) Fabric B HSTs. You can use them in another block if you choose to make more than (1) Lovely Patch block. If you’re not going for a scrappy look you could choose to make only 1 Fabric B 4 ½” HST. Because I’m wanting to achieve a scrappy look I will have (2) remaining HSTs.
Creating the Top of the Heart
- Draw a diagonal line on the back of (4) Fabric C 2 ¼” squares.
- Place the Fabric C squares right sides together with the (2) Fabric B 4 ½” squares as shown. Sew down the marked line and be sure to back stitch at your starting and ending points.
Trim ¼” away from your stitch lines as shown and press towards your Fabric C pieces.
Assembling the Block
- Piece together the (4) rows as listed. Use the image to refer to the directionality of your pieces. Press the seams of Row 1 and Row 3 to the left. Press the seams of Row 2 and Row 4 to the right. This will allow the seams to ness together when you join the rows.
Row 1: Fabric A 4 ½” square, Fabric A HST, Fabric A HST, Fabric A 4 ½” square
Row 2: Fabric A HST, Fabric B Heart Top, Fabric B Heart Top, Fabric A HST
Row 3: Fabric A HST, Fabric B HST, Fabric B HST, Fabric A HST
Row 4: Fabric A 4 ½” square, Fabric A HST, Fabric A HST, Fabric A 4 ½” square
2. Sew the (4) assembled rows together as shown and press the seams open. This completes the Lovely Patch block which should finish at 16 ½” square.
Now that you have your block complete you can choose to turn it into a pillow or a wall hanging. The average Charm Pack, or 5” precut pack, comes with (42) squares. You are able to get (4) Lovely Patch blocks from a single precut pack. This is enough to create a 32 ½” x 32 ½” quilt top, which makes for a great baby quilt. This project would be a great project for your sewing bee or quilt guild charity group because it really lends itself to using up what you might already have on hand. So if you’re starting off your new year trying to shop from your stash first I hope you’ll give this project a try. You can find more fun projects like this one by joining my VIP list. I hope to create more with you soon.
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