7 Blocks; Square Quilt!

I pulled a quilt from my closet that I stitched in 1996. It was made from several deconstructed swastika blocks a dear friend gave me. She knew I liked a challenge and we agreed that no one needs to be reminded of swastikas! Let's make something happy. I did just that.

It was determined by quilt experts that the fabrics date to around 1890! I added some reproduction fabrics and actually hand quilted this. I think I'll hang it so I can truly enjoy it. It didn't like being cramped in my closet, anyway.

1890s Stars: 36" x 36". 8" blocks

What I noticed on Sunday was that there are only 7 blocks, but the quilt is square! That means that I used spacer strips that equal four half-blocks in the top and bottom sides. Oh, I was so clever and I didn't realize it!

Here's a recent quilt finish that I haven't shared before that, again, was able to create a square (3 blocks x 3 blocks) center using only 7 blocks. I had 7 panels that I surrounded with coordinating fabrics.

First, the blocks:

Season's Greetings panel block: 12" finished

2 blocks together

I added those side strips which are equal to HALF the block size (ie, 6" x 12" finished). One in each corner which amounts to adding 2 whole blocks. This was made from 2015 until I quilted it last year. It still hangs in my living room because I haven't taken down my Christmas stuff yet!

Season's Greetings panel quilt

Now, here's a quilt that uses 4 large blocks and 4 half-blocks. So, I could have made a square quilt, but decided to make a rectangle! This is from 20+ years ago. The 4 half-blocks are foundation paper pieced. This appeared in one of our magazines in the early 2000s.

Dogwood Blossoms: 20" x 26"

I think I'll look for more quilts that get a bit creative with the setting of the blocks. But for now, don't worry if you run out of blocks to make a "square" quilt. See you later this week with a few more of these creative quilts.