How to prepare and crocket around a baby blanket (boy version)

To make a crocheted receiving blanket for a baby you will need:

1 wing needle

1 1/4 yards each of 2 coordinating flannels, washed, dried and ironed.

1 crochet hook size 6/1.80MM
1 spool matching crochet thread

Lay flannels with wrong sides together. Cut off selvages and square up fabrics. Round the corners as pictured below.

Set your machine to zig zag on the widest setting. On a Bernina, choose a stitch length of about 3.5. Stitch around the entire edge of the blanket making sure the stitching goes just barely over the edge on one side.

Begin by tying the crocheen onto the fabric through one of the stitching holes and tie a square knot.

Put hook through this same hole. Pull up a loop and bring it through the fabric. With loop still on hook yarn over the crocket thread as pictured above. Pull this part of the thread through loop. This consistutes your first single crochet (SC). SC 2 more times.

Chain 3 times as pictured below.

With chain still on hook insert the hook back through the last SC, pull up a loop and pull through all.

This is form a picot.

SC 5 more times then do another picot. Repeat this around the edge of the blanket. If possible end with 2 SC. On last stitch cut thread 2 inches from end and pull through loop. Finish by feeding ends of thread underneath stitches with crochet hook.

Split 9-Patch Quilt

My Daughter-in-law loves green and polka-dots.We found this line of fabrics and had to use them in the quilt we were going to make for her little boy that she was expecting. Here is our version of a split 9-patch quilt.

We selected 10 different fabrics for our squares.

 Cut a 4 1/2 inch strip from each fabric. Each strip needs to be at least 40 1/2 inches long.

Cut each strip into 4 1/2 inch squares. The fastest way to do this it to lay the strips all on your cutting board at the same time. To accomplish this, lay 5 strips on the mat making sure they are perfectly straight with the measuring lines. Then lay another strip on top of each of the strips. It is very easy to cut through several layers of fabric (4-6 layers).

 

 Cut through all strips and all layers every 4 1/2 inches.

This will give you 4 1/2 inch squares, 90 of them.

Choose 9 different squares to begin with. Lay them out in whatever pattern you would like. I wanted to keep my bigger polka-dot fabric in the bigger square so they are on the 4 outside corners of the 9-patch design.

 Start sewing the squares into rows as pictured above. Be sure to make your seams as perfect as you can to 1/4 inch and back-stitch at the beginning and end of each section.

Ironing is critical to the success of your project. And how the seams are ironed will make a hugh difference in how your seams fit together. As seen above, on the middle strip the seams are pressed to the middle and on the outside strips the seams are pressed to the outside.

 Now sew the 3 strips together making sure that the seams match perfectly. They easily butt up against each other. Never stretch the fabric, only ease the fabric to help it fit. Iron the seams down together. Now you have your first 9-patch. Proceed in the same manner with the remaining squares until you have 10 different 9-patch squares.

Split the 9-patch square into 4 seperate squares by cutting it exactly in half. . . 

. . .and then in half again. 

You now have 4 squares of equal size with 4 different fabrics in 3 different sizes.

I wanted to personalize this quilt so I made a square the same size as the 4-patch with his name (to be) on it. Arrange your squares in whatever design you like.

 You see we looked at a couple of different options before arriving at the final decision.

All the rows have 5 4-patch squares and there are 7 rows. (Sorry that it is on an angle.)

The top row  has 2 4-patch squares together, 2 4-patch squares together and 1 4-patch square alone with sashing in-between. The sashing is 2 1/4 inches wide x 6.25 inches. You need 2 of these strips.

The next 3 rows are sewn together by first making a 9-patch square from the 4-patch squares. Then sewing 2 rows with 3 4-patch squares each. These are then sewn together with sashing strips that measure 2 1/4 inches x 17.75 inches. Two strips are needed.

The next 2 rows are made by sewing together 2 4-patch squares and 1 2 4-patch squares. These are then sewn together with sashing strips that measure 2 1/4 inches x 12 inches. Again 2 of these strips are needed.

The last row is assembled the same as the top row. Every row is ironed by pressing the seams into the centers of the sashings.

You now have 4 sections. These are sewn together with sashing strips that measure 2 1/4 inches x 32.25   inches. Iron after attaching each sash and before attaching another section.

The boarders are from the same fabric as the sashing. The top and bottom boarders are 21/4 inches x 32.25. The side boarders are 2 1/4 inches x 48 inches. Iron all seams toward the outside of the quilt.

TIP: Very seldom does everything work out perfectly mathematically. So before attaching boarders a measurement must be taken. Measure the middle of the quilt in both directions, NOT THE EDGES and DO NOT AVERAGE. Simply cut the 2 1/4 inch strips the same length as the middle measurements. This will make your quilt "square" from the middle (even though the shape is rectangular).

Materials needed:
4 1/2 inches of 10 different fabrics
20.25 inches of sashing and boarder material

To see how to finish this quilt, go here for preparing the quilt for machine quilting or how to add the backing and batting, here for the machine quilting, and here for how to bind the quilt..