Greek Keys - A Tutorial

This quilt was started because of a mistake I made in cutting binding for another project.   The mistake  though made the perfect size strips to use for making the blocks with the dark blue polka-dotted fabric.      So when you're making projects and make a mistake, don't let it frustrate you, but instead look for how you can use what you end up with in a project that will bless someone else.

I'm still debating about whether to put a final border onto the sides of the quilt, but at the moment it is done.

This quilt is made from simple two strip rail fence blocks.

2 notes before the tutorial -

First - I haven't given total fabric amounts because I used remnants of fabric to cut what was needed from for all fabrics except the turquoise, which is why there are two different cream-on-cream (COC) fabrics in this quilt.

Second - The strips I used were cut oversized thanks to the mistake that I made in the initial cutting.   This allowed me to trim everything to the same size after the strip sets were sewn and the blocks were cut.  If you want to be able to square up your blocks on all sides, then then you will need to cut them at 3 1/2 inches in width.

Tutorial - 

Fabrics needed - 

To make this quilt you'll need three different fabrics.  However, that doesn't mean you can only use 3 specific fabrics in your quilt.   In my quilt there are actually 4 fabrics - 2 COC's, the navy blue and the turquoise blue fabrics.  What you will need is three different looks/colors.   But using many, several, or just one fabric to get the look of the three colors is just one of the areas where you can play with this quilt and make it your own.

The fabrics you use will need to work for the following:

Background - COC
Color 1 - A dark blue, polka-dotted fabric in this top
Color 2 - A medium turquoise print here

Blocks and Strips needed for the body of the quilt - 

Rail Fence blocks, 6" unfinished in size --
     Color 1 and Background - 24 blocks

     Color 2 and Background - 22 blocks
Strips, 3 1/4 inch wide --
     Background - Two strips 6" long

Strips and squares needed for the border of the quilt - 

Solid color blocks, 6" unfinished (not pieced) --
     Color 2 - Four 6" square blocks
     Background - Three 6" square blocks

Strips, all 3 1/4 inch wide --
     Color 2, 30.5" long, two strips (note, I used a full
        length strip and then trimmed to size after
        sewing it on)
     Color 2, 17" long, Four strips
     Background - Four strips 6" long
     Color 1 - Two strips 11 1/2: long

Approximate number of strips needed for the Rail Fence blocks is 3-4 depending on the width of the fabrics you are working with.   The fabrics I used were a little more narrow than some I have so I was only able to get 6 Six-inch blocks cut from the widths of them.

Sewing Instructions - 

1. Cut the number of strips that you will need in order to make the number of blocks needed for the center of the quilt.

2. Press strip sets flat and then cut and trim your blocks to an unfinished size of 6 inches square.

3. Starting where you feel comfortable sew the rows together for the center of the quilt.  Press the seams flat.  (I started with the center row and then pieced outwards to the ends from there.)

4.  Sew the 30.5 inch strips to each end of the quilt center.

5. Piece the side borders and then sew to the sides of the quilt.   Press seams flat.

6. Quilt and bind to finish the quilt.

As made, the quilt is 39" wide by 57" long.  If you adjust the size of the rail fence blocks then the size of the finished quilt will also change.

Gratitudes:

1. Counts, while down, are still still above a critical level.

2. A cozy apartment on a snowy spring (aka "winter" warmed-over) day.