Saturday, January 8, 2011

Scrappy Four Squared

I think this is one of my all time favorite simple leaders and enders scrap patterns. I call it Four Squared because it uses a combination of 4 and 6 patch units.  There is such a nice simplicity in square roots, isn't there?  This isn't my original pattern, but I've seen it in so many places that I wouldn't even know who to give credit too for the pattern.  I paired up all of my 2.5 inch squares and worked them through to two patches.  Then I paired those up to make four patches.  LOTS and LOTS of 4 patches.  I used every single blue square I owned and then dug into strips to cut a few more.  It felt good to get them sewn up. 
24 of them got sashed with 2.5 inch white on white strips.  The sides are cut to 4.5 and the top and bottom are cut to 8.5 inches. Those get sewn on and pressed toward the sashing. 
The remaining 96 of them got sewn together into groups of four to make 24 of these super cute 16 patches.  I tried not to have the same fabric show up twice in a square, but it didn't always work out that way. 
The plan is to set these together 6 by 8 squares and add a simple border. I have in-laws visiting, so the sewing will have to wait for a bit. Still, I should be able to get the top done this weekend.  Wish me luck.

5 comments:

Amanda said...

You're right, this is a very attractive pattern and a brilliant way to use up scraps. I'm still working through my blue scraps; I've made lots of strippy blocks and am now deciding what to do with them. And then there's still some blue left. What was I thinking of, to get so many scraps and not do anything with them!

Kirsten said...

Wow that looks really pretty, I wish I had that many scrapps.

Jan Maree said...

Great idea and a very pretty pattern considering it's simplicity. Happy stitching!

Brenda Kay said...

The four squared reminds me of Happy Blocks (4" novelty center bordered with coordinating colors). Love the way they look.

Janet said...

You have so many good ideas about using scraps! I'm really enjoying your posts. I wish I had blue scraps. lol I do plan to use my variety of scraps tho.