12 X 12 - April's Scrappy Quilt

For our April scrappy project, I thought it would be fun to do a kid's quilt. And make (or learn to make) Prairie Points! This project leans a little toward the girlie side, but we'll discuss a slight variation that works great for a boy. Anyway, I wanted to give you a little advance notice so you would have plenty of time to plan your fabrics.

The main design/block for this quilt will be a rail fence (with only 3 rails), like this:

This is a great "skill builder" block because you need to use an accurate 1/4" seam to ensure that you end up with a 6-1/2" square (unfinished) block. After the first few blocks, you should have your 1/4" seam perfect and then just breeze through the rest of the blocks!

This quilt  also has 2 sections with a little bit of applique. Each of these sections will replace 3 of the rail fence blocks, so if you're adamantly opposed to applique, you can just make more of the blocks or even substitute a larger piece of the focus fabric.

12 X 12 - Scrappy Pet Bed

I started this scrappy project as a way to use little "garbage" scraps. Pieces that are too small to use - like the skinny strips you trim off a block to square it up;  or a big pile of thread scraps. For more about this project or any of our 12 scrappy projects in 2012, click here.

The how-to for the liner can be found here. Once the liner is full, you'll need a nice scrappy, quilted cover for it.

12 X 12 - Boxed Pinwheels

Our scrappy quilt for March started out a little different than it ended up.  However, I'm pretty happy with the result:   (For the background story on our scrappy quilt along, click here.)

Before we get into the how-tos, here's a brief recap of why I changed mid-process. I originally wanted a quilt made up of pinwheels and 9-patches (alternating between each). I got all the pinwheels done and put up on the design wall, then started making the 9-patch blocks. I'm very impatient and after I had a few finished, I raced over to add them to the pinwheels so I could admire how good it was going to look. I like to put something up on the wall and then try to not look until I get way back. So I put up the blocks, walked to the other side of the room, and turned to look . . . at this: