Hi, it’s Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt Company and I have a super fun project for
you today. Let’s take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this gorgeous? This is
just a really fun, happy quilt. I love the design and I’m calling it “Kissing Coins,”
because we have the “X” block and we all know the “X” stands for a kiss and we
have this coin block and you put these two blocks together and you make this darling
quilt.
So, to make this quilt what you’re going to need are some precut five inch squares.
Now, we have used “Mochi” by Cotton and Steel for RJR. I mean, it’s just a, a gorgeous,
fun, happy line. Really a fun group of fabric. You are going to need a hundred and twenty
of those charms, I think. Let me make sure. Yep, a hundred and twenty of those. You’re
also going to need some white charms. You can use four of those, ‘cause you’re going
to need a hundred and sixty white ones or you can do yardage because they have to be
cut down to four and a half. I went ahead and used yardage. So, you’re going to need
about three yards of yardage for this and it’s just, I mean, it just comes together
so easily.
So, this quilt is made using two blocks and the one block, the first one we’re going
to do, is this coin block, right here, and, you can see it right here in the quilt, and
it’s made by putting four rectangles together and we’re going to get those rectangles
by taking out four, five inch squares and we’re going to cut them right in half and
that’s going to give us our rectangle.
So, you can stack a couple of these up if you want or you can, you know, do them one
at a time, whatever you prefer. That’s personal preference. I like to do a few, get a couple
done at one time. So, what I’m going to do is, I’m going to lay my ruler on here
and I am going to come over two and a half inches and this, because this is a five inch
block, and I’m going to just cut it right down the center. That’s going to give me
my rectangles that I need. So then you’re just going to do that to all your charms and
you’re going to end up with a stack of them.
So then what we’ve got to do is, we’ve got to sew them together in pairs of two’s
and so I’ve got two’s right here and, you can just take your pile of them over with
you to the sewing machine and just chain piece them, w--, two after, you know, sewing two
together, one after another. So let’s go over and do a little chain piecing.
Alright, so now I’m going to put these right sides together and I am going to sew them
a quarter of an inch down the side, just like this. And here we go, quarter of an inch right
down the side. I always like to take a few stitches and then make sure that I’m still
lined up and then put them right back together. So, this is chain piecing right here. If you’ve
not, if you’re unsure of what chain piecing is, it’s when you sew one without cutting
it. You just stack another one right in there and come right in behind it--that’s chain
piecing. And you can do this with your, your, your whole lot of them and it just makes it
go really easy, ‘cause you’re not stopping to cut things apart.
We’re just going to do two because that’s the size of our block and that’s what I
want to show you. So now we’re going to iron them. You’re going to put darker fabric
on top and just roll it back, like that. Then what we’re going to do is, we’re going
to take these units and we’re going to sew them together. So, this makes a four block
unit, because this is the block we’re going for.
Alright, so let me sew this together, over here. I am going to...I like to do them so
that they’re dark, light, dark, light, but that is also personal preference. Alright,
there we go on that. Trim these threads and then we’re going to iron this open. And
this is a coin block unit and just by doing this, you have made half your quilt. Half
your quilt is done. So it’s just really easy.
Now the next block we’re going to make is this “X” block, right here, and I’ll
show you how that’s done. You’re going to take your five inch white squares and you’re
going to cut them four and a half so they’re four and a half inch squares and what you’re
going to do is, you’re going to take some of your fabric pieces here and, we have these,
these long pieces, like this, and you’re going to cut them into two and a half inch
squares. So, we’re going to just do like that and we have two and half inch squares
because you need a two and a half inch square to put on opposite corners and that makes
that whole block.
So, what I’m going to do with this is, I’m going to go over to the iron and I’m going
to press a line, like this. You can finger press them, too, but this is going to give
me a sew line. See how that crease is in there? When I put them on the edge of my fabric,
like that, I can sew right on that crease and it’ll give me a straight line to sew
on and I really like to do, I’d rather press than draw, you know, it just seems quicker
to me.
So we’re going to put one of these blocks on each corner, like this, and sew on those
lines. Sew opposite corners, so, just remember that--opposite corners--and you’re going
to do this to all of your five inch charms. There’s that one, and we’re going to turn
this around and do the other side. Line up my needle, make sure I’m still squared to
the corner, and sew right on that press line. It’s nice to have that line to give you
a little guide to press.
Alright, now we’re going to trim these off, these corners, just like that, and we’re
going to iron those open. And this is the block you’re looking for, right here, so,
let’s make one more of those. Here I’ve got one more set of these, of two and half
inch squares, I’m going to press me a line. Put the block, put them on either corners
of my four and half inch charm, and sew them down. And here’s one more on the other side,
just on the opposite sides. This block, I’m telling you, you can use it in so many different
ways and it’s such an easy one and, you know, you just, I mean, you can make a quilt
just of these blocks and it’s beautiful.
Alright, again we’re just going to trim these off, quarter of an inch. There we go.
There’s that one and then we’re just going to roll these back. Alright, now the trick
to this block, this unit, is putting these together so that, so that they stack, like
this. So this is half of your “X” and so what we’re going to do is, we’re going
to match color to color, like this, white to white, like this, and we’re going to
sew those together. So, you always just match color to color, white to white and you can’t
go wrong, and you can’t go wrong on this block. There we go.
Alright, so let me press this open and you can see, if I put these two together, like
this, it makes our “X” block. What we’re going to do though is we’re going to take
our coins and we are going to flip these blocks so that the coin edges now come out from the
sides of the coin, just like this, and when this meets up with the next one, it’ll make
the “X” out here, but this is the block unit we’re looking for to make this.
So, what we’re going to do then is, we’re just going to lay these right sides together.
We have this middle seam, right here, that we can nest up and match up so they keep our
blocks lined up, right there, and we’re going to sew this right down the side. Here
we go, quarter of an inch. Make sure you stay lined up and then one more on the other side
and remember your, your little point right here goes toward the coins. I have to do those
little mantras for myself that, I don’t know why, but I’m so angle-y challenged
it’s just so easy for me to get things turned around. That’s alright. We just repeat those
words over and over, haha. Points to the coins, points to the coins.
Alright, there we are. Now we’ll iron this open. Here we go. Ok, so this is the block
we’re looking for, right here, and, just so you can see how it fits in the quilt, this
is how it fits in the quilt, right here. Isn’t that cool? I mean, it just makes a beautiful
little block.
So now let me show you how to put these together. So, basically, you’re going to take these
blocks and you are going to line them up, just like this, one after the other after
the other--a long row. Let’s see how many we have here. We’ve got one, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight down by five across. One, two, three, four, five. That’s
right. So, you’re going to do eight rows of these or uh, or eight down, five rows and
then you’re going to assemble your quilt.
So you’ll have your pieces all like this and when you start putting them together,
I want to show you what happens. See, there’s your “X” block, right there, so as you
start putting your rows together, you get the awesome “X” block. Little four patch
on point, “X” block, little four patch on point, and it just makes this darling quilt.
Now the border we have on here, we have a little inner border, and if you get the three
yards of the white fabric, that’s enough to include this first little two and half
inch border. The outer border is a four inch border and you’re going to need about a
yard and a quarter, yard and a half for that, just to be safe, and it, I mean, it just makes
a darling quilt that is seventy four by seventy three, so, it’s a pretty good sized quilt.
So, we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the “X block and the Coin Block.” You put
them together. Remember when you were kids and you had that little “X” in the bottom
of your letters? You guys know that meant kisses. I like to call this “Kissing Coins.”
So, we hope you enjoyed this from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.