Hi all from Australia :)

I have only just discovered quilting and since I have no-one to learn from, pretty grateful for this site! Although it has been taking a bit of time away from my first quilt :lol:

Anyway I was a bit unsure of what to do next and thought I'd benefit from the wisdom of some more experienced quilters. I'm making a form of a nine patch quilt http://www.craftlovers.com/projects/4746-retro-girl there's the link for a picture but it doesn't have description.

Anyway, my problem is that I want to make a quilt for a queen size bed but am not sure how best to work out how many more squares I need, as this makes 57 inch by 74 inch and I would need102 by 112. It says to cut 384 sqaures of the coloured fabric and 35 of the 6 and half inch squares for the cream fabric. Would I be best to work it out before-hand (even though the maths gives me a headache!) or to join the middle squares as directed and then once I've joined them go back and see how many more I need to make it big enough for the queen size bed? I'm using a jelly roll also and should have more than enough of the coloured fabric, but haven't bought any other fabric yet.

Sorry if this is a bit complicated but I wasn't sure how best to work out how to work out how much larger or how many extra rows I should be adding.

Hi Adorabowe.

I just did some quick math so it's not perfect. You will need at least another jelly roll and double the other fabrics. You will need to make about 2 1/2 times everything. Is there a quilt shop within reasonable distance where you can get some help? Your cream squares and units will be 6 1/2 inches unfinished, or 6 inches when assembled. If you make it so you can use a king size flat sheet for the backing you will have a nice size for a "bedspread" on a king size bed.
If you have not purchased the pattern, please do so before you start. The price is minimal for the information you will learn from it.

Your squares finish at 6 inches. You need 15 across and 16 down to make a quilt 90 x96 before borders. Multiply 15x16=240. 120 solid is 3.33 yards, but you need buy a little more for cutting and some for the setting triangles, so at least 4 1/2 yards. 120x9=1080 printed squares, so you'll need another jelly roll or some coordinating fabric you can cut into 2 1/2" squares. Then you'll need some fabric for your borders.

Whoops, you need a few extra blocks to set a quilt on point, but you'll have enough prints with another jelly roll to increase the number blocks slightly.

Your math is off as these blocks are on point (if the OP is doing it the same way as the picture she provided).

You would need 12 down and 11 across - so 132 9Patch blocks.
This quilt is 102x110 including a 4" border. Blocks finish at 6"

That's a lot of blocks to make.

Another suggestion would be to investigate doing some strip piecing so you're not cutting a million squares. You can still get a very random feel with that method. And the sewing would go so much faster.

Also, perhaps doing a 16 patch instead of the 9 patch - that would cut down on the number of blocks, and wouldn't really change the look of the quilt.

Thanks so much! That definitely helped just to give me a starting spot to help me figure out what I should be doing with the maths and such.

I did buy the pattern, it was in a quilting magazine. Is setting a quilt on point having the diagonal effect? Is there a specific technique for this?

Welcome to the board from Southern California!

Hi adorabowe, welcome to the board. Looks like you have some great advice here already so can't wait to see pictures when you get it done. :thumbup:

Sorry posed that before seeing the last reply.

IrishRose, would the benefit of the 16 patch blocks just be the aesthetic appeal of not having so many small blocks? How many would that make it across and down? Sorry it's very late at night (or early in the morning) and my brain isn't working.
How did you create that picture as well? It's super helpful!

Thanks for the welcomes and suggestions!

Here's the quilt with16 patch blocks, each finishing at 7.5 inches.

Now you only need 90 of the pieced blocks (10 down/9across). This quilt is 103x114 incl the 4" border.

And, again, I'd really look into strip piecing this project.

Another thing is to NOT cut your plain squares until after you're completely done with your pieced blocks.

Why? In a perfect world, each block would finish at exactly what the directions say they should. So all your 9 patches, for instance, when you're done piecing each one, will be 6.5" square.

Well, we don't live in a perfect world. And, let's say for whatever reason (not the least being that you're a new sewer), all blocks come out looking fabulous....except they measure 6.25" or 6.75" square. It happens.;-)

You can pull your hair out, or, if they're all closer to ONE size, leave them be or trim them to a uniform size.

AND then you cut your plain blocks to that size. And your quilt will go together beautifully. It's so much easier than trying to deal with easing or stretching that difference into each seam each time you join two blocks.

And then after you're done with the quilt, and incredibly proud of yourself (as you should be), you can go back and try to figure out why the blocks weren't perfect.

There are certain quirks to putting blocks on point, but are well worth the effort.

You don't have to worry about that now. When you get all the blocks pieced and plain blocks cut (see above), you can find a ton of information about setting triangles - those are the pieces you need at the end of each row to make the quilt square again.

I colored them blue in the picture below so you can see them more clearly.

There are some basic important rules/guidelines as far as size and orientation but you they have no impact on making the blocks so you can wait on that. And there are a ton of tutorials and charts on the cutting measurements.