Working with Charm Squares

I go through different stages of wanting to do patchwork quilt tops and then I will spend sometime just doing batting/quilting. So I generally have a few quilts on the go at any one time. Yesterday was a quilt top day, so I decided to try a technique that I have read about, but never tried.

I started off with nine charm square blocks, each 5 inches x 5 inches. Sewed them together to make a large block.

Once sewn, press and then slice into four even sections. I used my quilting ruler to measure 2 and 1/4 inches in from one of the middle seams.

Once sliced rotate 90 degrees or 180 degrees to create a new pattern. I have found that it is imperative to pin the seams together that you want to line up before you sew them. I know that this sounds strange, but when I sew I hardly use pins unless doing curved seams.

When you are joining the bigger blocks together, pin the matching seams and then if they don't match up 100% give the blocks a blast of steam from your iron and the fabric will either shrink or stretch to match up.

Here is the result of my efforts!

Not sure what I am going to back it in yet .. might get more of the red/orange dots to back the quilt or look for a red/purple to match the front. The colour scheme came from the red and purple on the spiders body.