Assembling blocks for the Magic of Crete Quilt

Back in October 2021 I started a Block of the Month called the Magic of Crete. Inspired by a visit to Crete a few years ago and the colours of this beautiful island, the quilt BOM was born. Each month a set of fabrics from a range called Midnight Sapphire from Henry Glass and two plains from Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Solids was sent out to each participant, including a different block design and instructions. I also videoed the making of each block and now we are ready to sew the blocks together.

This post will cover squaring up the blocks, choosing a layout, and adding the sashing and borders. This is the first of two posts, the second will cover making a quilt sandwich, quilting the top and sewing on the binding. 

The first thing to decide is the layout of the quilt blocks. I have minimal space in my flat to lay anything out so I place mine on the floor. Below are 2 slightly different layouts.

Once I decided which layout I preferred ( when I had sewn all the blocks together I realised I had moved the blocks around slightly so it doesn't look like either of these!), I then measured each of the blocks to make sure they measured 12.5", most were, a couple were slightly smaller, and some slightly bigger.

The two blocks which were too small I trimmed to 12" so I could add a border to make it 12.5" square. In the picture below you can see the block measures about 1/8" more than the 12" size I wanted it to be. Using my square ruler I trimmed a 1/16" from each side of the block.

For both of the blocks I cut 2 strips of fabric ¾"x12" and 2 strips ¾"x13".

Stitch the 2 short borders on first, one each side of the block, then the longer ones top and bottom of the block.

Here are the 2 blocks with the added borders.

Use a ¼" seam allowance for stitching the sashing and borders on.

Once all your blocks have been prepped then the next step is to add the sashing. You will need 8x 1.5"x13" of the sashing fabric.   Once the sashing has been sewn on you can trim each end to the size of the block. 

The first row stitched with sashing between each block.

Complete 4 rows of 3 blocks with the sashing in between. Measure the length of a set of 3 and cut the sashing to that length adding an extra ½", cut 3 of these. Following the layout you have chosen stitch 2 sets of quilt blocks together with sashing inbetween. I sew mine in two sets before stitching together to complete the quilt top.

Here are the blocks all stitched together with the sashing.

Press the quilt top flat before the next step.

For the borders, measure the width of the quilt in 3 places to work out the length of fabric to cut, I am starting with the top and bottom of the quilt first. If the measurements are the same then cut 2 pieces that length by 3.5" wide, if they are not add the 3 measurements together and divide by 3 to get an average then cut two pieces that length by 3.5" wide.

Once the top and bottom borders have been stitched on measure the length of the quilt including the borders in 3 places and calculate the fabric needed as above. Cut two pieces to this length by 3.5" wide, stitch one piece to either side. Then stand back and admire your quilt top!

I recently took my quilt top out in the wild, to Weymouth! My Dad held it up for me to take a photo and unbeknown to me, the sun was shining so I couldn't see the screen, I took a short video instead of a picture, and when I checked it later I noticed a small person in the bottom left corner madly digging in the sand! Here is that video!

Note: There are many YouTube videos and instructions online on how to sort patchwork blocks which are either too small or too big, this blog post is my interpretation of those tips and how I sorted my own blocks, you may find or know of a different way to acheive these results.