Locked Squares Tutorial and Quilt

Christine @minerva_huhn, asked me a few months ago to share in her love of quilting bees. She set up a forum with beginner bee blocks for new (German) quilters. Her idea was to introduce them to new blocks and get them started with their own beehives. The first of each month, she releases a new block for members to share with their bee mates. On the fifteenth of the month, a guest quilter also presents her deigner quilt block - one she thinks the newbie quilters would also like to make. The block could be self-designed or an already known block but should have the standard 12” x 12” finished dimensions. 

 

When Christine asked me to join in, I was sold on the idea of helping young quilters explore their creative talents. Of course I wanted to share in the fun and quickly agreed to help. After many days of thinking and exploring blocks to present, I finally decided on my own, self-designed quilt block called, “Locked Squares.” It is a beginner block but also designed for experienced quilters. 

Do you remember the little sneak preview in my Instagram feed?

The block was designed back in February before the entire Corona-Virus Pandemic. I wanted an easy, modern and geometric block that could be used with precuts or scrap fabrics. The design should also be a scrap buster project. Quilting bees are best when you use scrappy fabrics so you can see the same block but in an array of different fabrics. Therefore, each participant can also add in fabrics if needed and all blocks look slightly different. 

This block could be made with a lot of inset seams, but I wanted it to be do-able for everyone, especially newbies. [SIDE NOTE: I actually drew up and sewed a block with inset seams that you can see on the left side of the photo posted above. Although everything lines up wonderfully, it shouldn't be used as a starter block.] So, it was broken down easily into three sections for the locked squares and then framed. I decided to frame the block to cover any inconsistencies in block sizes which can happen in quilting bees.

You can skip directly to the PDF download here. You will be redirected to the easypatchwork website. Feel free to take a look around. You might find another tutorial or download that is interesting for you. There are two versions for your convenience - English or German. I wrote a full pattern instead of a tutorial, because it is so much more practical to download a complete pattern than to scroll through text and print countless sheets of paper.

As you might notice, I used directional fabrics in this block. The pattern also includes cutting instructions especially for directional fabrics as well. So, you can use all of the luscious small to medium prints including stripes and other pattern repeats in your quilt.

The freebie also includes a full size quilt with twenty quilt blocks! How cool is that! That should be enough to get you and your quilting bee started on a fun quilt.

So, hop on over to the easypatchwork website for your own instant digital freebie for this quilt block and sofa quilt. Copyright clauses do apply even though it is a free pattern. Please read the pattern for more details. Have fun sewing and please share your makes with the hashtag #lockedsquares. Thanks for joining. 

A big THANKS to Ines, Tina, Carola and my husband for translations and corrections into German. 😙