5-inch squares offer endless quilting possibilites

I took a class from Pat Speth of Nickle Quilts fame. She was a member of my guild, the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild, when she published her first book filled with 20 patterns made from 5-inch squares.

Now she’s based out of Minnesota, has written three more books with dozens of patterns made from 5-inch squares and is back in the Quad-Cities as this month’s featured lecturer.

I’ve been cutting all fabric leftovers smaller than a fat quarter into five inch squares for a couple of years, so I’ve got a couple shoe boxes full of them. I took the one filled with Christmas fabrics to class with me.

I chose the Northern Lights pattern from Pat’s first book, “Nickle Quilts” and set to work. I used the green prints for the half-square triangles and red for the four patch units. I really like the contrast it provides.

I think I like the look of the blocks better on point.

Besides the obvious half square triangles and four patches, you also can make quarter square triangles, pinwheels, flying geese, strips and nine patches with five-inch squares, and those units can be arranged in nearly endless combinations for endless quilt design possibilities.

Pat is giving a lecture at today’s Guild meeting. I’ll share more photos and insights about how such a simple square can yield beautiful quilts tomorrow.

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