A couple of years ago, Mary Lou Hallenbeck was the speaker at the Pieces and Patches Quilt Guild in Jackson, Michigan. She had written a pattern which she called "Four Patch Stacked Posies". I knew that this was something I really wanted to try. Not long after that, I had a chance to visit the East Lansing Country Stitches store. I found this material on sale that I thought would work for this technique. Finally, I had a chance to give it a try last month. The first step is to find the repeat of the print and cut four pieces using that repeat. The challenge comes at trying to get all four pieces lined up, one on top of the other perfectly. Using lots of straight pins and lots of time I came pretty close. My repeat was about twelve inches. I did not try to cut the strips on the width of the fabric. I cut my strips vertically and then cut that strip into three 3 1/2-inch squares. From these squares, I have four squares that are identical. By putting the same point in the middle I get four, very different blocks. The four squares are sewn together as a four patch. Sometimes, it was really hard to decide which way I wanted to sew them together because I liked all my choices with the four squares. Here are three different designs using these four identical squares. Not sure why I have only three pictures, but my guess is that I didn't like the fourth choice. First choice Second choice Third choice I have all my squares sewn together in blocks. When I am able to get to a quilt shop, I will get some coordinating fabric to finish the quilt. It will be nice size lap quilt or wall hanging.
