Oh, my! We are already seeing blocks on your design walls, in your IG feeds and on your sewing tables. We’re happy to have company for making Oh! Granny squares. This post is just a quick update, before I start writing/posting about my trip to Nantes and the quilt show there.
Carol and I were finally able to touch base about the timing. The following schedule is just a suggestion…if you need to slow it down, or if you are on a hot take and Want This Thing Done, please make at your speed.
Can you manage two a week?
I timed it out and either the 3-squares block OR the 4-squares block (see previous post for info and/or scroll down for free download) take me about 30 minutes. Of course, choosing your fabrics will take you some time, but as many of us are taking from the scraps from our already beautiful coordinated stashes (haha), so probably not as long as you think.
I’m using all the same white for my backgrounds so I can precut the rectangles, as I’m going to follow on the track of the image above: 5 blocks, six rows, 1″ sashing with corner stones at the intersections and a simple binding. Some of my illustration blocks are repeated. Some I went with the “criss-cross” effect and some I didn’t.
If we do about two a week, that’s 8 per month, which will take us about four months to build a quilt the size above.
Or, you could do it this way:
Whatever works for you. Then, by fall, you could have it draped over the back of your sofa, or wherever you put your newest quilts.
So I have two free downloads for you. The first one (below) is the complete package: how-to’s, pattern directions, etc. AND the schedule. I also put the illustration shown at the top of this post on the last page.
The second one (below) is JUST THE SCHEDULE, complete with little boxes you can check off as you go. Or scribble out. Or put stickers on, whatever floats your boat. Admittedly, I only did it for 30 blocks, but if you decide on a bigger quilt, write them on.
Just for fun’s sake, I decided to do an Instagram search for samples of the ever ubiquitous and pretty famous Granny Squares quilt because the marvelous Carol Gillen and I wanted to do another quilt-a-long with each other in 2026. (I think this will be our fourth?) Come along if you want. First up: the eye candy. I put a conglomeration of links afterwards, and each image is named with the Instagrammer (right-click on any photo to see it in a new tab, and you’ll see the “name” that way, along with the number showing what slide it is).
I think there must have been a lot of Granny Square quilts made in 2020, as a lot of the pictures are from around then.
A bunch of Instagram links that have the quilt, but which don’t necessarily correspond one-to-one to the above gallery:
From what I saw, there are two basic kinds: the three-squares-across version and the four-squares-across version — an iteration of the original. (Ignore the photo above with six blocks across; that maker may be an overachiever and she freely admits she only made this one block. And while I admire the quilter who did hers by EPP [shown in the top row], we’re doing Old School Piecing.)
The “OG” Granny Square is the block on the upper left. We also call the one on the upper right a Granny Square, but the original name (according to Brackman) is the Garden Patch block, published in Quilt World in the mid-1970s; the color placement does differ slightly.
I saw a lot of posts, and websites, and perused videos, but I never found the source of the urban legend that says that the center of the block represents the baby, the next row represented the mother (the baby had four mothers?) and the next row was the grandmother (now this child has 8 grandmothers?). Wherever that came from it certainly wasn’t on the radar of quilt historian Barbara Brackman. The block in her book (the Bible of quilt blocks) is called Grandmother’s Pride, and hails from around the 1930s, from a mail order source called Home Art Studios.
Another blogger had it the other way: the center is the grandmother, the four surrounding blocks are her daughters, and then on to grandchildren. Okey, dokey. I think the origin of this quilt square might have come from a quilter who was trying to mimic the ubiquitous crocheted granny squares whose first origins are from the 1880s, but I have no way of knowing.
On to the making. Here’s a slideshow with pictures of my first test sample:
Three-square row blocks using 2 1/2″ squares trims out to be 9 1/8″ which is a block size I can work with.
Here’s the test sample for the 4-square block, again using squares cut to 2 1/2″ EXCEPT FOR THE WHITE BACKGROUNDS, which I cut differently (info in the free handout, below):
The dimension after trimming is 12″ square. Again, while it feels counter-intuitive to not know the finished size of a block when you begin, it’s probably easier to figure out what size square you want to work with and cut those, and then figure out the dimension of the final block once it’s all trimmed up.
I give you more dimensions and block sizes in the PatternLite Download, which for a while, is free. After that, it will move to my Pattern Shop and will probablymaybepossibly retail for less than a fancy drink in your favorite restaurant. So download it now, while it’s free.
Another Hint: color is the thing. Decide what you want in the middle (light, dark?) and in each surrounding row. I did like the quilts that had different colorations, so sometimes you could see crosses going across the block. Two ways to put it together: sashed? Not sashed? A million different tutorials out there in Quiltland. Once Carol and I get rolling, we’ll probably post up our ideas, but for now, let’s just get started on making blocks.
We’ll probably start somewhere in May-ish? We haven’t decided yet. We’ll put it up on my least favorite-which-used-to-be-a-favorite social media, Instagram. Here are our addresses: Carol and Elizabeth. I’ll also post my blocks up on BlueSky, too, and Carol has Threads. Which block am I going to sew? I’m learning towards the 4-square version, although the 3-square version is also tempting.
Final Throught: Hashtags appear to be pretty useless now in Meta’s world However, I will be tagging my posts for organizational reasons: #ohgrannysquare2026 It might be easier just to follow us on Instagram, Threads or BlueSky or type in the words Oh Granny Square and let’s hope for the best!
And just for the record, Granny Squares seem to be making a comeback. Here are two I saw while in France last week:
One Sunday morning, mulling over the stunning news from the day before, I drove to church along a residential road. I had a view of the low mountain range in my city, the hills turned verdant green from the winter rains. The sun was bright and clear, the sight was glorious. A favorite hymn was playing as the choir sang “This earth was once a garden place, With all her glories common.”
The song finished, I went into church, but the idea of a place so beautiful and fresh lingered.
I wrote in my journal that night: “All day I couldn’t help but think about Eden, and how much we mortals seem to have missed the boat. To live with ‘glories common’ would be the best….I thought then — realized then — that perhaps it was I who was below my best abilities in bringing about ‘all glories common.’ “
I paused, reflecting: the best of the earth, the most beautiful flowers, the clearest streams and tallest mountains — our glories. Shared all together, without rancor, viciousness, greed, cruelty and just plain old revenge and stubbornness. It felt like too big of a task; I closed my journal and went to bed.
With this experience as backdrop, I sat in the quilting room the next morning, trying to tackle one of the prompts in the Stay At Home Round Robin. I knew I wanted to figure out how to write those words of the hymn, and to let this quilt be a garden quilt, a reminder that I could bring about my own version of Eden in pieces, in bits, in my best moments. I struggled with the “how to” of the words, working it out letter by letter. Many times I was discouraged. With encouragement from friends and from my always-supportive husband, I finally finished and pinned the word borders up around the existing quilt.
Then I looked at the center: it didn’t work at all. So I took that out, went to remake a new one but couldn’t find the pattern. So I drafted up my own, remade the center and carried on. (There’s a metaphor here somewhere, I think.)
So here it is: Earth Was Once A Garden Place. And it can be again, day by day, moment by moment, with gallons of forgiveness, bushels of forbearance, and volumes of truth and charity. It’s that dailiness that can be the hardest: to not cuss out the driver who cut you off, to be more patient with those you live with, to speak up when necessary and to find stamina to do the hard tasks in our lives. I often turn to quilting to have a respite, as well as to be a part of a community of others who are exercising their creativity, planting their seeds, growing their quilts and creations.
Over time, working steadily at the task, we may yet find a way to have our glories common–
Earth Was Once a Garden Place Greatest Hits
First, a huge thank you to the co-hosts of the SAHRR for 2026 (names and links at end of post). It was wonderful! The final Link-Up Party of all the participants’ quilts can be viewed *here.*
This is the SAHRR 2026 Final Quilt. I’ve revised and cleaned-up the free tip sheets I made for this journey, plus a couple more new ones for the final quilt. Click to download. Please do not copy or digitally distribute, but send anyone who wants one to this website to get their own. (NOTE: The tip sheets will live here on this post; the earlier versions will soon be removed.)
Update on the SAHRR for 2026: The theme for Round Three was “Animal Kingdom,” so I spent a long time scrolling through my BlockBase+ software (really, it’s Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns in digital form–you should have this). I looked at all the names with something from the animal kingdom and found the one in the upper right corner: Bird’s Eye View.
After all that I sewed for last week’s double-double Round Two, I opted for SAHRR Lite. The yellow border is a sketch — to see if I like it. (I do, but I’m waiting to see what the Round Four prompt is.)
Here’s a free handout to make a 5 1/2″ finished Bird’s Eye View block, if you don’t have BlockBase+.
(I don’t have an illustration for you, but if you click on the title: Handout Round 3 block, it should pop up so you can see it. Then click the Download button to download it for free.)
I rough-cut the rays, then seamed them together. Placing the center line on the seamline, I pinned the pattern down and cut around it. I did use a giant plastic circle to help coax that outer seam allowance into place, pressing the seam allowances over it. I hand-appliquéd the circle. And yes, I didn’t end up using this version in the quilt, but instead made another.
Since this is a This and That Post, here’s the first thing for February: glasses. I’m at the three-glasses stage: one for regular walking-around-life, one for the computer (middle), and a new pair of sunglasses (they’ll come with tinted lenses). I only get the sunglasses every few prescription changes, but definitely the clock is not running backwards for my eyes. I had a new optometrist for this exam, with a brand-new machine, and I was totally impressed with her enthusiasm for All Things Eyes.
I updated my Mercantile Links at the bottom of my blog, and included Harts Fabric. They have a super selection of lots of clothing patterns (including Merchant and Mills) and this new feature if you buy fabric: they’ll pick your matching thread. Whoopee! for those of who have no decent fabric stores now that JoAnn’s is gone.
Because of SAHRR, I’m meeting some new bloggers and Ms P Designs is one. I really liked their guidelines for their PHD. You’ll have to read it to know what I mean. I participated in this kind of thing about six years ago and it really helped me clean out the backlog of projects I’d accumulated. I know there are other Linky Parties out there as well. If you are overwhelmed with Projects Half Done, join one. Because of this post, I dusted off my 2026 list:
I picked some that were new, some that are in process, and some that I need to design. One quilt is on the list because this year is the 250th anniversary of our country, and I wanted to think about how to celebrate it. Obviously with some new stamps…
…as I can certainly celebrate 250 years of the Post Office! Number 4 on my list, above, is about making a red, white, and blue flag day quilt and celebrating those things about my country that I love. I’ll be picking and choosing, and writing about them until July 2026. Here’s another set of beautiful stamps, complete with some cloth:
This stumped me this week. I used this (Kona Wasabi) in an earlier completed quilt and I was trying to recreate that quilt. I didn’t have any of that yellowy-green from Kona as I’ve switched to Painter’s Palette Solids.
QUILTY SOLID TO THE RESCUE!!!
Steph Skardahl, a Very Talented Quilter, put this app together and it’s a-may-zing.
So the original query was if Kona Wasabi was similar to Lemon Ice in Paintbrush Studios’ Painter’s Palette Solids:
I was able to compare it in her “Harmonies” section, which gives readouts for Hue, Saturation and Value. Thank you Steph for this really helpful app.
I have an iPhone (Apple) and this is what the landing page looks like in the App Store. So happy to have this and it’s free!
He always makes me laugh.
Another clever crocheter is here. Go read it for the comments. She asks the people responding to speak about current events as if they were talking about crocheting. I think if we all adopted this language we might not be so grumpy with each other so much.
A little HOORAY for this milestone, and yes, it is already on my 2026 Planned Makes list. I actually have made one more, but I don’t count them until I cut out the back and put it in the box. The original post, with free handout and pattern is here.
We are now eating the front yard’s mandarin oranges! It’s so hard to wait every year until February, but it is now, and we are enjoying them.
So why was I on the hunt for something similar to the Wasabi solid? I gave away one of my favorite quilts and was happy to do so, but I missed it. What made it special was the fabric for the borders, an out-of-print Anna Maria Horner (now known as Anna Maria). Gone. But as I was strolling the vendor aisles at Road to California, oh-my-goodness! There was a whole bolt of that fabric!
It was karma, as I already had a stack of AMH/AM at home, so I was good to go. (I will post about Road in the next couple of weeks, never fear.) And now, with a bunch of petals of Lemon Ice cut, within a couple of days, I was cooking:
Hmmm. Missing one.
I finished it just as the sun went down and rushed out to my back patio to try and catch the last few rays of sun.
On the patio. It’s from my pattern Blossom:
(The original quilt, above.) I also want to make a spring version in a smaller size. The pattern has three sizes of this block, with two different borders. It can be found in my pattern shop, and for this February, it is on sale…and without a coupon! It expires at the end of February. Okay, we are almost finished with this post.
Another wonderful quilter, discovered through another online collaboration, Janine of Rainbow Hare made this wonderful combination of wee blocks. She is also in SAHRR. We have a lot of quilty friends out there!
Sometimes I forget to hold space for my quilting, for creativity. I tend to pack things in, rushing from one thing to another. While the thought above relates to how we treat those close to us, I think sometimes giving my creativity a chance without harsh judgement can be a challenge. Sometimes I need to relinquish control and let serendipity find me, as the Queen Anne fabric found me at Road to California, on a day I was just feeling less than subpar, overwhelmed by all the beautiful quilts as well as by the current events in our country. And then, just like that — the spark came, the space opened, and a quilt was made.
Find your people. Find your creative space. Find those quilts that touch your heart —
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 