Quick & Easy Scrappy Nine Patch Heart Quilt Block with a Charming Twist!

• Light/Cream: 2 - 2.5" x 10.5" rectangles, 1 - 4.5" square, and 4 - 2.5" squares
• Assorted Pinks: 2 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles, and 5 - 2.5" squares
• Assorted Reds: 2 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles, and 5 - 2.5" squares

Lay out the five Pink 2.5" squares and four Red 2.5" squares as shown in the picture below. This unit goes together just like a typical Nine Patch block.

 

 

Sew the squares into three rows as shown below. Press the seam allowances toward the Red squares. 

 

 

Sew the three rows together and press the seam allowances toward the center of the unit.

 

 

These units are created simply by snowballing a corner of a Red rectangle with a Cream square - or doing only half of a Flying Geese unit.

• Mark a diagonal line from corner to corner on the back of a Cream 2.5" square.
• Sew it to the upper left corner of a Red 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle along the marked line as shown in the left image below.
• Match up the corners of the Cream square and press as shown in the right image in the picture below.

 

 

• Open up the Cream square and trim the seam allowance as shown in the left image.
• Refold to complete the unit.
• Repeat for a total of two units.

 

Repeat Steps 4 and 5 with the two remaining Cream 2.5" squares and Red 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles only changing the orientation of the Cream square to the upper right corner of the rectangle as shown below.

 

 

Here's a picture of all four units.

 

 

Lay out a Step 5 and Step 6 unit with a Pink 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle as shown below.

 

 

• Sew the units together and press the seam allowances toward the Red Half Flying Geese units.
• Repeat for a total of two units.

Heart Unit:

Step 10:

Lay out the Nine Patch unit, the Strip units, and the Cream 4.5" square as shown in the picture below.

Step 11:

Sew the units into two rows.

Step 12:

Press the seam allowances away from the Strip units as shown in the picture below.

Step 13:

Sew the two rows together.

Step 14:

Press the seam allowance. As you can see in the picture below, I've pressed using the twirl/furl/tweak method.

Putting It All Together:

Step 15:

Lay out the Heart unit, the two Cream 2.5" x 10.5" rectangles, and the remaining Red 2.5" square as shown in the picture below.

Step 16:

Once again, sew the units together in two rows.

Step 17:

Press the seam allowances toward the Cream rectangles as shown below.

Step 18:

Sew the two rows together to complete the block.

Step 19:

Finally, press the seam allowance away from the Heart unit as shown in the picture below.

Layout Ideas:

As this block looks best as an on-point quilt, here's the basic 3 x 3 on-point layout. You can see how the built-in sashing works for the block. I would add a 4.5" wide cream border to the bottom to even out the design.

Here's how I would arrange a 2 x 2 table topper or wall hanging with sashing and cornerstones added. And green works for a St. Patrick's Day four-leaf clover!

Here's how you could do an on-point layout for a long table runner.

And here's what an on-point layout for a wall hanging could look like. Who says hearts have to be pink and red?

Conclusion:

First of all, if I had it to do over again, I would press the seam allowances in Steps 2, 3, and 9 in the opposite direction. It really doesn't matter but I think the block would lay flatter.

This block went together really quickly even though there are a lot of steps. I had fun with it and I like how it has a built-in sashing/cornerstone so the hearts are spaced out nicely in a quilt. 

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. If you like it and want to see more, just click HERE to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free PDF quilt pattern called "Chained Weathervane".

Happy Quilting!

Elaine

P.S.  Looking for more heart blocks? Click this link: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/tagged/heart

P.P.S. Check out my Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/fabric406