9 Patch Quilt with Speckled Fabrics by Ruby Star Society

I fell in love with this quilt kit when I saw one of my favorite online shops and makers selling it. The new line of Speckled colors by Ruby Star Society had just come out and Sarah from Sarah Made put together the cutest 9 patch quilt using them. The best part is, each kit included her free pattern to make the quilt!

At the time we were deep in packing to transition from the US back to India. It had been a busy year of moving three times and then packing to go back to our flat in India. So I really just wanted a simple, beginner friendly kit which already had the fabrics picked out. This was going to be the first quilt I made when I got settled in to get me in the quilting groove. 

In case you are a new quilter and don't know what a 9 patch is, it's a quilt block made up of 9 squares. You can assemble 9 patch blocks different ways.

I just made another 9 patch using woven fabrics where each square is different. However, this 9 patch block alternates each square between 2 fabrics. This means you can use strip piecing (a way of sewing longer pieces together and then cutting them into smaller units). It makes the blocks come together in a flash. 

The blocks for this quilt came together super fast. Then they sat on my sewing table for a couple months until I finally got around to sewing them together. Why does laying them out seem like such a big job sometimes? 

I chain pieced this quilt top together. It makes piecing a quilt top go much faster, especially if you have little kids and are worried about the blocks being messed up after you lay them out. 

After chain piecing all you have to do is press the seams and sew each row together.
 

I debated for awhile about what backing to use. But settled on a quilt backing I had been holding onto for like 5 years. I don't know why I haven't used it. I guess I was waiting for the perfect quilt and this turned out to be it. I used an older print from Art Gallery Fabrics. The colors work well with the front of the quilt and both the front and back of the quilt have little metallic spots on them. 

It turned out doing a straight stitch on both sides of the seam (1/2 inch seam) turned out super cute. I did horizontal and vertical lines across the quilt and it gave the quilt a checker board kind of look. Even the back looks so cute. 

Generally, when quilting my own quilts I like to use the lines and seams of the quilt as a guide. If possible I don't like to take the time to mark my quilts. This is a good example of how sewing 1/2 inch away from the seams produced a really cute pattern and I didn't have to do any planning or marking ahead of time. 

Sarah doesn't have this kit anymore. But she usually has a 9 patch kit using her free pattern with new fabric in her shop. You can shop her quilt kits here. 

I fell in love with this finished quilt. Simple, basic quilts are some of my favorite. This is now one of them. If you are a beginner quilter the 9 patch quilt is a great option for you. If you are an experienced quilter, sometimes a beginner friendly project is like a breath of fresh air. 

See other beginner friendly Nomadic Quilter Patterns in my shop here.