Piecing a Granny Square Quilt without Sashing or Blocks

After two scrap quilts, I still had a shoe box full of 2.5" squares of fabric, but I was left with a lot more of some fabrics and colors than others, so I needed a quilt design that worked with those imbalances. Granny squares provided the solution. In a three ring design, individual squares can be used for the center of the block, the inner ring only requires four squares, and the outer ring requires eight. I had previously made a granny square quilt that involved individual blocks and sashing. One of my scrap quilts involved a granny square design, though those also were able to be pieced as blocks due to the orientation. I knew I didn't want to using sashing or have seams between my blocks, so this quilt was going to have to be pieced in diagonal rows.

My 2.5" squares were organized in stacks, which were sorted by color and fabric. I started by reorganizing them into groups based on quantity. If I only had 1-3 squares of a fabric, it went into the group of fabrics that could only be used for the center ring. If I only had 4-7 squares of a fabric, it went into the group of fabrics for the inner ring. If I had 8 or more squares of a fabric, it went into the group of fabrics for the outer ring. Of course, the fabrics for the outer ring could also be used for the inner rings as well, and quantities left changed as I committed them to a block. I picked one fabric for the center, and coordinating groups of four and eight fabrics for the next two rings. Each group became a little pile.

Scrappy Granny Square Quilt

I started this quilt last year. Then we moved, and all the little squares got packed up. (Sound familiar? In two years, it's my second scrap quilt that's been interrupted by a move.) It completes my second 2018 goal. Even after two scrap quilts, I still had a shoe box full of 2.5" squares of fabric, but I was left with a lot more of some fabrics and colors than others, so I needed a quilt design that worked with those imbalances. Enter the granny square.

This quilt was pieced in diagonal rows to avoid sashing or seams between blocks. With 13 colored squares per "block" and 80 "blocks," this quilt involves 1,040 2.5" colored squares, plus 455 white pieces - 108 rectangles for the border and 347 interior squares - for a total of 1,495 pieces.

My previous granny square quilt had a big granny square block on the back, a design I wanted to repeat. I didn't have enough of one fabric to just do one block, so I extended the design. Unfortunately, it didn't quite align properly on the bottom and left sides. I quilted it in a grid pattern. The front uses white fabric, but the back uses a grey and white print since I didn't want that much white on the back, and I bound it in a grey and white polka dot fabric. 

Finished size: 66" x 85"

Want to make one? Check out the tutorial on how I pieced the top.