Granny Square Block

Last year I was reading through some quilt blogs and discovered a group of bloggers making Granny Square Quilt Blocks. I fell in love with this block!  It is a great way to use up scraps (I am a true scrap quilt fanatic!) and it connected me to my grandmother.  My dad's mom has a great deal to do with my love of quilts.  She made one for each of her grandchildren... my was her last and the only one for a girl and she made it several years before I was born.  My folks were told about a year before I came along that they could have no more children.. 1 in a million chance. My grandmother was certain that her granddaughter would have the lovely dutch doll quilt she made. (She did everything by hand... never touched a machine).  Sure enough, a year later I came along.

BUT I did not get the beloved quilt then.. in fact, I was 18 before I got it!  I would often get her to pull it out of the Cedar Chiffarobe and let me look at it.  It was a great treasure to me.  My grandmother came from a time where you didn't use "fine" things and this was a fine thing.

I still have it. It adorned the bed in my daughter's room for many years. It needs a bit of repairing, but is still lovely and usable and, Lord willing, will one day be treasured by a granddaughter.

So what does this have to do with Granny Squares? Well I never saw my grandmother quilt. She was done with that by the time I came along, but I watched her crochet.  She tried to teach me but my fingers would not cooperate at all! I remember when she started working on the granny square afghan.  The squares are made of bright colors (she loves bright colors.. must be where I get it!) and they are put together with navy yarn. It is a large bed-size afghan with bright multicolored fringe. I love it!  And she made it for me.  As far as I know I am the only grandchild who has anything she crocheted and the only one who had something made especially for her.  Makes it more special!

Quilts and Granny Squares both hold a special place in my heart because of my sweet Mama Rush... Bessie Case Lea Rushing... and this block combines those 2 and stirs memories of days with her.

I knew I wanted to make a Christmas quilt this year and while looking online for inspiration, I ran across a pin on Pinterest of a Christmas Granny Square Quilt.  This was it!  So I pulled up the Granny Square Tutorial.. pulled some fabrics.. and whipped up a practice block.

It takes a bit of time and focus to keep things order, but it is a fairly easy block and I think it turned out lovely! I will be pulling more fabrics this week and start cutting lots and lots of 2.5" squares.  My plan is to have a box full of squares, so I can make blocks in between other projects when I just need something different to do.  The blocks are essentially 9" blocks and I want to make a pretty decent size quilt, so I have a bunch to piece!