Step One

 

From background fabric cut:

(8) strips 10” x width of fabric. Sub-cut each into (4) 10” squares to yield (32) 10” squares.

(3)  strips 5” x width of fabric. Sub-cut each into (8) 5” squares to yield (24) 10” squares.

Take 2 of the 10” squares and cut each into (4) 5” squares to yield (8) 5” squares. (32 total – you’ll only need 30.)

Step Two

Choose 30 of the layer cake fabrics.

Pair each of the layer cake fabrics with a background fabric, right sides together. Make sure to match edges around all 4 sides.

Keeping the two fabrics (print and background) together, cut as follows:

Cut in half, to create (2) pieces 5” x 10”.

Cut one of the 5” x 10” pieces in half to create (2) 5” squares.

Cut the remaining 5” x 10” piece in half to create (2) 2 ½” x 10” strips.

Step Three

 

Sew Half Square Triangles:

Take each pair of the layered 5” squares. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of one of the fabrics. Stitch ¼” on both sides of the drawn diagonal line. Cut on the diagonal line to create 2 half square triangle units. Press the seams open or to one side (to the dark side if possible.) The block will be slightly over sized. Trim each half square triangle unit to 4 ½”. You should have 120 half square triangle units in total.

Step Four

Sew Strips:

Take each pair of the layered 2 ½” x 10” strips. Sew together using a ¼” seam allowance. Press the seam open or to one side (to the dark side if possible) and trim to (2) units, 4 ½” square each. You should have 120 strip pieced units in total.

Step Five

Sew Blocks:

Lay out your pieces according to the picture.  The half square triangle units go in the 4 corners. The background square goes in the center, surrounded by the strip pieced units. Sew the 9 units together to make 1 churn dash block. Block size is 12 1/2″ unfinished (12″ finished.)

 

TIP: Chain piecing makes sewing together the individual units, blocks and then quilt top much faster!

Layout the quilt 5 blocks across, and 6 blocks down. Sew together to create the quilt top.

 

 

Step Six

Cut backing fabric in half to create (2) pieces 72” x 42”. Remove selvages and sew together to create quilt back approximately 72” x 84”.

Layer quilt top, batting and quilt back. Baste and quilt as desired.

Cut binding fabric into (7) strips 2 ¼” wide. Sew together to create at approximately 280 feet of continuous binding. Sew to quilt top front, then hand sew binding to the back of the quilt, or use your preferred binding method.

Enjoy your new quilt!

 

You may notice that in the finished quilt, some of the churn dash blocks have the background and print fabric reversed. To achieve this look, in each block, simply cut the center 5″ square from a coordinating fabric from your stash, reverse the position of the half square triangle and the strip pieced units, and proceed as above. Taking this step adds more interest and personality to your quilt. (And it makes it really interesting if you forget to turn one of your half square triangles the opposite way – can you spot the outlier? Oh well….)

 

Note: This quilt is easy to enlarge. To make a 72″ x 84″ quilt top, use all 42 layers from your layer cake. Increase background fabric to 4 yards, backing to 5 1/2 yards and binding to 3/4  yard. Make 42 churn dash blocks, and arrange in a 6 x 7 block layout. Use Fairfield Natural Wool queen sized batting instead of twin sized.