Quick Cornerstone Quilt Tutorial

This tutorial is for my Cornerstone Quilt – this quick quilt tutorial features a simple short cut for piecing a traditional patchwork quilt with sashing and cornerstones. It is the perfect pattern for featuring some darling Riley Blake novelty Christmas fabric!

This past month I’ve had the chance to play with the Pixie Noel collection designed by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake Designs. Is that stuff just retro-inspired cute or what? At first the plan was to make a few stockings, but the more I looked at it I decided I needed to make a quilt.

This is the third incarnation of this quick quilt tutorial (you can see the first one here) and I’ve loved every version so far. This time I’m going to share the full tutorial/pattern for this 60″ x 60″ lap quilt. It’s got a great short-cut method for assembly so it comes together fast.

It’s also a fun pattern for showing-off cute fussy-cutting (which this collection was made for). In the past I’ve made it with solid white sashing and this time I decided to try it with a patterned sashing and the red swiss dot on white was made for the job.

Quick Cornerstone Quilt Tutorial

Fabric Requirements:

• 81 print squares 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ (at least 9 different 1/8 yard cuts – you can get 9 squares from 1/8 yard)
• 3/8 yard red cornerstone fabric
• 2 yards sashing/border (red swiss dot)
• 1/2 yard binding
• 3 1/2 yards backing

Cutting:

From red cornerstone fabric cut 3 strips 4 1/2″ x wof (width of fabric)

• sub cut two of the strips into 18 squares 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″
• From the last strip cut off 2 squares 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ for 20 total squares 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″
• Cut the remainder of the strip in half lengthwise into 2 strips 2 1/4″ x 33″
• From one 2 1/4″ strip cut 2 red 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ squares and keep with 2 1/4″ strips

From sashing/border fabric (red swiss dot) cut:

• 16 strips 4 1/2″ x wof
• from 9 of those strips, cut 81 squares 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″
• set aside remaining 7 strips 4 1/2″ x wof

Assembling the Quilt:

Make 20 nine-patch blocks using 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ squares with a novelty print in the four corners, a red post square in the center, and sashing/dot squares in the remaining four spots. Coordinating the novelty print squares in the four corners is not important because blocks will be cut into quarters.

Press seams away from the sashing/dot squares.

Carefully rotary cut the block into four equal quarters. Center red block should measure 4″ x 4″ before cutting. Use this square as your guide for cutting down the center, making sure each new small red square is 2″ x 2″ square.

After cutting 20 nine-patch blocks into quarters, you will have 80 of these blocks. To make one more block, use one of the 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ red squares and cut remaining 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ sashing (red swiss dot) square into 2 halves measuring 2 1/4″ x 4 1/2″ to use to make final block.

You will need 81 of these blocks measuring 6 1/4″ x 6 1/4″.

Take a 4 1/2″ x wof red-dot strip and trim to 33″ long and 9″ long. Sew remaining 2 1/4″ red cornerstone strips lengthwise to the top of these sashing (red swiss dot) strips. Press seam toward the red. Trim these strips into 18 units 2 1/4″ wide x 6 1/4″ tall.

Gather 81 blocks and lay them out into 9 rows of 9 blocks with red cornerstone post in the top right corner + one 2 1/4″ x 6 1/4″ red and white unit at the end of each row.

The tenth row will be made up of nine 2 1/4″ x 6 1/4″ red and white units running horizontally with the final 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ red square at the end.

Assemble rows in order pressing seams to the left on odd rows (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) and to the right on even rows. This will help corners match up when you sew the rows together. (There may be some other intersecting seams you need to fold different directions as you sew the rows together, but for the most part, the seams should butt up against each other nicely, helping the corners match up.)

Borders:

Use remaining dot 4 1/2″ x wof strips as your outside border. Sew two strips together end to end. Measure length of sides and cut strips to length. Sew strips to opposite sides of assembled quilt top. Repeat steps with top and bottom of quilt. (This post has more information and visuals of adding borders.)

And there you go! A fun, quick quilt that comes together lickety-split!

If you would like a printable PDF version of this pattern you can find it in my shop for only $2.00.

This fabric is just so perfect for fussy-cutting. You can see more adorable projects made with Pixie Noel on the Riley Blake blog today.

If you are looking for Pixie Noel you can still find some of it available from various shops on Etsy*.

Here is a the finished quilt after it was quilted and bound. You can read about how I finished this Pixie Noel quilt here as well as see 28 more of my favorite Christmas Quilts! 

*affiliate link