I recently joined the Hope Circle of Do Good Stitches which is a group of 10 people working together to make quilts to be given for charity and comfort.  I joined just in time to be asked to design a quilt for the month of October.  I came up with the idea to have everyone make Squares within Squares blocks.  These blocks all have a center square which is perfect for fussy cutting novelty and floral fabrics.  Here are instructions for making the block.

These blocks are 8″ finished squares.  I used white background fabric(s), a different dark colored fabric for each block and a different coordinating novelty and/or
floral fabric for the center of each block.

For each block cut an exactly 4 1/2” by at least 5” piece of
white fabric and one from one of the colored fabrics. Sew
together on the long edge. Press towards the colored fabric.
Cut 2 pieces from this that are 8 1/2” x 2 1/2”.

Then cut an exactly 2 1/2” by at least 5” piece of the same
white fabric and one from the same colored fabric as above.
Sew together on the long edge. Press towards the colored
fabric. Cut 2 pieces from this that are 4 1/2” x 2 1/2”
Fussy cut 1 square that is 4 1/2” x 4 1/2” from your novelty/floral
fabric.

Sew together as indicated in the photos. Don’t worry about the direction
of your fussy cut square if directional!  Press seams towards the
center block.

Here are six of the finished blocks:

I had a few of design ideas in mind.  These two are 7 x 7 blocks:

This design would require 8 x 8 blocks:

This is what I went with. The sashing is 1 1/2″ and the borders are 4″.  The quilt finishes to 73″ x 73″.  I will update this post to include a photo of the finished quilt.

AND … here is the update.  This quilt was donated to the MassGeneral Hospital for Children.