Wednesday, April 16, 2014

WIP - X and Plus Quilt





 
This is a work in progress quilt made entirely from scraps.  I'm loving this pattern and the process.  I'm creating each little block individually.  Just making what I think is lovely and pleasing one block and at time and letting the finished product work itself out.  My favorite part about quilt making in general is the initial fabric choosing and design process*.  I've been highly motivated to continue working on this as stitching up each little block has it's own "reveal" at the end.  

I've also learned a great deal about color and value in the process, as I used various fabrics that "read" the same way rather than exact matches.  The small squares are just 1 1/2" finished, so they often read differently when cut from larger patterned fabrics. 

I was inspired to try this pattern by this quilt, made primarily from Anna Maria Horner fabrics, and this one.  Oh yeah, and this one too.  I actually don't think I've seen one of these that I don't like. I used this tutorial from bad skirt for 7" finished blocks. 

Few tips / things I learned in the process: 

1) I didn't bother to draw the diagonal lines, just eye-balled it, when stitching the corner squares onto the X portion.  This was a great time and aggrevation saver, as those squares are very small for any drawing.  
2) I have all the unpieced center plus beams running vertically.  Once I reached the point of stitching together the final three pieces, I pressed all seems on right hand side of the block upwards and all seams on the left hand side downwards.  This should allow my seams to match up nicely when it comes time to piece my rows. 

* I took one of my artist friends to a quilt shop once and she was like, "Wow, this is fun! I've just made 20 quilts in my mind."