Posted on by agilejack

Chunking Away on X & + Blocks

It was a gorgeous day here today. I had my sliding glass door open all day as I worked with a lovely breeze blowing and the sun coming in and out from behind fluffy clouds. My boys were content to be outside all day long. Even they enjoyed the weather.

I was supposed to meet a friend last night to do some pickleball practice and she pooped out on me at the last minute. I had been looking forward to it all day so rather than sitting at home I decided to head to the park where I usually play to see if anyone was playing. And there were two courts of club members playing. One guy was just leaving so I stepped in and played non stop for over 1.5 hours. And I had so much fun!!! We had a good group of people. The play was good with competitive games and everyone was light hearted and fun. It was a great night.

I didn’t get a walk during the day today but did manage a three mile walk after dinner. I had to put on a long sleeve shirt since it was so lovely and cool.

Once we got home I hit my sewing room and put together another row of my X & + blocks. Then I sewed that row to the two rows that I finished the other night.

This means that three of seven rows are done. I should have this ready to put borders on sometime this weekend.

And again… I’m just loving looking at this as it comes together. It’s time for eye candy!

And another one!

This photo of these three rows on the ironing board really shows the patterns emerging.

The squares made from the arms of the pluses feel so strong in this photo.

I took a quick break to step away from my desk this afternoon and dug into a drawer to find some batik pre-cuts that I remembered I had, for some reason. I was thinking I’d see if I could come up with a quilt idea for each one.

One is a five inch design roll.

It’s kind of a drab collection of colors. I don’t really know why I ever bought this. I think it was before I had developed much of a stash and thought it was a good way to get a variety of fabrics without spending a fortune.

I was thinking I might cut these into 2.5 inch strips, combine it with some of my left over indigo batiks, and make another one of these.

The other is this layer cake of green, blue and purple batiks.

I kind of have a vague memory of why I bought this package. But my desire for that idea is long gone.

I’m thinking I might strike out with the layer cake first and do a really quick but fun disappearing four patch. I’ve been wanting to make one out of big squares of Kaffe fabrics after seeing one in a local quilt store recently.., Boersma’s in McMinnville, Oregon.

This one was made with 10 inch squares. It would whip up really quickly and I think it’s a great way to use up this layer cake.

I haven’t purchased pre-cut fabrics in years. I just don’t love working with them. Unless I have a really specific reason for buying precuts, I’d rather use fabrics in my stash.

A couple of weeks ago I got an email for a sale on batik fabrics so went to see if I could find something that would work with my Wensleydale quilt. I found a pretty medium slate blue fabric that I like. It arrived today.

I haven’t had a chance to see it next to that quilt top yet as it’s on the design wall behind the wall that my X & + quilt is on. So I won’t be able to see how this looks with It until I get this current project off the design wall.

It’s a little drab compared to backings I usually gravitate to. I thought about using a KFC fabric for the back of the Wensleydale quilt, but I didn’t find anything that felt right. And it’s confession time. I don’t spend full price for fabric for a quilt back. In fact, I think I’ve only ever purchased a full price fabric for a backing once… and it was the pink spiral shells fabric that is with my trade long armer as I type.

The Wensleydale quilt doesn’t have as much color on the front as I envisioned. So I don’t want the back to compete with that. Besides… I got this on a good sale, which makes me happy.

My honeysuckle is pretty magnificent right now. I have two plants in two large pots on my patio. They are growing on the fence around my smaller dog yard.

It smells just lovely in the evenings. It’s a wonderful thing to have on the patio.

I think my dogs were awake most of the day today, enjoying the lovely weather. They are out cold tonight. They usually sleep a good portion of the day while I work.

Two more days of work then a nice long weekend. Yay!

19 Replies to “Chunking Away on X & + Blocks”

  1. I love the fabric you bought for the backing of your Wensleydale quilt – but then I gravitate towards the blues. And I do agree with you about the precuts packs. The few times I bought them, I used some of the fabric cuts but then I was left with cuts that I did not care for and still have.

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    1. the 5 or 10 inch squares aren’t as bad as jelly rolls. I really hate dealing with pre cut jelly rolls. I’d much rather cut my own… and have in the past. I cut 2.5 inch strips from 136 different fabrics for a quilt once! And it was worth it!

      Anne

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  5. I’m with you! I never spend full price on backings! I’d love to know where you get emails from to order sake online. Can you share?!?!🙏 thanks so much!
    Diane

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    1. I get emails from Hancocks of Paducah. they almost always have batiks on sale and often have Kaffe fabrics on sale. I buy a good number of my backings there. they do take a good amount of time to ship, but if you’re not in a hurry it doesn’t matter.

      Anne

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  6. I think that blue will be a great backing for your quilt. It has a large enough design to be interesting all by itself. I have rarely ever paid full price for a backing either but I always like them to look nice with the front of the quilt. And I have only put a solid on the back of one large quilt in over 60 years of making quilts. My machine belched an oil stain on it and from that point on it was always a busy print.

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    1. I’ve never used a solid backing. I really do like a print for the back. It’s like the lining of the bag. I think it’s important and elevates the finished product.

      I’m glad you l ilke that fabric for the back of that blue quilt. I often second guess my choices, but I have pretty good instincts so should trust them more.

      Anne

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  7. Your X & + blocks are looking good and look like they are fun to make. I found a free tutorial online and if I can decide on fabrics I will give it a shot. The fabric decisions are always the hardest for me. They do look like big blocks to me though. I have never paid full price for a backing as I cannot afford to do so. I pick up yardage on sale or clearance and hopefully have a good match when I need one. Sometimes I find duvets at Goodwill or Savers which are awesome because there is so much fabric that can be used. I would never piece together odds and ends of ugly fabric just to get it out of my stash like some people do. If I dislike it that much, I donate it. That batik backing is beautiful! I have always been able to find some beautiful fabric at Hancock’s of Paducah. I just wish that I didn’t need to buy a full yard of sale fabrics, as I would probably buy a lot more. Maybe that’s a good thing.

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    1. There are a lot of really cool scrappy X & + quilts on Pinterest. I love a scrappy approach. The blocks are 12.5 inches square. So yes… they are big.

      I’m not going to use ugly fabric for a backing! Yuck!

      Anne

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  8. Hi,

    Can you please tell me where you found the pattern for this quilt.

    I love reading your emails and save them all.

    Thank you, MaryAnn

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    1. This is a disappearing four patch. There are all kinds of tutorials for making the block on YouTube. some of the first things I ever pieced were this block.

      Anne

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