Here is a little quilt block tutorial for you. I LOVE red cross quilts lately. I just do. I can't help it. Mine are a little wonky, but it only takes a bit to make it fun.
I am not awesome at making tutorials, so forgive me please. I hope this is not too much information, but I am a firm believer that too much information is better than none at all and I am a visual learner...so I am going to assume you are too. So go grab some fabric you like and a little drink (H2O, Iced Tea, coffee, some Glen Livett your dad left when he visited last whatever you poison is) and let's make some pretty cool little blocks. I am making these for my
Pillow swap. But the tutorial is for my
Row10 quilting bee ( I love you girls!). Everyone else is more than welcome to make some too, no worries! We can even make a flickr group if there is not one already.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinMjeEQFMYaLMSc1DiOueefsBud4vbutbKroLVrcOxEygTLRhQ-YlNWug_pbCvAQZKzDAF9H4vLqJeJsMZ3a_RGHfLzIVuezf9WqNQ78xUNJcKAxOCbbFTiIvQJj7iZ6r1_LCfp48l3Ew/s400/red+cross+blocks+001.JPG)
OK. First and pretty important step. Pick your fabric! I really like turquoise, red and white. I don't think the white has to be white, it can be natural or cream or any light linen. Above I have some Katie Jump Rope (I bought it through a co op a couple years ago and don't have too much left and that really makes me sad), a funny red dot by Windham (If you really want to know I will get up and go check the selvedge), a mystery blue that Shannon bought me when she lived in Japan, a really cool linen I bought at JoAnn's (see I can slum sometimes and it feels so good!) and finally a natural muslin ( I got this when mom and I went to Hancocks of Paducah) Hi Mom! I love you too!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrEaXwcxbGCe1tR-LDBmgl03DdJ352lCS1ZkrC7c_rqlWSsNgE_fKOWjV88NBUBBFCsRoy5KvHNYMqDoWzlqTmUc_pLQkAVx7KH-c69pmWQeI7nMyMm4Ihzez9HZzeRoTewRSI4hyNsk/s400/red+cross+blocks+005.JPG)
OK, choose what you want to start out with...just to get the hang of everything. I normally begin with my favorite fabrics so I will be sure to cut right. I used the mystery blue and red dots. Here are the dimensions I used. You do whatever you want, but if you want them to look like mine copy me.
I cut (selvedge to selvedge) the blue - 1.5 inch
and the red is 1.25 inch.
Cut both in half (At the fold line most likely)
and sew with a quarter inch seam (blue-red-blue)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlSvNH5YyDZHjIFoMahif74JnQyjRNiaoBPHN6WOhdzZEImSdL9IsE7FWoVxrP25IcA15aOVTiE9jd5JhsHIa0_zL6jRk_IscJtU0-D0_iPsjDyHGDt9Wj5geyX01eNlJ4qiFKCiSSaw/s400/red+cross+blocks+010.JPG)
Press your seams. Jinny Beyer says it doesn't matter where your seams go, but I like my seams to go the same direction, or open....depends on how fussy I feel. I am not nearly as cool as her.
So, after your seams are pressed cut your little the first bit of your blocks. Mine are cut in 3.25 inch segments.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPdGPu_8Ygyk8gJ-UrjaewQcHWtPAhDoPj1ZrHfReojiPFegah5y9TzOy_53dkhhqUiFBXNJaRq1M9a59YP4r8F7fZX1VYnG50J0Xc9oF2EuBvn0KoZkETZV6lMJRdLiUP1JZlw2HAdA/s400/red+cross+blocks+012.JPG)
Then cut your 3.25 inch rectangle in "half". I took some liberated liberty here. Some are really exactly in half others are slanted in half and others are really off center. I think that makes it fun.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipPe0GC_7CKy3Sftwac31HmJ7xZ0aOp3-FAPDcaD0PDrFu_Np1RiUFgeeJsf4lPpnjv-kS2MrrjgiillWsYu1MYMk7qR9-GkNJYKcmcMaGSR7oujRnMVJLVVed-5G4_tmbJn4KciaJx_0/s400/red+cross+blocks+013.JPG)
Make sure you keep your segments together. It will drive you a bit nuts if you get some separated.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQNqYnggQF6x7sHhfdGspMhVsRXJCJsJMBPT9cbEiwqGu4vDMfFnkdgK6iyWoJ7lvMjSderGUjbBvTh-Zul3Jv1wB6bDFpG-22hsEiyyZJt24fY9XYUQ4M8p8CKckj4dqzUSwNNoAPi-Q/s400/red+cross+blocks+014.JPG)
In order to make sure mine do get stitched up with their proper partner I line them up like this. Does that make sense?
You will be sewing them to the other end of the 1.25 inch red you cut at the beginning.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-UN6ZXIxvDidW8R6gy5yAcdLQ3FPPuEbQknkP0041Oglug38SaN5ddq7RVXrWq9wAqZ1NOOk-c0jqG2SMTkAolWbUyTAOreMl6Twq7IF9cCLNiQSvbgGK-K-Tn-NPPskw9S1sR0Wrgws/s400/red+cross+blocks+015.JPG)
Make sure you are stitching them to their partner if you cut them crooked.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhNlyhwGOMgj_95xXXWJYaQzR4kwMcZn5KXnHnEWA63s3oUlyMBmbO23BvEb9WsSra0kCIhpa2D0ZNj6Fqj15_y-9i0MF-GV_6LIvibStU0sGHpNarmvvnVtvFqxLSiRI8TsJ-T85BzI/s400/red+cross+blocks+017.JPG)
Cut the apart and press seams.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqm0y4W5fuTHf0nTGb2GTjkL51_xKL1X8IWksd9EzpaaHU7bFqQGILPu7aTTByJ5nzR7q-pk6CBselCo7mPMzNReRDU-DCdG8DJUx7CdDCDpVANMP4cRAPXnVhWlCr3fqx0geL4CQFelc/s400/red+cross+blocks+018.JPG)
Now I cut 3x 2 inch strips of the linen to sew around the little cross block.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4qnLXmi5ZU0zugJKt7hSVQaD4QrosV9oR4GuDWegQ2RJewHOFnPW3aIVcCZfRULaNiWNoacjHMmlXrMvrDdm7cGwBjEX9t5hdZfDmaY5tiCctFt1Fw2b2Ln0czbvOLhBieuEO1fJCdUU/s400/red+cross+blocks+019.JPG)
This is really not rocket science, but I took pictures, so here they are...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWf79Dyyc5iamXfrewNIUqVHDaaRQzSnUK0wvum7MOhk_pcT5K0uStw9Df4ozADmpbdeeW9WCQlhUJbSiBJPWGeEt_F21F-l70vnoTZNYaR3uSOXZSjQSqX0zJ-xaHWTwoIFpEU2x05Uc/s400/red+cross+blocks+020.JPG)
I kinda trim them up as a press them.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpGYedPGtIGh6xLXfRBjrB2JDaLNwZc7VT5HFL36aKTaQA9Gj2884Z4fFxHW8Xz0JWDRAt_Pki0JhBdZy-bjg_Igyl5JRvcBUQOeyw5cNhyphenhyphenVx1DtusPnvoqhq6Ug-KeLZXs2ZEnaguuIM/s400/red+cross+blocks+021.JPG)
Cut them apart and press the seams open.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcirz_8GA35AkNMjFjstvZR0KEQ6lqI_PPj-HQa-r0J1cIkvaEjdMdUzvilDYbMOp2ZUpLvE5RaEZ_EFoNYAtFB_JC2PuyhKEPwC9fpbP0y8gyVGSfmofDNzMaU-rGguzW9WyrWVJczI/s400/red+cross+blocks+022.JPG)
When you sew the last sides on I like to use a little straight edge to trim the seams up. I really do not like gunky seams.
Then press the blocks open and get ready to get wild!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhns-gqjqLnlb9pvKEuHG_YCuqdRFafwvwunWSV8YGMNrHS16zxWoSTXeKU_e-z4kuGV4Ji0gWGISSChn_YVAVkV6F6AX5qc7IyuvHj-NVWoDjMi_SdljWbH2Dbjg_q6hbx28lXUNwHZ84/s400/red+cross+blocks+023.JPG)
Here is the really fun part. I like to use a template (the one above is a 5 inch ruler from my days with the Dear Jane quilt) I lay it all crooked on the block and trim around it. You do not need to make all your blocks crazy, just a couple to really give your quilt movement. Most of mine are only a bit wonky.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9d0WDTinznGcK-BouA6bZ-exVFC-3W1B27qHnI-aoVCIEm3fwtTI4aO76PNvJHkDE_RdfmOChg-nfWpZOilY92Wbo4LLfrMNTttq5eDB1-HvQduu8lIfv6uUnZ1nylTlY9jt7TiOd_0/s400/red+cross+blocks+024.JPG)
So now all your blocks are cut and you can sew them together for whatever purpose you want. Obviously, if you want a big quilt you will need to cut heaps of strips.
I would love to see what you make with your crosses!
xo,
Tia
5 comments:
what a wonderful tutorial!
This is how you want your blocks for your row10?
Hey there LauraJ. I do want my blocks to look like this...but with white, natural or cream instead of the blue. I used blue for these becuase they are for another project ;o)
great tutorial! another thing to add to my list of things to make.
Great tute, Tia! Thank you!
Karen
OK_ so I did your row but maybe I should have sashed it? Can you come look at Flickr and tell me and I will take it apart and sash it so there is a separation between crosses. I need help, I tell ya!
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