Thursday, June 21, 2012

X Marks the Spot: Block tutorial


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This block sort of came to be as a happy accident.  You see, I had all these left over half square triangles from my Swoon Quilt from what seems like eons ago, and they were just sitting in a pile in one of the corners of my sewing room.  I'd look at them every once in a while and say "I really need to do something with those," but ultimately would put it off to work on something else.  

Flash forward to last week, I decided to pull them out, and sorted them by color and started playing around with the placement.  In the midst of my playing, this "X" pattern started to appear, and I just went with it.  In the end, I love how this block came together, and I think its great all scrappified like my version, but also would be just as great in a more planned color pattern with lots of these little guys arranged in a quilt.

My version finishes at 13.5" square, as my HSTs measured 2.75" square as leftovers.  As a 12.5" block is a little more versatile, I've adjusted the tutorial to finish at 12" square.

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X marks the Spot block
12.5" unfinished block

You'll need:

(14) 2 7/8" squares white fabric
(14) 2 7/8" squares patterned fabric
(4) 2 1/2" squares white fabric
(1) 4 1/2" square patterned fabric

use scant 1/4" seam; press all seams open

1.  Draw a diagonal line down the center from corner on all white squares (wrong side).

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2.  Match up each 2 7/8" white square with a 2 7/8" patterned square, right sides together and stitch with a scant 1/4" seam along each side of your diagonal line.  Cut along the drawn diagonal line and press seams open.  


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4.  Trim to 2 1/2" half square triangle.

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4.  Arrange your HSTs, white squares and larger center patterned square as shown below:

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5.  We will be sewing the block together in segments of 4 blocks.  Sew each square into sets of 2 as shown below.

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6.  Sew your sets of 2 squares into 4 block squares as shown below.

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7.  Each set of 4 squares should measure 4 1/2" square (same as your centered patterned square).  Sew together the three blocks of each row.

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8.  Sew together the three rows, press seams open and stand back and admire your work!

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If you decide to make an X Marks the Spot block I'd love to see it!  Be sure to add it to the SewCraftyJess Flickr group!






25 comments:

  1. Hahahaha...great minds think alike. http://www.flickr.com/photos/50942325@N05/6244890329/in/photostream

    Although I do like your center solid block better then my pieced one. Thanks for the tutorial; because I lost the paper that I created for mine and besides I hate doing math.

    Congrats on the new Flickr Group too!!

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  2. I like it! Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Great block! Thanks for sharing the tutorial.

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  4. hello! i have been following your blog for a little while now (since i became obsessed with quilting about a month ago), and i really enjoy it. i've nominated you for the versatile blogger award. you can view the nomination post here: http://captainsharmie.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/the-versatile-blogger-award/

    thank you so much for the work you put into your blog, including this awesome tutorial! i think it's a little more complex than i can handle right now, but i pinned it to my quilting board on pinterest and look forward to trying it out a little later in my quilting career.

    cheers,
    captain sharmie

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  5. How cool, thanks for the tute :o)

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  6. So pretty! Thanks for sharing! :D

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  7. Lovely block - great for those leftover Swoon HST's!

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  8. yeah yeah yeah! I love the block, the tute, the colors, all of it! I just bought the Swoon pattern too - can't wait to try it, thanks for sharing!

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  9. Thanks so much for tutorial, Jessica. I really love this block and definitely want to try it this summer!

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  10. I really love this block! Your quilt turned out really cute!

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  11. I absolutely LOVE this, Jessica! It's adorable. I have two baby blankets to make in the next couple of months and this would be perfect for one of the recipients!

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  12. I love that top picture of the 4 different colors together. Those blocks look great.

    http://richardquilts.blogspot.com

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  13. Great block and tutorial. Thank you.

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  14. Jess, this is a fabulous block. And what gorgeous scraps you have in it. Thanks for the tutorial. And I especially love the strips of solid surrounding each block.

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  15. Wow! Thanks for this tutorial - I really like that block.

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  16. Yay! We're so doing this for the Cheer do. Good Stitches quilt this month :-D

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  17. Gonna try this. Thanks for the how-to.

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  18. I came across this quilt idea just today and I love it!! I really like the colors you chose. Thanks for writing up a tutorial for us to use. I can't wait to get started.
    Leandra

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  19. I teach quilting to the Senior Center Ladies in my area and have chosen this block as the first one for August. I'll try to remember to send you a pic of the gals with their blocks.

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