Hive 6 June tutorial

I'm excited to be Queen Bee for June. Inspired by Helen and others in Stash Bee this year, I've chosen a plus block, Robert Kaufman's The Plus Side. Simple, yet modern, and so many ways to make each block unique.

Choose fabrics and colors that you love so that your block will be an expression of your personal style. Please make Fabric A squares (corners) low volume/neutral (or of your favorite neutral is black, gray, or even lime green or red, go for it! That'll give the finished quilt even more scrappy sparkle.) For the inner and outer pluses, colors and fabric types of your choice, whether all solids, wild and crazy prints, or something in between.

You can download the free pattern here: Robert Kaufman's The Plus Side (PDF). The single block cutting info/piecing diagram is on page 4. Please follow the pressing diagram below so that I can nest the seam intersections together when I piece your blocks together into a quilt. :-)

Here's a step-by-step tutorial for those of you who like pictures. Use a 1/4" seam allowance throughout. On step 2, press open or to the dark fabric, whichever makes you happy. For steps 3 and 4, I've included pressing directions. Have fun!

(1.) Cut the following fabric:

1. Inner Plus: one 2-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangle and two 2-1/2" squares.
2. Outer Plus: four 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles and four 2-1/2" squares.
3. Background" four 3-1/2" squares.

(2.) Sew a 2-1/2" Outer Plus square to the left and right sides of each of the 2-1/2" Inner Plus squares. These units should each come out to be 2-1/2" x 6-1/2". Then sew these units to the 6-1/2" sides of the 2-1/2" x 6-1/2" Inner Plus rectangle as shown above to make the 6-1/2" square Inner Plus unit.

(3.) Sew a 3-1/2" Background square to each of the 3-1/2" sides of two of the 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" Outer Plus rectangles. Sew the remaining two 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" Outer Plus rectangles to the left and right sides of the Inner Plus unit as shown above. The top and bottom rows should each be 3-1/2" x 12-1/2". The middle row should be 6-1/2" x 12-1/2". Press towards the 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles for each as shown above so that the seams will nest together when the rows are sewn together.

 (4.) Sew the rows together as shown above and press rows out away from the Inner Plus as shown above for a 12-1/2" (unfinished) block. Voila! You're done.

I'm using this block for a block swap on Ello this year too. We're swapping one block with a different person each month. I received the fun Kaffe block (bottom right) from Denise of Hot Possum in May. You can visit Denise on Ello and Instragram to see more of her vibrant style.

I can't wait to see the blocks you create and then turn them into an awesome remembrance of online quilty friends!