Hive 1 May 2017: X and Plus Block

Hello everyone.  I'm Julia and I've been playing with fabric for quite a while.  I've been quilting for a couple years.  I turned re-organizing my fat quarters into a fabric pull for this month.

The colors I picked are deep pink, orange, purple, blue-green and a light background color.  The background fabric should be white, light gray or low volume.  Please do not use cream.  I really like text prints and saturated colors.

The blocked I picked is often known as the "Japanese X Plus block" because it became popular after it used in a quilt made by Setsuko Inawaga for the Tokyo Quilt Festival in 2011.  I'm six years behind the block blogging trend which maybe makes this retro chic?

This is how the finished block will look.  It finishes off to be a 12 1/2" square.

Ok now the tutorial part.

Pick three colors from my pull that look good together and place the colors anyway you like.  The one restriction is that background fabric for the X units should all be the same fabric

"X" corner units 
Four 5 1/2" squares for the arms of the X
Eight 3" squares for the background (all the same fabric)

Center Plus (Fabric A)
Two 3" squares
One 3 x 8" rectangle

Outer Corners of Plus (Fabric B)
Four 3" squares

X Corner Units
1) Using fabric marker draw a diagonal line across the 8 background squares (that red line is photoshop because I didn't think the fabric marker I used showed up very well in photos)

2) Take a 5 1/2 square and place a 3" background square on one corner. Sew along the marked diagonal line.

3) Press the corner piece open so that it makes a nice cute corner on the square.

4) Flip the corner back, trim off the excess fabric leaving 1/4" left.

5) Then flip the corner back into place and press it down again.

6) Put a background square on the opposite corner of the square and repeat steps 1-5

7) Do this to all four squares.  You'll end up with four squares with light (background) corners.

Here is a finished corner unit.

If you use a directional print make sure two squares look like the one above and two squares look like the one below.

Set those X Corners aside for now.

Plus Unit

1) Sew a 3" square of Fabric A to a 3" square of fabric B. Do this twice.  Press seams to the darker fabric.

2) Sew a 3" square of Fabric B to the ends of the Fabric A rectangle. Press the seams to the darker fabric.

Putting it Together

These are all your units. I've arranged them how they will end up in the final block.

Set aside the middle part of the plus (the piece with the rectangle).

Now we're going to form the top row and bottom row of the block.  Arrange your pieces like in the photo below.

Sew one corner unit on each side of the narrower plus unit.  Press seams to the darker side. Repeat this for the bottom row.

Now you will have three rows that look like the picture below.

Sew the top row to the middle row. Sew the bottom row to the middle row.  Press seams to the dark side.

Give it a final press and trim as needed to make sure it is 12 1/2" square. Voila! You have made a X and Plus block.