February Tutuorial for Hive 1, the Plus + Block for Dawn

Hello hive mates! 

I have chosen a tutorial for a PLUS quilt block, with a wee bit of modification to keep it simple and yet interesting.  Thank you to kviltstina.com for sharing this pattern.  You can find the original tutorial here, but I deviate quite a bit from it so see details below. 

I made up a couple of sample blocks.  My ask for the block will actually be two, sewn together, finishing at 16 1/2 x 10 1/2".  I have a plan for about 80 of these beauties pulled together for our summer quilt, so I am excited to pick this for my month as queen to add some variety and make this quilt as scrappy as possible! 

For low volume please choose fabrics that will read from light to medium.  Some colour is ok, even background colour is good as long as it reads light to medium on the scale of volume.  I don't have too much low volume with colour in my stash, so I did grab what I could pull to photograph (the top row), and the bottom row is neutral colours.  I have a lot of those!  The volume of a few on the bottom right reads about medium, and its ok for neutrals to read a little bit darker.  Repeats in fabric are fine.  Its a scrappy quilt afterall!

For the plus' think lots of colour with the volume reading medium dark, but not too dark and definitely not too light.  Three fabrics in my pull below actually read quite dark, I am going to use those sparingly.  While I love geometric prints, for this quilt, please save those for another project.   I am aiming for something more organic, think curves, and less structure design, lots of colour please.  Large print, small print, and anything in between.  Two-tone would be ok as long as it does have some contrast and not read as a solid.  Please save your batiks for another project.  Here are some examples to show you what I am thinking and trying my best to describe!

All pieces will be 2 1/2 " wide.  I changed the dimensions thinking that many of you will have strips or scraps maybe cut into 2 1/2" strips you can pull from. 
From the low volume, please choose a selection of fabrics with different volumes and be somewhat contrasting - in the following sizes
4 - 2 1/2" squares
8 - 4 1/2" strip (2 1/2" wide)
2 - 10 1/2 " strip (2 1/2" wide)

For the plus, you'll need two different fabrics, with the following of each fabric:
1 - 6 1/2" strip (2 1/2 " wide)
2 - 2 1/2 " squares

Here are all the pieces

The layout of the block.  Note the orientation of the plus fabric and that the sashing strip is only on one side of the plus.  

From here is is straight forward and quick piecing, with a scant 1/4" seam.  Start by joining your 2 1/2" squares.  Then joining those to the 4 1/2" strips.  Then add your centre plus fabric.  And last, the sashing strip shown on the right side in the photos.  For seams, I pressed towards the darker plus fabric.  Either that or open, though if you are an open seam presser - can you give me some hints?  I find the iron and fabric too hot, and finicky to press the seams open. 

 

 

 

And voila, a quick block.  Thank you!  I can't wait to pull these blocks together into a quilt top.  With any luck, I might have this project wrapped up for this summer!  I am laughing, yes, I am laughing.  That is so not likely.  But a girl can dream!

Thanks Hive 1 - Sew for you soon.

Quilt on

Dawn
@dimestorefloozie