Hive 1 April Tutorial: + and x Block

Hello everyone from Paulette here in western Canada.  Like most of you, I am at home and doing my part for social distancing.  I have been using this extra time to catch up on a few things and that includes some unfinished sewing projects.  So for my turn as queen this April, I am asking you to contribute to my + and x quilt.  These are the blocks I have already made. Very scrappy.

As you can see, I am completely open to any colour. 

The plus in the centre can be any colour but I am asking that the extensions to it that touch the edges of the block be a red.  Any red will do as long as it reads red.  You can see from my blocks on the design wall that they create a secondary grid design. 

For the block, you will need a backgound (light, medium or dark), one colour for the middle plus sign, one red fabric for the plus sign extensions, and four similar coloured x pieces.  I don't mind if there are other colours included as long as all four read as green, or purple, or off white as illustrated above. 

Mix vintage and new fabrics if you like, but please no solids, no batiks, and no Halloween or skulls. 

Here is a sample pull of fabric that includes a dark background, light plus sign, red, and four sort of turquoisey fabrics.  

This is the block it made.  

Ooops…. proof reading has proved that I switched out the plus sign fabric to orange when I sewed it.  But, it still works for me. 👍

I hope you are getting the idea.  

Cutting for      Background  8(3 1/2" x 3 1/2" squares)

                        Plus Sign       2(2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares) and one 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangle

                        Red                4(2 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangles)

                        x diagonals    1(5 1/2" x 5 1/2" square) from 4 different fabrics that are in same colour                                                 family  -Total 4

Here are the cut pieces for a block.

Sewing:  Draw a diagonal on the back of your background squares. 

Place 2 of them like this on your four 5 1/2" squares and sew on the drawn diagonal. 

Please trim off  the outside triangles.  I know there is a lot of waste here.  I actually sewed another seam line about 1/2" from first sewn line and then cut between the two sewn lines.  This will give you some half square triangles to play with or you can send me the cut offs.  Press background toward the outside of the block.  Arrange your pieces like this. 

Now you can add the red rectangles to the plus sign pieces.  Press toward the plus sign fabric.

Attach sections to make the top and bottom rows. Press the seams toward the x diagonal pieces. 

Now sew the rows together, pressing these last two seams toward the middle of the block. 

And there you have it. A beautiful + and x block.  

Thank you so much for sewing for me. I am looking forward to what you create.  This UFO is back on track. Happy sewing.  Paulette