Cross quilt block tutorial

In my last post, I told you that I was making a cross quilt and I shared these blocks... I thought I would tell you more about the reason for this quilt. Every year the youth of our church hold a silent auction to raise money for their mission trips and other activities. The kids and I have had fun coming up with items to donate each year. Last year I made some doll clothes, Steve auctioned off three of his framed photos and Ally donated a certificate for a custom decorated cake. Every year, when donation time rolls around, I think, "darn, why didn't I make a quilt to auction off?" And it's always too late by then.... so this year I decided to start early so I will be ready!

I have been eyeing up some of the cross quilts popping up around blogland. Some are wonky crosses, some not, some print, some solid. I decided to use this block pattern that I found on Pinterest (have you discovered Pinterest yet? So much inspiration there!). I have been using more and more solids in my quilts and decided that this would be an all solids quilt. Well, kind of. Some of my colors are "reads solids" not true solids, but close enough! This is a huge stretch for me, the girl who LOVES prints!

I thought I would take you through the making of one cross block so you can make some of your own! Ready? Here we go....

First off, you take a square and surround it with a border. My squares are all 6" and all Stone Kona Solid. My borders (different colors for each block) are 1 1/2" wide. I played with different dimensions, and this is what worked best for me. After you get the borders on (top and bottom, then the sides) square it up (mine are 8 inch squares).

Now comes the fun! Using a ruler and rotary cutter, cut your block exactly into quarters...

Now you rearrange your blocks. Switch your left and right blocks (both top and bottom). Now move the bottom blocks to the top. Gosh that's wordy... play with it. Your final layout should look like this....

Stitch your top blocks together, and your bottom blocks together. Press your seams in opposite directions so they will nest in the next step.

Now sew the top and bottom together and square up your block! Mine all end up being 7 1/2" blocks. Now wasn't that easy?

Twenty blocks done here... more to go! I have a layout planned but it may end up changing so I won't share it yet!

For those who are following my knee saga (and thanks for your well wishes!) I am healing fine and getting around (slowly!) without crutches. There are some things I need at the store and my Hubby reluctantly gave me permission to go to the drugstore at the corner, no farther! So that is my big outing for the day. I hope you all are doing something fun today!