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Home / My Blog / Classes and workshops / Baby Cross Quilt

Baby Cross Quilt

October 12, 2011 By Katie

When I stumbled upon Drygoods Design Online  my jaw dropped, what a mix of modern fabrics put together so skillfully!  TRUELY I had landed in fabric heaven.  Keli had somehow sourced fabrics that I had never laid eyes on and that’s saying a lot considering looking at fabric online is one of my favorite time sucks past times.

Keli, the brainchild behind Drygoods Design Online runs her shop out of Seattle, so I skipped right over to go shop in person.  I had my mind set on a simple cross quilt and had to continually refocus due to all the fabric I wanted to play with.

I picked a cross quilt because the design is simple for beginners, they are fun for showcasing favorite fabrics and I’d seen a few that have inspired me in our guild.

They go together quick, making them ideal for a unique baby gift.   Simply add more rows or columns if you desire a larger size.  Any size square will do, but  I went with 4” squares.

I give basic directions for making the quilt, but if you need more detail check out I Heart Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale, she has a similar quilt constructed with squares and rectangles or my friend Meaghan’s online tutorial.

Most important mantra when designing a quilt and choosing fabrics, pay attention to value.  Everyone say it together, “Value is important.”

Value, defined as the relative lightness or darkness of a color is what creates contrast, allowing the design to emerge.

The diagram above roughly shows what the values in this quilt are broken down to.  When we see a quilt we would like to duplicate it is likely that we won’t find all the fabrics used, so removing color and focusing on value can make choosing replacement fabrics easier.

Pick a mix of light, medium and dark fabrics.  Try not to place lights next to lights or darks next to darks, fabrics too close in value or a high percentage of one value will create a less defined or softer design, mucking the definition of each cross.

Large-scale prints often contain more than one value, such as the View Finder fabric I picked as my starter/focus fabric.  To maintain contrast try to stick to one, maybe two of these larger scale fabrics with mixed value for a few crosses and surround those crosses with smaller scale prints or solid fabrics of a different value.

To produce a similar quilt with 4” squares you will need about 8 different fabrics.

There are 143 squares total if you wish to use scraps.  Each cross uses 5 squares.  I bought enough of each fabric to play around with the layout.   You can use leftover squares on the backing, but the 4″ square size allows you to use a single selvedge to selvedge piece of fabric for the backing, no piecing required.

Finished size 38.5” x 45.5”

MATERIALS:

Here are the fabrics I used rounding up to the nearest 1/3 or 1/4 yard:

*1/2 yard or 24 squares of Nettie Dot Purple by Hoodie

*1/3 yard or 20 squares of View Finder in Cool by Melody Miller

*1/4 yard or 15 squares of Kona mustard

*1/2 yard or 24 squares of Geometric Mikaela Golden by Jennifer Paganelli

*1/4 yard or 18 squares of Toomuchery Damask Steel

*1/4 yard or 16 squares of Alexander Henry Heath in lavender

*1/4 yard or 11 squares of Heather Ross Far Far Away

*1/4 yard or 14 squares of Smirk Grey Grid by Kayla May

*12” of fabric for 2 1/4” cut binding

*1 2/3 yards of fabric for backing

To cut the squares, align the selvedges of each fabric and cut a four-inch strip, then sub cut the strips into 4” squares.

Follow the diagram or quilt photo to layout your squares.

I worked by piecing in rows, but you could work by piecing a 9-patch block as well.

I free-motion quilted it with the same orange peel design I used on my Mom’s Birthday Quilt last May.

It was a very simple design to execute free-motion because of the built in grid pattern of the squares.  I used a hera marker to mark a line through the middle of each row and a vanishing marker to mark the middle of each square.

I took into account the extra 1/4″ not yet taken up by binding at the raw edge of each square when marking the middles of the outer squares.  I attempted when quilting to kept the stitches in a 1/4″ from the perimeter so it wouldn’t  be covered by binding.  It sorted itself out well enough.

I sewed the binding down on our drive to Vancouver last weekend.  I love having a binding project on a drive.

Yeah, finished!

Thanks Keli for the fabric inspiration and my friend Rendy at rendytuckerphotography.com for the photos!

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Filed Under: Classes and workshops, Modern Quilts, seattle quilting, Tutorials, Value Quilt Tagged With: class, classes, modern quilt, quilting, seattle, value quilt, workshops

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Heather says

    October 12, 2011 at 9:49 pm

    I’ve always loved the cross quilts. Yours is beautiful, as are your photos. Thanks for the great post.

  2. Lucky Duck Dreams (@cyarnell) says

    October 12, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    I love your diagrams! That is exactly how I design quilts! None of this horribly expensive EQ whatever. Just MS word or publisher and a focus on value and pattern of pieces and sizing and the elements of design. Thanks for all your great tips!

  3. anna says

    October 13, 2011 at 1:20 am

    to die for! i love it so much, and the quilting just tops it off, amazing!

  4. LuLu says

    October 13, 2011 at 2:49 am

    Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! I love the purple polka!

  5. Katy says

    October 13, 2011 at 7:52 am

    Oh wow, that is fab! LOVE the colours front and back, and the quilting is to die for. Off to pin this for later drooling/inspection…

  6. Nancy says

    October 13, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    Love this, particularly the color combination. Thanks for showing the design graphics.

  7. Cheryl Arkison says

    October 13, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    Those are some great tips of picking fabric!

  8. bloomingpoppies says

    October 13, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    This color combo is perfection!!! Thank you for a detailed and informative post. I think I just found the perfect quilt design for my mom’s quilt. Beautiful job on yours!!!

  9. bloomingpoppies says

    October 13, 2011 at 1:04 pm

    oh hello to my new favorite on line fabric shop too…. just checked it out! love!!!!

  10. Cindy says

    October 13, 2011 at 1:04 pm

    Just stunning! I’d love if you could share a bit more about your quilting. It looks like you quilted a straight line through the center of the blocks in one direction? Did you do the curves individually in each block? or move down the length of the quilt? It’s a quilting design I’d love to try and perfect!

  11. Lindsey R says

    October 13, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    What a fab quilt, I can’t get over the quilting. You did an amazing job! Love the colors.

  12. elsa says

    October 13, 2011 at 2:45 pm

    Really lovely Katie! I’ve been wanting to do one of these for a while. My Daughter-in-law wants one, guess I’d better get going on it!
    Thanks for the tutorial!

  13. Julie says

    October 13, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    what a beautiful quilt. I love the fabric combinations you used. Drygoods design is a great store. I wish i lived in Seattle to be able to go to the brick and mortar version!.

  14. rachael says

    October 13, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    Yeah, I completely love this.

  15. Maria says

    October 13, 2011 at 4:23 pm

    Gorgeous quilt! I especially love your binding fabric choice. Note to self: must bind something in yellow…

  16. Meesh says

    October 13, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    Love this post, especially the bit about the importance of value! Your quilt is awesome and I, too would love more information on how you free motion quilted this beauty!!

  17. Jenny says

    October 13, 2011 at 9:29 pm

    It looks great!! I am so glad you’ve enjoyed shopping at Drygoods Design. Keli’s taste really is impeccable.

  18. Kerstin says

    October 14, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    This beautiful quilt inspired me so much that I had to start my own yesterday…

    • Sew Katie Did says

      October 15, 2011 at 2:34 am

      awesome!

  19. Marit says

    October 15, 2011 at 8:17 am

    Love your color composition on this pretty quilt. And the quilting is amazing! It is a beautiful finish!

  20. Jenniffier says

    October 15, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    Wow those colors are just great! I have seen many many crosses but the colors and composition on this one are just wonderful!

  21. Chelsea says

    October 15, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    Lovely quilt! Everyday I keep getting nudged a little closer to embracing purple and this is definitely a quilt in it’s favor. Ok, that sounds a little like I’m about to accept purple as my personal savior and get baptized in grape juice, but whatever.

    Is Drygoods Design always open to the public? I’m heading to Seattle next month and would love to check it out.

    • Sew Katie Did says

      October 16, 2011 at 4:48 am

      No, but there is plenty of good fabric shopping in Seattle. Have fun!

  22. Rachel at Stitched in Color says

    October 17, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    Pretty, Katie. But, I have to admit that I’m totally jealous that you can FMQ like that. That pattern is beeeautiful. Thanks for reminding me that I really do want to learn FMQ. I’m not much for stippling and such, and that was what we saw most at The Sewing Summit.

    • Sew Katie Did says

      October 17, 2011 at 4:27 pm

      I’ve never stippled, never been a fan. This is actually pretty easy and if it helps get your courage up, this is the 5th or so quilt I’ve fmq. Hope you had fun!

  23. CitricSugar says

    October 18, 2011 at 2:38 am

    So pretty! And I absolutely adore that fabric you chose for the back. It gives me such a nostalgic feeling… Lovely.

  24. Mindy taylor says

    October 27, 2011 at 6:43 pm

    Just ordered all these fabrics. My baby girl due in 7 weeks needs this quilt. Need to figure out how to do the orange peel quilting. I’m getting tired of all the stippling I’ve been doing lately! Thanks for inspiring me with this beautiful quilt.

    • Sew Katie Did says

      October 28, 2011 at 12:32 am

      Oh Franson just did a tutorial on the quilting.

  25. Hannah says

    May 16, 2012 at 2:01 pm

    Do you sell any of your quilts? I’ve been looking for a cute bedspread quilt for a year now and I can’t find any I love until I came across this site. I absolutely love this quilt and want to know if you sell them when you’re finished!!

    • Sew Katie Did says

      May 16, 2012 at 7:24 pm

      Some are for sale. The cross one is stored and is $325. Thanks!

  26. Beth says

    April 6, 2013 at 1:09 am

    I just love this pattern! I am about to start my own using blues and greens! Dd you use 1/2″ seam allowance? Thanks!

    • sewkatiedid says

      April 6, 2013 at 3:16 pm

      no, I use the standard 1/4.” have fun!

Trackbacks

  1. Inspiration: Modern, Improvisational Quilting | Drygoods Design, the blog says:
    October 27, 2011 at 5:55 am

    […] you haven’t seen it, swing on over to Katie’s blog to see the fantastic baby quilt she made with fabrics from her own stash and those that you can find on Drygoods Design. If […]

  2. 365 Tage Quilt 2015 - Teil 9 - Buntschwarzes says:
    March 1, 2015 at 8:44 am

    […] hat und ich zusätzlich zu dem 365 Tage Projekt gleich noch einen Quilt angefangen habe. Er soll an diesen Cross Quilt angeleht sein und sieht bisher so […]

  3. 365 Tage Quilt 2015 - Teil 20 (+ Ideensammlung) - Buntschwarzes says:
    May 16, 2015 at 6:24 pm

    […] mal eine kleine Link- und Ideensammlung: Zum Beispiel dieser Cross Quilt hier. Allerdings etwas dunkler gehalten *grins* Oder ein Modell mit schnellen Dreiecken, die sind […]

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