Patchwork Breeze: #basix

Welcome to my day on the X-BLOCK Blog Hop!

Amy, of Sew Incredibly Crazy, posted on Instagram that she was hosting a hop for her friend Doris, of Quilting Queen Online, who is the new owner of the X-Block Templates.

The simple requirement was that we had to use the Xblock Rulers/Templates. I purchased the 6 inch X-Block template about 8 years ago and hadn't used it yet. This would force me to use it. I emailed Amy right away to tell her I wanted to participate!

I chose to work with some bright fabrics that coordinated with a stripe. I wanted the striped fabric to be prominent and form a zig-zag on the quilt top. The pamphlet that came with the template gave the directions for cutting strip widths and seam allowances (not a scant 1/4" but a full 1/4"). There was a coloring sheet that could be copied for designing one's quilt.

I chose to use what was the simpler block. All strips were cut the same width. Three strips were sewn together on the long edges. (These are some leftovers.)

These were subcut into units using the same cut width as the strips. The units were sewn into 9 patches.

The designs of the quilts are created when the grid on the template is aligned with the seam lines of the 9 patches. The trimming of the 9 patches creates skewed blocks. When half of the 9 patches are cut with the template facing up and half with the template facing down, more quilt designs become possible. I used my revolving cutting mat which made it much easier to cut.

I definitely recommend coloring the design patterns. I placed the striped fabric in the corners which only gave me a bit of that fabric in the quilt design.

I played with the block placements. Glad I took photos of the arrangements. I referred to them for the design I would make. Believe me, one can get in a real tangle to remember which arrangement was the favorite.

I even thought about making matching table runners for my 2 daughters and myself.

In the end, I selected the second layout above for my 36" x 36" quilt. Here it is on the deck outside on a sunny, warm day (finally).

And the backing is the stripe fabric that I wanted more of on the front.

The pamphlet suggested keeping the cut offs as they can be used for borders or other projects. I can't toss usable pieces. I sewed the triangular cut offs into rectangles. Trimmed them all to 2-1/2" x 5" and played with a layout.

sewn together:

Below is the table runner I made with them. You can see that the striped fabric is predominant in this small project--maybe a little too overwhelming! But I like that I have bright table runner.

I had fun with the template and will use it again. I have many ideas to try using striped fabrics. And what if I use 4 different 9 patches? What about surrounding solid 6 inch blocks with the X-Blocks? I am sure there are nearly endless possibilities!

A GIVEAWAY!

X-Blocks is offering this great prize package