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Today I am thrilled to be a member of the X-Block Hop (and there is a giveaway!). I found out about this hop from Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy A friend of hers, Doris Rice, is the new owner of the X-block and so, to help her friend, a blog hop was born. I was excited to join as I did have a lovely quilt that I made using that technique.
I love the X-block tool and the intricate designs you can make by trimming a 9 patch. Yup – that’s the basic gist of it. First you make a lot of nine patches, then you cut them up. Sometimes that feels wasteful, but here’s the thing – you are not piecing wonky angles BUT buy cutting a block differently you get the effect of the odd angles.
I loved, loved, loved this pattern. I thought it would be perfect to use up some batiks I had collected. The ones I was using up were the more solid/light fabrics in the quilt. I had collected them for my Whitby Abby quilt – it appears in the beginning of my blog, but I actually never wrote an entire blog on it. You can even see some of these batiks in the link above, in the second picture.
These are the two tools I used, the 6.5″ X block template* and the BellyButton 6.5*. I think the way the colors play off of one another and that the design is so interesting. I was looking for a colorful sky so all these light batiks have blues and some pinks in them. It is such a cheery quilt and perfect for a summer quilt. The guest room in our cottage is dark and it really livens up the room.
Here are a couple of hints for making this quilt:
- Starch your fabric (bias edges behave better when starched)
- Pay attention to the directions (I know – simple but true! there are Right and Left facing cuts)
right facing block 
left facing block 
Teal square shows the Right Block, Orange is Left Block and
Dotted Line Square shows 4 blocks making the diamond.
The pieces for the sides and top are made from some leftovers, if I remember correctly. They were totally worth doing. I wanted to use this on a queen size bed, so a few borders and it works! Notice, the top and bottom borders are smaller so it will fit my platform beds easily. Finally, I quilted this on a longarm and loved doing it.
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| Hanging at the Rising Star Guild Show |
Enjoy the hop and check out the other bloggers that are hopping!
May 8th
May 9th
May 10th
Look at this X-treme XBlocks Bundle!!!
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If you purchase from that link, I will earn a small commission.
Disclaimer: *Links with asterisk indicate an affiliate link. Your price is not any different, but a small percentage of the sale will go to supporting my blog.
What a gorgeous large quilt. Love your fabrics!
Thank you!
That is a stunning quilt. I love your choice of fabrics. Truly Beautiful!!
Thank you, Amy, especially for having me in the blog. The traffic is awesome so I hope Doris is pleased.
I really like the border a lot. Great quilt.
I think it really was a good thing to do – although I hesitated – and am very pleased with the finished quilt.
I really like the design of your quilt–Thanks for the blog hop–lots of new ideas!barbkaup(at)(yahoo)(dot)(com)
Thank you, Barb. I love seeing all the options.
Wow Factor quilt…love it all..the design and fabric colors. rozz01(at)cox(dot)net
Thank you, Rosalind.
Wow. Beautiful quilts. I love the ideas of extras. Thanks for sharing
Your borders are awesome on this. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome; its a pleasure to share.
My pleasure, and the extras are fun!
Your quilt is beautiful. The design is great. So much versatility with these templates.
Thanks, Jeanne. There really is quite a lot of options with them – all from 9 patches!
I never thought I would want to try using this tool, but the quilts like yours and others shown have changed my mind.
So glad you are thinking about it. It really is pretty versatile!
Your quilt is awesome! And this tool is awesome too. Thanks!Please click on the delaineelliott above for my email link.
Thank you, I had a good time making the quilt and using the rulers.
It is quite funny isn't it, how these patterns look like something I personally would never do, if it's difficult I just don't want to take the time to do it, but the rulers make it so simple. I enjoyed your details about the project and your quilt is truly stunning.
The rulers do simplify what looks to be a complex pattern.
I’ve had this set of rulers for some time and keep looking through the book and seeing things I want to make. Your quilt is quite amazing.
You can do it! Just pick some fabric and play!
What a lovely quilt.
Thank you, Nancy.
Awesome work. Thank you for sharing! It gives me inspiration about what can be made with those tools.
Thanks, Cookie. They are pretty much fun!
Beautiful
Thank you.
Took a while to find your blog. Your work is wonderful as is your choice of fabrics. Thank you for the hard work of doing and sharing.
Thank you. I did see what the problem was and alerted the powers to be…
Excellent tips! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
You are welcome!
OMG! Those quilts are awesome! Love the color choices and 3 quilts for 1. You can't go wrong with that plan. I really, really want to make some of those quilts.
Its a great thing, isn't it?
Love your quilt – thanks for sharing
Happy to share. Thanks for coming by.
Wow, that is just gorgeous! The X-block ruler looks like it has lots of possibilities.
Thank you, Lisa Marie. It does have many options!
I love your quilt and choice of color! Thanks for sharing the tips.
Of course, it is my pleasure to share, and thank you for the compliment.
Beautiful Quilt! This pattern has always caught my eye. Think I need to make one of my own. Thank you for sharing in the blog hop … 🙂 Pat
You are so welcome. This pattern is one of my favorites.
Beautiful quilt! Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome!
I was just looking at that one on the website's pattern page and thinking what a beauty it was, and these wide borders look great on it. I have one of the rulers, but I've only made a few blocks for an American Hero quilt. I never realized all that I could do with it! Thank you.
That looks fantastic – I would like that on my bed!
Thanks, Melody. I love it too! Why don't you imitate it?
Have to get to making one of these x-block quilts!
They are fun!
Really love your quilt!
Thank you, Janet
What a beautiful quilt!
Thank you, Connie.
What a stunning quilt! Thanks for your words of wisdom for the caveats. I guess it comes from having been a project lead for years. I like to look at a quilt when I am done and think about what went right and what went wrong and what I would do differently the next time, even if that means not making that pattern again. Thanks for participating in the hop.
You are welcome, Suze. I love helping others and try always to include some good hints.
Neat quilt! I love what the X block ruler can do. This will be fun to use in the future. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Carol. I really enjoyed it and hope you get to make one soon!
X Block template is so versatile! Love this look. maryc76904 at yahoo dot com
The soft colors you chose are lovely and remind me of spring. My granddaughter would love this!
Thank you, and I am sure you could imitate the color scheme for her.
love it in batiks, and your ideas for expanding the borders.
Sometimes I just want to make a bed quilt and the quilt isn’t that size! I never mind big borders that hang off the edge!
Your quilt is so pretty! Never know there were so many designs for the x-block template!yoyopattycakes@ hotmail dot com
Thank you, Susan. There are a whole lot of options with this tool.
I absolutely love your quilt! It's beautiful! Jadahlgr at Yahoo dot Com
Thank you, it was a great project.
Beautiful color choices.
Thank you.
thinking outside the box is always pretty
Thank you! It is always fun.
Such a lovely quilt!nikilsend(at)outlook(dot)com
Thank you!
Love seeing all the color ways and designs love it…. happyness04431@yahoo.com
It is so much fun isn’t it!
It will be fun to try out my basic x. I bought it some time ago and have not used it yet.
Do try it! I think you’ll like it.
my favorite so far
Thank you!