Random Sampler QAL - Greek Cross

I saw a similar block on Flickr and have been in love with it ever since. This is a pretty easy one.  And I have enough red dot to make 2 more blocks, so I may end up doing that.  If you haven’t taken a look around in the Flickr group, I invite you to do so and think about some other blocks that you may want to add to the ones we will be making here.  Lotje, Debbie and Ann have started collecting and/or making additional blocks and they are so fun!  I’ve started tagging a few that I’d like to make as well.

I’d just like to add that I’ve decided to make the block sizes here in the quilt-along divisible by 2 so that it will be easy to shuffle them around and add fillers where needed.  For instance, the Basket block finishes at 8 inches, the Tree of Life block finishes at 12 inches. And this one will finish at 10 inches.

I found a block similar to this one in BlockBase, the EQ version of Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.  The coloring is a little bit different and I eliminated a couple of unnecessary seams.  There, the block is known by the names Greek Cross (which I chose to go along with), New England Block and Father’s Choice. I think I’ve also seen it around with “star” in the name as well.

Okay, here we go…  this block will measure 10 1/2″ including seam allowances and 10″ finished.

1. Choose 3 fabrics. A dark value for the center, a medium value for the star portion and a light value for the background.

From the Dark print cut:

• 2 – 2 1/2″ squares
• 1 – 2 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangle

From the Medium print cut:

• 4 – 2 1/2″ squares
• 4 – 2 7/8″ squares, cut in half diagonally to make 8 half-square triangles

From the Light print cut:

• 8 – 2 1/2″ squares
• 4 2 7/8″ squares, cut in half diagonally to make 8 half-square triangles

2. Sew a light and a medium half-square triangle together. I like to press the seams open. Make 8 of them.

3. Arrange all your block pieces next to you while you sew so that you can keep them in order.

4. Sew together each piece in each row. Press the seams towards the 2 1/2″ squares. Then sew the rows together to complete the block.

Here are the blocks from the first 3 months of the Random Sampler QAL.  How are you doing?  You can always join it at any time.  And don’t forget to post your progress over in the Flickr group.

BTW, can you believe that Thanksgiving is just a couple of weeks away? Me neither!

About these ads