Quilt Reveal: UJ’s Quilt
My love of the X Plus block just got deeper. I recently had cause to make a quilt for a gift for someone and it was the perfect excuse to have a go at making the 24″ version of the X Plus Block. (You can see the quilt and blocks I made of the 7.5″ version by clicking here.) I decided to keep it simple and work with one fabric line, Terra Australis 2, and keep the colour palette simple. I wanted to call on colours that reminded me of the Australian outback out around Mt Isa and I think this quilt does that.
I used Zen Chic’s Barcelona in Orange and Black for the “plus” section of the block. I love the impact that this provides. It just goes to show how much fun you can have if you keep it simple and consciously choose which areas you’re going to focus attention on. The background is from Carolyn Friedlander’s Botanics line. It reads as grey from a distance but it has a nice mix of low volume print with metallic hints.
Gemma (of Pretty Bobbins) did an edge-to-edge pattern for me using Aurifil #2235. I love the punch of interest and colour that using a bold thread choice provides. This quilting is out of my normal zone because it’s rather large (I like dense quilting normally) and the thread colour is strong (I normally go for subtle) – but it’s worked a treat here. I must remember to step out of my comfort zone more often.
I wanted this quilt to read as more masculine and I think it does that. I also wanted it to be reminiscent of Australia and I think it does that too through the obvious Australian prints, but the nod to our landscape and the scale of life in the Great Southern Land.
The quilt is backed in a flannel I got from Spotlight – it was the perfect colour combination and I love the sense of fun that the print brings. I machine bound this quilt and while the technique is fast, I’m not a fan of the finished product. Binding is one area that I need more work on when it comes to finishing. I love hand stitching binding but I’d love to get my binding a bit more balanced in the execution.
I hope this quilt is loved by it’s forever home.
Links to X Plus Quilt Block Tutorials
- 7.5″ version – you can find the tutorial here.
- 12″ version – you can find the tutorial here.
- 24″ version – you can find the tutorial here.
That is adorable! The patterns and the colors are fantastic!
This truly is a gorgeous quilt! I LOVE the pattern in the large scale, and using a consistent and reads-as-solid fabric in the plus part really pulls the quilt together so gorgeously! I am definitely putting this on my list. I need one of these hanging over the back of my couch!
This is so beautiful!! Really well done!
Love that backing fabric!
My niece would always ask my favorite color when she was younger, and I would always tell her (being a quilter) that I love all colors. That was not the answer she wanted to hear, so she assigned me a favorite color that she called “Spicy Orange.” You know what? She was right! I do love your ‘spicy orange’ quilt!
Great quilt Angie. Love the thread color. Thanks for sharing the tutorial links. Adding this pattern to my to do list. PS I think your binding looks fine. It takes practice.
Ok, you got me. I love this Quilt version, adding it to the list of Quilt blocks I need to make 😀 I think you definitely hit the mark with this quilt, very bold and masculine. Love it!!
Great quilt! The colour is so bold, I love it. Very cute backing too. 🙂 I’ve not really gone for contrasting thread in my quilting, unless it was a feature of the quilt – I’ve always thought it would be too distracting. It seems to work well on yours though, so I might experiment more in future. Nice choice!
Love the colour combination Angie. Beautiful!
Love this quilt and the different sizes, thank you!