Scrappy "Plus Surround" Quilt from 'Modern Plus Signs Quilts'

This is my completed "Plus Surround" quilt from the book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts.  There is review of the book on my March 29, 2018 blog post and discussion about making the quilt on the two subsequent posts.

There is straight line quilting on each of the plus signs which I really like. But I really struggled with how to quilt all of the negative space in this quilt (the yellow background). The quilt in the book has quilting radiating from the center of the quilt. I knew I didn't want to try to copy that. 

Because of the circular design, I decided to quilt the negative space with free motion circular loops. About half way done, I wished I'd done a misty soft linear/loopy fog-like design instead.  But it was way to late to do that!  The circular loops feel a bit too traditional for my taste, but it's growing on me! 

What's the best thing about this quilt? The great design of this quilt. It captures the viewer's attention!

Work in Progress: Scrappy "Plus Surround" Quilt with Cutting Instructions for Scrap Plus blocks

Isn't this scrappy version of "Plus Surround" from the new book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts by Cheryl Brickey and Paige Alexander, a great quilt top?  I had so much fun making it!

The pattern calls for all solid fabrics.  I had the solids, but looking at my stash I realized I had enough small/subtle fabrics  of similar color and shades to make a scrappy quilt. I thought it might be more interesting to see some slight color gradations in the finished quilt.  But that made the quilt significantly harder to make!  Fortunately, only one of my fabrics had clearly directional design.  I chose to turn that directional fabric 3 ways intentionally so it wouldn't matter which way this square quilt is used.

The plus signs directions in the book are all strip pieced. Obviously that won't work if you chose to make a scrappy quilt.  I'm sharing the cutting instructions to make a scrappy quilt but you will need a copy of the book to make the quilt. You need to really pay attention when piecing this quilt. I was really trying to be careful but I still to do a bit of un-sewing!

These cutting instructions are only for the plus signs, not the finished blocks.

Each of the middle size blue plus signs in my quilt are a different fabric so the plus signs will be pieced individually, not strip pieced.

• for the colored portion plus sign, cut one strip 3 1/2 x 7 inches and two 3 1/2 inch squares
• for the background of the midsize plus sign, cut 3 WOF strips and divide that into 3 1/2 inch squares

I made two identical small plus signs from each of the blue green fabrics in the quilt. These can be strip pieced.

• for each pair of plus signs, cut cut 1 strip of colored fabric 2 x 16 inches and two 2 x 5 inch strips
• for the background, cut 3 WOF* 2 inch strips. Cut those into 2 x 16 inch strips to make a strip pieced set with the colored fabric.
• Strip piece the 2 x 16 inch colored strip with two 2 x 16 inch background strips.
• Cut the strip pieced sets into 2 x 5 inch segments as shown in the book's diagram

Assemble the blocks per the instructions in the book.

Hope these cutting instructions are helpful if you make your own scrappy "Plus Surround" quilt!

* WOF is width of fabric

Work in Progress: "Plus Surround" and a Color Study

I've been working on the "Plus Surround" quilt, a pattern in the book I reviewed last week, Modern Plus Sign Quilts. The instructions for the quilt are excellent and it's really exciting to sew this project.

Check out the situation above:  Can you see what is coming?  Pictured are 2 straight rows of square blocks...but the pattern is circular!  That's so great!

The pale yellow background fabric is Kona® cotton "meringue" and the plus signs in the photo are an assortment of mostly small pattered blues and blue greens.

There is a central plus sign in this quilt. I have a beautiful marbled blue and yellow fabric that is a perfect match with this soft yellow and the blues. But when I made the block the sameness was okay but frankly, boring.

Quilt with the blue and yellow central marbled block

So I went looking through my stash for an orange which is the complement color to the blues and an analogous color to the yellow background. I found a hand-dyed cotton that adds just the right pop. The design went from flat to fun!

"Plus Surround" with complementary orange central block

The quilt pattern calls for solid colors.  I chose a scrappy look. That made both cutting and assembling the quilt significantly more complicated. I'll show the finished top next week and will share cutting instructions for making scrappy plus signs like the ones in my quilt. 

Book Review: "Modern Plus Sign Quilts"

It's been a while since I've seen a new quilt book with really exciting patterns, so today I want to share a bit about this great new C&T Publishing stashBOOKS, Modern Plus Sign Quilts by Cheryl Brickley and Plaige Alexander.

This book has something for everyone.  There are pieced quilts, appliqued patterns and foundation pieced patterns. They range from a simple table runner which would be great for a new quilter to complex geometric designs.

There are 3 quilt patterns in this book that I really want to make. My favorite is "Plus Surround", a quilt with concentric circles of plus signs. Because of the circular design, it looks complicated but all the but all the blocks are square!  It's a really fun quilt!

Another of my favorites is "Celestial", the navy an white quilt shown above on the cover of the book. This pattern makes a queen size quilt, using large blocks, so it go together quickly.

My other favorite quilt is "Transparency Chains".  It uses a single Irish change with pieced plus signs that appear to float inside the chains.

These are modern quilts with deep roots in classic patterns. They have lots of negative space with many of them using 3 to 7 plus yards of background fabric. I often guesstimate yardage when purchasing fabric but I recommend you make a list to take to the store if you are going to make these quilts!

I can't wait to start sewing...but first, a shopping trip!

Back cover