Tuesday, March 20, 2012

PMQG Japanese x & + Blocks Swap

The Philly Modern Quilt Guild will be swapping Japanese x & + blocks at tonight's meeting.  These blocks are so awesome and it is amazing to think that you could eventually end up with a quilt with literally HUNDREDS of unique fabrics.  I realized that I don't have that many different fabrics in my scrap bin yet since I've only been quilting for less than 2 years - so a swap seemed like a great idea!  These blocks are a bit tedious to make and it took me about 9 hours to cut out all the fabric for 12 blocks and then to construct 6 of the 12.  But I think they are pretty cool!  The corner pieces look especially nice when they are cut on point, which was part of the reason it took so long.  Here's a photo of the blocks I am swapping.  I'll post a photo tomorrow of the ones I receive at tonight's meeting.

Japanese x & + Block Swap

5 comments:

  1. These are flippin' awesome. So very cool!

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  2. looking at your post is making me want to try and make this block again....

    I think i hated mine cuz i used crappy fabric? i dunno.
    but i DO know that i love these!

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  3. I never could figure out why these blocks had the "Japanese" prefix attached. Last year I made tons of these blocks 5 x 5 inches. One thing I found helpful, was you can cut the corners with the design going different ways and get interesting results. I used sashing to put my quilt together but I would like to try the pattern again with larger blocks and without the sashing. How large are your blocks?

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    1. Hi, Julie - I found out about these blocks through a blog that referred to them that way. It was because a bunch of people were inspired by a quilt by Setsuko Inagawa shown at the Tokyo festival. Here's an example blog post about it: http://occasionalpiece.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/cross-and-x-quilt-block/

      I realize now that this is actually a block that's been around for a long time. These blocks are 8 inches unfinished - I agree that it would be fun to make larger ones. I'll have to try your suggestion of cutting the same fabric different ways for the corners. Thanks!

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