Crossroad Blocks into a Baby Quilt

The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.

~Fred Astaire

Quilting

Yet another set of crossroads blocks. They've made several borders for me... like my Bramble Blooms 1 and The Square Deal {which I kept for myself}. The collection of 25 became the center of a baby quilt.

Crossroad quilt blocks

The green fabric has seven lengthwise repeats separated by a wavy brown line. It's visible on some of the borders below. They gave me the idea of adding a dark inner border. It was too severe but adding a third border in light green helped. However, the four blue cornerstone blocks do not. Out they went. 

Next the spiral quilting commenced. Now that I have the technique mastered, it's my go-to for baby quilts. I happily cross any and all patterns. Echo quilting shows well on prints while the prints themselves still hide quilting imperfections. There are few starts and stops - only when the bobbin thread runs out. I always bury threads so prefer to have a minimum of them to contend with.

Without interruptions the quilting is finished in two days. If something comes up, it can take much longer though. 

This simple quilt has three outer borders: a very pale green, a black with multicolored dots, and a wide flower garden on chartreuse. The dark border looks irregular but that's the remnant of the wavy line in the border print. I hadn't mitered corners in a while. There's no attempt to "match" the design but I find mitering and inset seams easy to do although the sewing is a bit different. Here it's a better solution than sewing the border like courthouse steps. 

Crossroads baby quilt with flower garden border

The binding is a diagonally printed red and white stripe also used on Bramble Blooms #1. 

The back used up most of three leftover fabrics. {Do I ever really use all of any fabric? Even when I think so, there are frequently small bits and strings in my scrap bag. They are a joyful find since they recall previous quilts and the lovely people they were given to.} 

Notice how the spiral quilting shows well on the lighter blue but disappears on the other prints.  

Quilt Specifics

Size: 44" x 44"

Design: Crossroads blocks with border print

Batting: Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon Cotton

Thread: Superior green cotton

Quilting: walking foot spiral

Approximate yardage: 3-4 yards

Reading

Tiya Miles' book, Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People is an engaging read. Most of us know the basics of Harriet's story but Tiya uses her skills as a historian to show her faith, her deep understanding of the natural world she lived in, and her relationship with other enslaved women whose memoirs and speeches encompass some of Harriet's. Tiya's work shows us how to excavate the lives of people who left few written and legal records - the circumstance of many people throughout history. 

Enjoy the day, Ann