PLUS SIGN QUILT

I thought I would try making a small plus sign quilt. I am using four small charm packs by Riley Blake plus some additional fabrics from my stash. Believe me when I say that a design wall is the most important tool for making this quilt. I laid the blocks on the living room floor and Jeff helped me. It wore us both out. Then Dottie got involved and moved a few blocks around. If you have a design wall you will love making this quilt.....otherwise prepare to be frustrated. I drew out the layout beforehand and thought it would be easey peasey....so not!

Dont forget your camera. A photo can be your guide

I have a king size flannel top sheet that I hang off my china cabinet to use as a design board when I make this sort of quilt. It's one that needs to be laid out before you start any sewing. Using the floor doesn't work for me, someone would walk on it. My dining room table would work if the top were small enough to fit.

I plan to make one of the plus quilts too, loved the new tutorial.

Would it work if you did it in quadrants? Then lay the part that's done off to the left and work on the next quadrant?

I use two cheap $7 cardboard cutting boards across my queen bed as my design wall. They are 40" by 60", I overlap them to enlarge or shrink according to what I am making. These are easy to find all folded up in most big fabric stores. They are NOT FOR ROTARY CUTTING, were sold back in the dressmaking, scissor-cutting days but are still available. No floor crawling for me either!

Oh that's a good idea Jean I've seen them. I usually use the floor but it has to be quick to avoid trampling by puppy and toddler. For some reason it has to be a horizontal surface for me, vertical just doesn't work.

I finished one of these a week ago, and used my bed as a design wall. Once I had the rows together, I was able to stack them on my sewing table to finish assembling the next day. I was really glad that it was only crib-sized, and that I had used only four colors and about six or seven different fabrics.

I love the way it turned out, and plan on making a bigger, scrappier one in the future. Will mos def be using a camera after laying it out, I'll need my bed for sleeping.

I haven't made one of these yet but I can only imagine the frustration. Good idea about the pic and also a design wall.
Dottie is such a helper, just like my kitty.

I agree that being able to lay this pattern out is key to success and sanity. I use large insulation board (non fiberglass type) that I wrap in flannel. It is VERY light weight and portable (you can also cut it to any size you choose). It makes all the difference when working on quilts just like the plus quilt pattern. :icon_happy:

I like the idea of drawing it out first. I can see where it would get really confusing.

This pattern has truly grabbed my attention and want to make one! I'm still fussing with my design wall, tried a flannel back cheapie table cloth which didn't quite fit the bill, and Suzette's idea just rang a bell. Hmmmm, looks like I'm off to the local Feed and Seed to get a sheet of styro, then some flannel. Horizontal kills me, so vertical it is. The fabric I picked out is a cocoa brown, a patterned cream with cocoa brown and blue/teals. But have to wait to start it due to previous tops, sigh.