Wonky Cross Quilt

At its most basic, a wonky cross block (aka liberated cross or wonky plus sign) is a slice and insert technique. A square or rectangle is cut across and a strip inserted. Then the block is cut a second time, roughly perpendicular to the first cut, and a second strip sewn in.

For all my love of improv quilting, I have never made a wonky cross quilt, or even a block. I'm not sure why, since this quilt by Rossie and this version by Carla are among my favorite modern quilts. So when my month of the Whatever Bee came around, I decided to remedy all that. I pointed my bee mates to Carla's tutorial, which makes two at a time.

I decided to make a maquette (a technique I explained here), to get a feel for the blocks and their arrangement. I used pink scraps from my Waves quilt and the grey and white scraps they happened to be sitting next to (I love serendipity in improv sewing) on my sewing table. As simple as these blocks are, I learned a lot about my own preferences making this mini quilt.

• I like some variation in the thickness of the inserted strips: some chunky and some thin.
• Some cross blocks need to be relatively straight in order for the wonky blocks to stand out.
• The more fabrics you use, the easier assembling the top will be, if you like to avoid like fabrics touching.
• Keeping the blocks the same height but various widths make for an interesting look that is still easy to put together.

I hope my bee mates will agree this is a good block for a quilting bee: a specific assignment with some flexibility for individual expression.

I decided to finish the maquette, since it seemed to me it would make a really cute doll quilt. I put a text print from Verona Road on the back. It's a bedtime story - perfect. I bound the quilt in grey crosshatch, leftover from the Wave quilt too. You can find this 23" x 25" mini quilt in my etsy shop. SOLD.