VINTAGE RED CROSS: QUILT INFO & SEW ALONG

If you guys have followed along on my quilty adventures over the years, then you know how much I love vintage quilts and how many of my patterns are inspired by my vintage quilt treasures or quilts that I have just glimpsed at flea markets or antique shops.

There is just something about them. I know I say that a lot but there really is almost a palpable feeling you get from certain quilts… at least there is for me.

So when I glimpsed this vintage cross with a super soft faded blue sashing, red crosses and tiny little prints in the backgrounds, this quilt was immediately born in my head.

For those of you who follow along in our Facebook Group, we will be sewing along together there and Susan has worked up a nice little schedule for us to keep us on track, motivated and working together.

If you prefer to work on your own, grab a pattern in the shop, HERE and quilt to your hearts content. This is one of those super simple projects that comes together quickly and with a lot of satisfaction.

Sometimes the most simple of blocks are truly the best. It allows your eye time to look around at everything and to settle on the places that it likes best.

A FEW TIPS AND HINTS

• Before you start cutting, decide how simple or how scrappy you want your quilt to be. If you want to omit some of the more busy background prints and stick with tone on tone or even a single solid, go for it.
• On the other hand if scrappy is your thing, then add in cream scraps from your stash and make each and every block have a different background.
• As for the reds, the story is more or less the same. For the look I was going for, I want to use the almost solid “red stitches” for most of my blocks. But I love the feel of having a few unexpected blocks thrown in with a different print. In our kit we included a few others for you to consider to add to that “make do/I ran out and had to figure it out” feel that so many vintage quilts have.
• If you prefer, you can of course use all one red, print or solid. There are really so many different ways to go with this.
• For the sashing, the thing that really makes this quilt sing is this warm, soft denim color. Light and slightly worn like your favorite pair of old jeans! Once again, you can of course choose a different tone of blue or a different color altogether.

I am working along on this one slowly over the next few weeks so have no finished quilt top to show you guys just yet.

We will be back next week with more photos and more blocks to share… hope you will sew along with us!

Happy blockmaking!

Joanna