I agree so here is my take on this - I am going to assume that a row goes left to right.
Instead of 281 sets of 5 - 2.5" squares you could cut 1 rectangle of 2.5 x 6.5 inch and 2 - 2.5" squares. These are clearly the Pluses in the middle of the quilt. That is the easy part,
I assume that the 31 sets of 4 - 2.5 " squares are the partial Pluses on the edges - This would be the tricky part as the side pluses would need to be constructed differently form the top and bottom ones. For the top and bottom partial pluses, you could cut one 2.5 x 6.5 inch rectangle and one 2.5" square. For the side partial pluses (here is where a complete picture would be helpful so I am assuming here) it would be 2 - 2.5" squares and one 4.5 x 2.5 rectangle. You would need to do them this way so that you could sew the rows easily. It is not clear how many of each you would need but you should be able to figure that out from the layout in the magazine.
Then the other ones just fill in along the edges.
Good luck!