X Block: To say or not to sash
 

I attending a quick demo from Barbara Black at the Long Beach Quilt Festival last year. I loved her X Blocks, which she noted could be pre-cut friendly. She has a tutorial on her website, but her method is based on the "X" block from Sharyn Craig's book, Layer 'em Up.

I bought a charm pack with colors I loved and a good variety of lights and darks from. Vendor at the Show. I finally made the blocks but am not sure how to proceed at this point (other than trimming to unfinished size, which will be either 3” or 3.5”).

What say you brilliant quilters? Should I add a lot more blocks so it doesn’t look so matchy matchy? Just add sashing and cornerstones? If I’m adding something, what color family? The fabric I used is Nantucket Summer and designer Camille Roskelley has lots of fabric lines that would coordinate with colors like pink or olive green. Or nothing more needed, just sew them together for a small wall hanging?

it doesn't look "matchy-matchy" to me.
however, matching up those little Xs will be a painful challenge.

it's pretty small, so i'd recommend adding as many blocks as your patience permits.
then add really narrow sashing ... no more than the width of the Xs.
it's "busy" enough so i wouldn't add cornerstones.

P.S. what you've done so far looks pretty good. [thumbs up]

I too would add sashing because it will be a lot easier to sew the blocks to sashing than to each other. But I WOULD add cornerstones--even if they are the same fabric as the sashing. They will help keep the blocks lined up properly. I don't think it looks tremendously matchy-matchy, but I think a few randomly placed bright blocks would completely change the look of it. As far as the width of the sashing, the blocks are small so the sashing should be narrow.

Another suggestion would be to surround each block with a border and then sash. This idea might be helpful if you need to get all the blocks to a uniform size and don't want to trim them all to the smallest common denominator.

Thanks Ginger and Patrice for your thoughts! I’m not used to using a single fabric line for a quilt, which is why I went from “I love these fabrics” to “Maybe it’s too matchy matchy.” The blocks are designed to be trimmed, because the X extends well beyond the outside of the triangles. If I sash, it would be the same width as the X= 1/2” finished and yes it would eliminate the need to match the X in one block to the X in the next.
I have used all 42 squares in my charm pack and I don’t think buying another charm pack of those exact fabrics is an option. But all of Camille’s current fabric lines seem to be in very similar color ways, so I can probably find something that works and adds a little more variety without being painfully odd. I could also just pull from my stash.

I love just the way it is, it looks like lattice and agree you should make more blocks. Putting sashing in will depend on how eager you are to match up those Xs but I personally wouldn't make it too wide.

I'd keep it just the way it is, too, without sashing to distract from the lattice look.

I would use a solid color sashing that goes with the blocks, just long strips on the diagonal and no corner stones. It looks very busy the way you have it now.

What about putting four blocks together and sash between the groups of four? I would use a narrow sashing.

Beautiful! I think it will look fabulous either way. But I agree with others that unless you enjoy the fussiness of matching up the X’s a narrow sashing would alleviate that. I can’t wait to see this when you’re done, beautiful colors.

I wouldn't sash. I'd add a narrow border and bind. I really like it and I don't think it's matchy-matchy at all.

I think it depends how you want it to look. If you want the lattice look,but larger, keep going like the layout you have, adding more to it mixing them up. If you want it with sashing and cornerstones, it would look like the link I added here. I really like your fabrics.

https://www.connectingthreads.com/bi...nload/p/991621

Another thanks to all of you for your thoughtful suggestions. As I said in my first post, I was inspired by a presentation Barbara Black did at the Long Beach Quikt Festival on Work Faster Nit Harder. For those interested, here is the sample she showed at that time: https://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/se...bel/X%20blocks
3” blocks set 4 x 6.

SuzSLO, I love those subtle blues and greens. I almost bought some of this line (but managed to resist). It doesn't look matchy-matchy at all, and personally, I would hesitate to bring other colors in and spoil the effect of these lovely shades. I checked the photo of the quilt with sashing, and I like this lattice look more, if you don't mind the effort of matching the x's. You could probably find more of these fabrics if you wanted to invest the money and time to make it bigger, but it would be lovely sewn and bound as. is.

Hmmm....looking at Barbara Black's quilt, her X's are all made from the same fabric and she carried that on by alternating each X block with a plain block. I like her layout because her X blocks really stand out and her quilt does not look at all busy. Using a single fabric for alternate blocks would definitely enlarge your quilt but personally, I would have difficulty choosing that fabric.

I agree that it's not matchy matchy. I am getting ready to make this very block for a juvenile quilt as well. My sashing will be all the same so that will definitely change the look of it as will sashing. My vote is no sashing. I think the X's will line up just fine when you sew your blocks together.