More, more, more!

I spent several evenings this week and most of today working on Carolina Crossroads. All the blocks are done, plus several setting triangles and all of the corner units. Check this out:

Look carefully and you will see three Crossroads blocks made incorrectly. I didn't even catch them when ironing the blocks. I totally recommend taking a picture so things like this can be spotted.  Here is the "after" picture.

This quilt looks so good, I am extending another row of Crossroads blocks. Somehow I had ended up with two extra Carolina Star blocks, so will just need to make a couple more. 

If you plan on making this quilt, here are a few tips.  

1) You may need slightly more neutral than Bonnie's pattern directions. My quilt uses the same neutral throughout, and I ended up buying a bit more to extend. I had only a sliver left (string size) after cutting all the strips per the pattern directions.

2) I hope you love making nine-patches because you will be sewing about a million of them. Don't despair; the end will come eventually.

3) Sew the hourglass components and trim them to size. You won't regret taking time to do this.

4) Be consistent with your pressing direction. I pressed IN on the crossroads blocks and OUT on the star blocks.

5) Have fun! This is an easy quilt in spite of all the pieces and triangles. I sewed all the strips sets before cutting, made about half the hourglass blocks and 9-patches, then started making the blocks. I made the rest of the components using Bonnie's leader/ender method. 

If you've made this quilt or Bonnie's Crabapple Trees quilt, you have also experienced the mysterious charm of sewing tiny 1-1/2 inch squares.  I don't know what it is about those buggers. It's kind of fun to see them suddenly grow into a 9-patch.