I actually completed this block a week ago at a quilting retreat, but it’s been a busy week and I’ve been struggling to catch up on my blogging. So, I’ll keep this post short and sweet.

After that tough advanced difficulty triangle, it was nice to be back in my wheelhouse. No curves, no wrestling with labels on inset seams, no oddball piece shapes … just plain old rectangles, squares, and triangles, arranged in a simple X pattern.

I’d actually done a bunch of X-patterned blocks early on in this project, but somehow this one got missed. I think it was so early in my Dear Jane journey that I was exclusively focusing on beginner difficulty blocks. Now, this intermediate difficulty X block seems super easy – what a difference 2.5 years make!

This block was done with a new medium-light-green fabric that I found which – suitably enough – has X’s all over it. I know, I said that I’d already used each fabric one time and was now repeating already-used fabrics, but I just couldn’t pass up this new one. I found it at my favorite local quilt shop (sadly, at their store closing sale) last month.

Cutting pieces out of this new fabric on the straight of grain meant that the X’s were actually plus signs, but I think it still complements the patchwork X design nicely.

At retreat, my friend Dianna was showing off her ability to match plaids, stripes, polka dots and pretty much any other geometric patterns you threw at her on all her quilt blocks. My pattern matching skills do not come close to hers, but since none of the green pieces will touch each other directly once the block is finished, I think my weaker attempts at X-matching are good enough.

Plus, I love that the fabric echoes the pattern of the patchwork. I’ll have to make sure to incorporate X’s (or plus signs) into the hand quilting as well.

I’ve got one more retreat-finished block to tell about, so look for another post in the next few days. Then I can get back to focusing on the best part – the stitching.