x and + quilt -- a work in progress

Many, many months ago (I think before I was even pregnant with my now almost 5 month old daughter) I started this quilt. Ever since I saw pictures of a x and + quilt, I knew that I would have to make one. I love this design, especially when it is super scrappy and a blend of all kinds of prints. I knew that the quilt would be a lot of work and I definitely didn't want to put so much effort in to hate the result. This meant that I pushed it off and pushed it off not wanting to waste fabric or effort on a quilt I was so nervous about making.

While I was thinking about what fabric to use for that quilt, I was also pretty obsessed with all low volume print quilts. I love how they are calm and serene while also being a jumble of all kinds of prints.

One day, I finally put it together and this quilt was born. I used the x and + block tutorial on the Badskirt blog--which is absolutely wonderful!

This quilt was a ton of work and it took me months to get just the top together. The quilt itself was time consuming, but I also found it unbearably tedious at times and took lots of breaks from this project. At points I truly didn't think I would ever finish. Mostly because I just wanted to throw the entire thing in the garbage. The blocks looked like an absolute mess when I got them together. But somehow with a lot of pins and sheer force of will, I managed to get them all together in a quilt top with points that mostly match and mostly lays flat.

A progress picture from when I finished all the subunits that make up the x part of the block. Man these blocks took so much cutting and stitching and cutting again and pressing and I'm so glad it's over! Don't mind the super dirty starch-covered ironing board cover. Side note: I've had that cover since I got it for a wedding gift 7 years ago. It bit the dust a few months ago. I washed it and it disintegrated. Clearly it was just spray starch holding it together!

I thought that I had more progress pictures but I can't find them. So here is a picture of the final result:

I absolutely love how it turned out. It's a perfect mix of white/off-white and bursts of colour. I'm not one to usually mix all kinds of things together and I usually like more limited and co-ordinating palettes. But I am so glad that I chose to include a little bit of everything with this quilt. I think that all the different prints and designs really add to the overall result. 

Here's one picture of a closer view of part of the top:

Now to just find the perfect backing to get this thing quilted. It will probably take me forever to decide now that I've invested so much time in this top. I'll have to find the "perfect" fabric and the "perfect" quilt design. Wish me luck that I'll be able to overcome a crippling case of quilt perfectionism to get this thing done!