Greetings and happy Blockhead Wednesday! Are you ready for Block 5? “Greek Cross” (also called “Two of Five”) comes to us from Barbara Groves of Me and My Sister Designs – a quilt pattern company started years ago by sisters Barb and Mary. Like many of us, their quilting journey started almost by accident after taking their first quilting class and falling in love with it. They noticed that the shop they took classes from was up for sale, which then got them thinking about the idea of starting their own business. Though they didn’t purchase that particular store, they eventually did decide to open a quilt shop. After years in business, Barb and Mary decided to sell their brick-and-mortar store to focus more on quilt pattern design, which is how Me and My Sister Designs came to be! After a lot of hard work and establishing a big name for themselves in the quilting world, their rising success continued when Moda invited the sisters to join them as fabric designers. The rest is history!
Barb designed “Greek Cross“ using Mary’s favorite quilt block, the Shoo Fly (or the Churn Dash as Barb likes to call it). The traditional Shoo Fly design makes this a terrific block for the beginner quilter because it requires only half square triangles and cut squares, which are pretty much the most basic units of patchwork. Traditionally, only two colors are used in a Shoo Fly block – a light for the background paired with a contrasting color – but to make it my own, I decided to add light and dark prints as well.
For the center of this block, I used a mid-gray on light-gray tiny print, and a black on dark-gray floral print for the outer rectangles – both from my Urban Farmhouse II fabric line. The surrounding triangles are done with a mid-gray floral print on white (also from Urban Farmhouse II).
For the smaller block I did mostly the same thing, but used a tiny mid-gray print on black for the rectangles instead. I’m really liking how the Urban Farmhouse II fabrics look combined with the Orange Bella Solid (“Ochre” (#9900-79). The added splash of bright color really gets those grayscale prints to pop!
Ready to dive in? You can find everything you need to get started on MBH4 – Block 5 “Greek Cross“ including the pattern, instructions, and hot tips and advice from Barbara Groves by clicking the link below!
I will continue to post a link here on my blog every week for each new MBH4 block that’s released. Remember, you can also find all the MBH blocks that have already been posted by visiting the Moda Blockheads 4 Archive, which is updated every Wednesday and Friday. Don’t forget! Bonus blocks can be found on Moda’s Inspiration+Resources Center every four weeks on Fridays as well! If you’re having trouble keeping all the details straight you can also sign-up to receive Moda’s weekly Blockheads blog posts via e-mail, or by following the link below.
I hope you’re able to find some time this week to get stitching on this fun and easy block! Number six will be along before we know it so don’t let yourself fall behind! If you need something to watch or listen to while you’re working on your blocks, catch me LIVE tomorrow on my YouTube channel, “Stitch with Lisa Bongean!“
I’ll be talking all about our Hogs for Heroes Auction fundraiser and how you can get involved with our efforts to raise money toward a Harley Davidson motorcycle that will be gifted to a deserving Wisconsin Veteran Hero later this summer. If you’re not familiar with Hogs for Heroes and want to learn more, click the button below for more information. Until then, enjoy your day everyone! I will see you all tomorrow. ~Lisa
