Today let’s look at the Crossroads America quilt block. It has several other names – City Park, Flower Fields, Galaxy, Night Watch, Under Blue Mountain Skies, etc. That’s a bunch! The components of the block are easy so let’s get started.
Fabric Requirements for a 12″ Finished Crossroads America Quilt Block:
- Light/Ivory: 4 – 3″ squares, and 12 – 2.5″ squares
- Light/Print: 4 – 4.5″ squares
- Medium/Coral: 12 – 2.5″ squares
- Dark/Teal: 4 – 3″ squares, and 4 – 2.5″ squares
Sewing Directions:
Four Patch Center Unit:
Step 1:
First you need to sew together a simple Four Patch unit using two Light/Ivory 2.5″ squares and two Medium/Coral 2.5″ squares as shown in the picture below. You can find the Four Patch tutorial at https://quiltembroiderypdf.com/how-to-sew-a-basic-four-patch-quilt-block
Square in a Square Units:
Step 2:
Next up are the Square in a Square units. Using the four Light/Print 4.5″ squares, eight Light/Ivory 2.5″ squares and eight Medium/Coral 2.5″ squares, sew together four Square in a Square units as shown below. You can find my tutorial for making a basic Square in a Square quilt block at https://quiltembroiderypdf.com/how-to-sew-a-basic-square-in-a-square-block
Half Square Triangle Units:
Step 3:
Using the four Light/Ivory 3″ squares and the four Dark/Teal 3″ squares, sew together eight Half Square Triangle (HST) units as shown in the picture below. Trim/square up the units to 2.5″ square. You will find the HST tutorial at https://quiltembroiderypdf.com/how-to-sew-a-basic-half-square-triangle-block
Corner Units:
Step 4:
Lay out two of the Step 3 HSTs, a Light/Ivory 2.5″ square, and a Dark/Teal 2.5″ square as shown below.
Step 5:
Now you can sew the patches together like a Four Patch block – sew into two rows and press the seam allowances away from the HSTs as shown in the picture below.
Step 6:
And sew the two rows together and press the seam allowances. You can see from the picture below that I have pressed my seam allowances using the tweak/twirl/furl method. Repeat Steps 4 through 6 for a total of two units.
Step 7:
Lay out two of the Step 3 HSTs, a Medium/Coral 2.5″ square, and a Dark/Teal 2.5″ square as shown below.
Step 8:
Just as in Step 5 you can sew the patches together like a Four Patch block – sew into two rows and press the seam allowances away from the HSTs as shown in the picture below.
Step 9:
And sew the two rows together and press the seam allowances. You can see from the picture below that I have pressed my seam allowances using the tweak/twirl/furl method. Repeat Steps 7 through 9 for a total of two units.
Putting It All Together:
Step 10:
Lay out the Center unit, the Square in a Square units, and the Corner units as shown in the picture below.
Step 11:
From here the Crossroads America quilt block goes together like a basic Nine Patch block. Sew the units together into three rows…
Step 12:
And press the seam allowances away from the Square in a Square units as shown below.
Step 13:
To finish up the block all you have to do is sew the three rows together, and
Step 14:
Press the seam allowances toward the center of the block as shown in the picture below. You’re done!
Layout Ideas:
Here is the typical 4 x 4 layout in colors similar to my block:
For this example, I added in narrow sashing and cornerstones:
This idea shows what happens when every other block is rotated 90 degrees:
This example has a large alternating hourglass block:
This is an example of an on-point layout with plain setting triangles:
This is also an on-point layout but with an alternating chain block. You can find my tutorial for the chain block at https://quiltembroiderypdf.com/how-to-sew-6-grid-chain-quilt-block
