Crossroads America Quilt Block - Free Tutorial

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://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/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://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/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://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/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://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-6-grid-chain-quilt-block

Conclusion:

The Crossroads America (or City Park or Under Blue Mountain Skies, etc.) was not a difficult block to sew. I had the most trouble keeping the color placement right because the colors aren't symmetrical across the block. And hindsight being 20/20, I think a medium toned teal would have looked better in place of the coral color. Then I believe a diagonal pattern would appear when multiple blocks are sewn together.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial for the Crossroads America quilt block. If you liked this post and want to see more quilting tutorials like this, simply click here to sign up for my newsletter and also receive a free PDF quilt pattern called Chained Weathervane.

Happy Quilting!

Elaine

P.S. Looking for beginner-friendly quilt blocks? Check out this roundup post: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/tagged/tutorials_beginning-blocks

P.P.S. Need a quilt pattern in a hurry? Check out my easy downloadable PDF patterns at https://fabric406.etsy.com