Cross Purposes in Make Modern

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A new issue of Make Modern magazine is out now, including my Cross Purposes quilt! There's so much fun diagonal movement in this baby quilt!

When Paul and I went to a local trail to take these pictures back in September, I already had the pattern written and the diagrams for it created. This is a square quilt, so it's not immediately obvious that there is a top side, but if you look at the diagonal lines, they're different going from bottom right to top left and from bottom left to top right. It's not like looking at it one way would be wrong, just that I needed the pictures to match the way the diagonal lines went in the pattern. Of course, I completely forgot about that while we were out taking pictures. It wasn't until we were home and I was editing the pictures that I realized the quilt was rotated 90° from the pattern. Sigh. My first thought was that we'd need to go out and take new pictures, but a few minutes later, I realized that all I needed to do was rotate the diagrams in the pattern and then they'd match 😆 Problem solved!

I used Northcott Chroma fabrics, with Colorworks white for the background. Blender fabrics are my favourite, and I love the variation in colour in the Chroma fabrics.

I originally designed Cross Purposes during the 2024 Stash Artists BOM. Each month of 2024, I shared a block with members, along with a few different quilt designs using the block, and the Crossing block was one of the blocks. In Cross Purposes, I paired it with a four patch as the alternating block. Actually, 8 Point Meadow, which was in the previous issue of Make Modern, was also designed for the same reason. There may be a couple of other designs in that folder just waiting for their turn to be made!

I love that the Crossing block is designed so that the lines don't match up at the corners. You don't have to worry about matching those points!

I used one of my (many) off-cuts of Warm and Natural batting for this baby quilt. Most of my batting scraps are too small to make piecing them together into bigger battings practical, but this one was the perfect size without needing to be pieced. And don't worry, I'll be doing a Mini of the Month series with the Stash Artists members in 2026, so I'll still be using those smaller batting scraps!

I quilted it with my go-to double loop design using Aurifil 50 wt 2021. I love the extra movement the curvy quilting gives the straight lines of the piecing.

I debated between the light teal and the purple for the binding, but in the end the purple won out. The biggest reason the purple won was that I used the light teal as the backing and I wanted the binding to show on the back, too.

Our trail doesn't look much like this now. We've had a lot of wind the past few weeks, so all the trees are bare. That means there's a lot less colour, but it also opens up the view to the water in places. 

If you want to make your own Cross Purposes baby quilt (or any of the other fabulous quilts in this issue), get your copy of Make Modern issue 67 here. Or subscribe and get a new issue full of great patterns and articles every other month!