I've had several requests to show my Scrappy Cross Roads Block Instagram Tutorial (Beelori1) here on my blog as well… so here we go! This is a traditional block that I have sewn many many times before and showed to you here… so I guess it's time I did a tutorial on it here too! I love it because it's the perfect scrap buster block for my scrappy stash:) It uses up 2 1/2" scrappy stash squares and a solid you may have leftover from a previous project:) Each block finishes at 16" square. It looks complicated to sew but when you use my easy corner triangle method… it becomes easy to stitch it up quickly and accurately. This is the background fabric for my quilt. I chose to use my favorite new solid at the moment… "Sweet Mint" It's a Riley Blake solid:) YaY!!! For one of my Scrappy Cross Roads block you will need to cut 8- 4 1/2" squares You can easily get 8 from one 4 1/2" x Width of Fabric strip… so this means 1/8th yard of fabric = 1 block… 1 yard of fabric = 8 blocks and so forth:) This is my 2 1/2" scrappy stash basket that I am cutting my squares from. I have showed to you my method of creating and more importantly USING my scrappy stash several times. But if you are new here or want to see it again… Click here. For one of my Scrappy Cross Roads blocks… You will need 48 - 2 1/2" squares Obviously this is a great project for leftover 5" or 10" squares as well because they are easily sub-cut into 2 1/2" squares:) Now that you are all cut… Lets start sewing! First choose 16 of your 48 - 2 1/2" squares to sew Easy Corner Triangles onto two opposite corners of your solid squares. Simply lay your 2 1/2" print squares onto one corner of your solid square… line up the edges evenly and sew a STRAIGHT LINE from corner to corner. Do not guess! Guessing always ends up with a crooked line no matter how good you are:) Either mark a line or use a seam guide like I do. *EDIT* I now have a Seams Sew Easy seam guide to help you when doing this step. CLICK HERE and then CLICK HERE to see how to use it:) Chain or clothesline stitch to save time and thread:) Give each square a quick press to set the stitches before trimming:) Trim them up like this… by cutting an approximate 1/4" seam allowance past your stitching line. Press towards the triangles:) Don't you just LOVE Easy Corner Triangles? Now you still have a 4 1/2" square that you started out with… But you have 2 scrappy triangles on two corners. YaY!!! Now randomly pair up the remaining 32 squares and stitch them together. Press these seams open:) Then pair them up again and stitch together Eight 4-patch blocks. Press these seams open as well:) When you have all your little segments sewn together... Lay them out on your design board the way that you want to sew them together. Take it over to your sewing machine and sew!!! I have shown you my design boards many times over the years… Let me just say how important they are to me during every step of making a quilt. I use them when I cut my pieces… layout my block… sew it and after pressing it. I have a tutorial on how I make them and use them here on my blog… (CLICK HERE and HERE) or I also have a youtube tutorial as well:) I like to use these fork pins every now and then (by CLOVER) when needed to sew a difficult seam that just won't match up. The beauty of a fork pin is that you can pin on each side of the seam so that there is no slipping when it goes under the feed dogs. (I sometimes remove mine just before they go under the needle or I just sew over them because they are thin enough) Here is the back of my block… seams pressed open (Except the easy corner triangle seams) I have been pressing my seams open for over 20 years because I love how super flat my block ends up. For those of you wondering… no. I have not ever had any problems with my seams coming open in a quilt. And here you have a finished Scrappy Cross Roads Block YaY! Wasn't that fun? Here is what 2 blocks look like together. This would make a great table runner and you could make it as long as you wanted by adding more blocks! I'm making a 4 block quilt with mine and I'll show you when it's finished:) I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial by me… and I want you to have fun with it! *On another related note… This is my Two by Four block. It also finishes at 16" making it perfect to mix and match with my Scrappy Cross Roads block so that you can use them together in the same quilt and they look great! All you need to do is substitute the 4 patch segments by using a 4 1/2" square instead. Easy Peasy! I hope you have fun making my Scrappy Crossroads Block and my Two by Four Block Like I always say: Scrappiness is Happiness! xx Lori