I've been working on the "Plus Surround" quilt, a pattern in the book I reviewed last week, Modern Plus Sign Quilts. The instructions for the quilt are excellent and it's really exciting to sew this project.

Check out the situation above: Can you see what is coming? Pictured are 2 straight rows of square blocks...but the pattern is circular! That's so great!

The pale yellow background fabric is Kona® cotton "meringue" and the plus signs in the photo are an assortment of mostly small pattered blues and blue greens.

There is a central plus sign in this quilt. I have a beautiful marbled blue and yellow fabric that is a perfect match with this soft yellow and the blues. But when I made the block the sameness was okay but frankly, boring.

Quilt with the blue and yellow central marbled block

So I went looking through my stash for an orange which is the complement color to the blues and an analogous color to the yellow background. I found a hand-dyed cotton that adds just the right pop. The design went from flat to fun!

"Plus Surround" with complementary orange central block

The quilt pattern calls for solid colors. I chose a scrappy look. That made both cutting and assembling the quilt significantly more complicated. I'll show the finished top next week and will share cutting instructions for making scrappy plus signs like the ones in my quilt.