I’m getting ready to do a live-online presentation and teaching at Glendale Quilt Guild next week, and a deadline always sends my I-should-try-this into overdrive. So while I have the Criss-Cross pattern up online, and I thought I was pretty settled, a little voice in the back of my head said I should try some autumn colors in the largest size block in the pattern.
Okey-dokey. So I pulled a group of red-orange, purple, gold, orange, yellow fabrics and I was cooking along, pretty happy with the choices I’d made, but when I was looking for another darkish to put into what was up on the design wall…
…this fell out of a bin. It was Jennifer Sampou’s Chalk and Charcoal fat quarter stack, purchased some years ago. I used to have it out on a surface, just because I liked the colors so much, but had never opened it. (I’m sure you have never done this.)
So, in a flash, all the previous choices were down from the wall, and I had cut and was arranging all the new choices up there. The last image is adding in the strips.
So here is Criss-Cross Autumn, a 35″ square wall hanging. And since we don’t live in a climate that has a lot of rusts, golds, purples, reds in the tree canopies, but we do live in a climate that at the end of summer has a lot of golds, browns and yellows, my husband and I took a drive out in the countryside to shoot some photographs.
We were out in Hemet, by the golden San Jacinto mountains (shown above). One writer once compared the California hills to a tawny mountain lion. I grew up in the Bay Area, where in autumn, the golden grassy hills are interspersed by giant spreading oaks. What we have mostly now is not native, as I discovered when reading this essay, but like the author, I do love the colors.
Now, what to do with that other almost-quilt? How about I give it away? I’ll send you the almost-quilt (already cut!) and its strips (also, already cut, although I have to tell you that once you get adding and subtracting, you may find yourself adding more). There are also a few extra pieces in there, in case you have a different vision. I will also include a hard copy of this new pattern, with multiples sizes and variations.
Leave me a comment at the end, tell me about what colors are in your landscape around you right now, and how you feel about those colors. I’ll pick a winner using the husband-draw-a-paper-out-of-hat method, and let the winner know by email. Here are some image/photos of Criss-Cross Quilt, done in Christmas fabrics:
I’m looking forward to live-online teaching this quilt at the Glendale Quilt Guild next Saturday!
UPDATE: Just thought I’d add this to the post. I finished the quilt a few days later, using a simple straight-line quilting pattern, varying the directions. It will be perfect for hanging up during September, when autumn arrives.
UPDATE: Comments are now closed. Winner will be contacted via email on Monday, August 10, 2020.
P.S. There’s a coupon code for the pattern, good for 25% off Criss-Cross Quilt through the end of August. The code is listed on the PayHip page.
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
Oh, Elizabeth, Criss-Cross Autumn turned out great! Jennifer Sampou’s subtle colors make that quilt sing! Autumn is my favorite season, so those colors speak to me. Right now, where I live, everything, except the lawns, is very green. My heather is beginning to bloom, adding pink, purple and white highlights to the landscape.
I LOVE your blog!
The colors around me now are so many shades of GREEN! I live in Eastern Washington and even though we are the evergreen state, I live on the “dry” side with summer irrigation that grows almost everything that is grown in the US, except citrus. Ever eaten a McDonalds french fry? It likely came from where I live – half of the US McDonalds french fries come from or are processed the Columbia Basin
Tawny brown all around us for sure right now, too, Elizabeth. There was a small brush fire in town only a few blocks away earlier this week and I’m so glad they were able to get it put out before it damaged any homes. Fire season in CA is always a bit tense (we can see the smoke from the Stagecoach fire to our north). I really love the fabrics and am glad you found a great use for that bundle. The photo between the cacti really speaks to me!
This reminds me of autumn in upstate NY – right now I think I’d get on the first plane out if it took me to another location with different colors. Here in Irvine we have some green but lots of tan and beige and, of course, we have pops of color with various flowers. By this time in NY we’d see the first hints of Fall – a yellowish leaf, some weeds turning brown or reddish and we’d know that with school starting right after Labor Day we’d soon be seeing lots of colorful leaves. Well, most of that won’t happen except for nature doing her thing. I think that will be the constant this year. Love the pattern .
I absolutely love this autumnal version. No need to include me in the giveaway of course. Melbourne in stage four lockdown is pretty dull!
I am a Southern Californian (Huntington Beach native) living in rural NW Oregon. Everything is green here after months and months and months of rain. I spent the morning scrubbing moss off of things, thinking what a shame it was to spend one of our limited sunny days doing a chore like that. Seriously–we may get only 63 sunny days and I wasted one of them on a rain-and-gloom-related chore? Bah. There is the slightest chance I am homesick. (The prick of tears in my eyes when I wrote the word “homesick” might be a confirmation.) I have been reading Joan Didion a lot recently, dreaming of more Californian colors, and those landscapes that are thirsty, like the ones in Hemet, where one of my sisters once lived.
Great design! The landscape around me is yellow, brown and green as the grasses dry out but the leafy trees continue to provide shade. The beautiful blue sky provides a perfect background. These are nature’s colors and they make me feel relaxed. 😎
When I got up this morning the storm clouds turn the color of the lake to green. And then when I walked out to get the paper the round bed of zinnias overflowed with spectacular color!
We pretty much just have shades of green here in Tennessee, “the greenest state in the land of the free” (if you remember the Davy Crockett song).
Criss cross autumn isn’t here yet in Oregon where everything around me is lush green in forests, crystal clear blue lakes and streams, billowy white clouds on occasion, and glorious golden sunshine. Well enjoy this lovely weather for another month or two until our autumn colors begin to show themselves.
Very pretty criss cross quilt, love thefall colors….here it’s dried out hot summer, with no rain, we need some rainy days!! Great beach weather!!
Your pattern in the autumn colors is lovely. I think that bundle of fabric was pushed off the shelf by a quilting elf! The trees here in Michigan are green while the grass is dry and brownish. We don’t water ours but the neighbors water every day. Thank you for the coupon in case my name isn’t selected.
Good choice. Those fabrics are beautiful and I’m not much of a brown person. Good luck with the next online class.
I live in a small town in central Utah where late summer and fall are gardening seasons. I love the reds of tomatoes, the various shades of yellows and greens of summer and winter squash, the dark greens of peppers and the orange-pink colors of peaches.
We had a colorful sprint and summer in my part of Kentucky — lots of pink, purple, red, and yellow blooms against the bright green grass and trees. Right now we are at that in-between stage where the summer colors are browning out and the fall beauty hasn’t come in yet. Not the prettiest time just now. I took lots of photos of colorful flowers when they were in bloom and I look forward to the beauty of the fall colors. Your quilt top is gorgeous and finding perfect scenery for the photo shoot really makes it shine.
Great pattern and that hanging in autumn colors is fantastic! Another Oregonian here living with lots of green right now but with the warmth we have been having the fields are just starting their turn to golds. Have fun with your next online class!
I live in western North Carolina and I see lots of green. Lots of flowers in my landscaped property. We have had an extremely wet year so everything is very lush. Thanks for the opportunity to win fabric and a pattern. Hugs.
Now your talking MY colors! That is beautiful in those colors, even though I have always loved the Christmas colored one. The photo shoot of it is fabulous, especially on the wall. Since we’re in the Sierras now, the colors I am enjoying are the golds, greens of pines and blues of lakes and skies.
Good morning Elizabeth! I love your creative spirit and how you share it with us in your blog. Spring and Summer are my favorite seasons so when Autumn starts to poke her head up I am not happy. Maybe it’s the name Fire Season or the shorter days that I dislike so much. Although I do love your colors in your new criss-cross autumn quilt. Bravo!
Love your finish with your criss cross with its darker autumnal colors. Colors in my area just now are reds, golds, shades of oranges and purples and of course green with sparkles of white. Unless I get near the larger lakes then there are those shades of blue. lol
Those colors are gorgeous! Fall is my favorite season 🍁 right now I am surrounded by green. My container plants did not grow as expected so not too much other color.
I love Fall colors. Right now the colors around me green turning to brown due to lack of rain, yellow, pink, purple and whitish.
The Cris Cross quilt is absolutely lovely! I love both the Christmas and the autumn versions! I love autumn here in the Midwest, the various shades of browns, oranges, reds and yellow are do rich, and quod wall hanging embraces that so well
Elizabeth, your Criss-Cross Quilt is beautiful. The colors are delightful and I do like the Christmas colors. I live in Northeast Texas on a gentleman’s farm. We have green pastures, black cattle and wonderful tri-color kids (4 baby goats). And a sheep! Thank you for this opportunity. Nancy
Now in my backyard there’s lots of green including a bright yellow green coleus. Scattered along the patio and back corner are pinks, yellows, reds, purples, orange and just a sprinkle of white and, of course, chocolate. Every quilter needs chocolate.
Hi I have been enjoying your blog for a few months now. I love it. Your story’s are great I had the biggest kick and a laugh. When you said found a bundle of Beautiful Fat Quarters that you forgot about., And said you know the rest of us haven’t done that before. ROCK ON Keep on doing these Beautiful Awesome Quilts. Paula Abrams
We’ve had a coolish wet August so greens are all around us
As I sip my tea on my screened porch,I am also drinking in every shade of green,tans and browns,along with a few oranges and yellows.I’m a colorholic and while at work,I’m just living for time to spend on my porch!
As I look out my kitchen window I can see bright red, light green,Tans, & Maroons. Soft greyish colors and a charcoal against a pale blue sky.
I love all the autumn colors even though we’re not quite in fall. Would love to win this pattern it is beautiful l& ove what you did with your new color way!
Green trees! Green garden plants with yellow and white blossums. Blue sky. white clouds . Yellow mower. Red grapes. Lavender!
Your quilt is lovely. Right now wildflowers are in bloom so lots of purples and pinks, oranges and red.
I grew up near Glendale , Arizona…I assume that this is Glendale, California?
Now living in Charlotte, North Carolina…In the woods, in the city where I live are beautiful shades of green with white puffy clouds, my deceased husband’s beautiful red roses, the white Gardenia bush from a snippet from Great Aunt Carl in Greenville, Alabama. I have a blue bottle tree, wooden deck…an old black lab, a tiger cat and a pure white cat named Boo….I love to sit on the deck under a tree and read and watch nature…I am a color lover…Thank you for this post.
I just stumbled onto your blog today and really enjoyed it. The colors in your autumn quilt are gorgeous! The colors here right now are beautiful … pinks, purple, and fuchsia in the crepe myrtles and we have red, orange, and yellow flowers … the grass is green from the summer showers, as well as the palm trees. We have birds in all colors … red, blue, browns and even ruby throated hummingbirds.