The April A to Z Challenge is in its tenth year, I’ve now participated for 6 of those years, and this year will be my 3rd quilt theme. It’s my first quilt using only patterns from the Kansas City Star newspaper archives. Welcome to my blog!

The Scottish Cross is typically created with plaids and I would suggest it’s a tribute of sorts to things Scottish. Nothing wrong with that! My heritage goes back to that area. But no more on that before I wander into another subject. Let’s focus here on the fabric for this one.

I learned that in researching old Scottish quilts, they preferred to use ‘Turkey’ red plain or prints to prevent bleeding of the colors. Nothing more aggravating than to find all your work ruined by a fabric that can’t keep its’ color to itself. Nowadays, we prewash them. But to avoid this hazard altogether, I chose a different color palette for this block. And besides, I didn’t have much red plaid lying around. And I wasn’t going to use gingham. Nope.

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Above you see 3 variations of color arrangments. The one I went with is the first one. I used Plaid-ish prints and stayed in the blue shades. The following pics will give you a view of the steps of this fabric puzzle as it went together.

Finally I present the 1945 Scottish Cross…

Did You Know

According to archives at the Truman Library, Missouri’s own President Harry S. Truman’s
ancestry was predominantly English, with a few German, French, and Scottish lines. Most of the families came from Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, with many of them settling first in Virginia and later moving west to Kentucky. If you ever get the chance, I’d recommend a visit to the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri. You won’t be disappointed!

Come back here Monday for another quilt block for the A to Z Challenge! Also be sure to visit the home of the A to Z here and see other entrants challenge posts. There are excellent writers participating every year with topics in whatever you’re interested in