REVIEW: X-Blocks BasiX Templates: Quilting Templates for Jelly Rolls

Quilting Templates for Jelly Rolls

Scroll for review on Twirling Posies Pattern

My daughter and I were meandering through a quilt show and enjoying all the new products, fabrics, colorways, and tools that are always present. It gives you so much excitement to get home and try at least 10 new things. Maybe even 20.

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Now of course you may already be wondering, but this was back in pre global pandemic times. And on that note could we take a quick moment to remember just how blissfully wonderful it was just wondering around without adoring masks on our faces! Seeing heartfelt excitement reflected in other faces and knowing you are with your people! How we all long for those days again! And I can only imagine that we will appreciate these shows and interactions with others at a much greater magnitude next time around!

We came across a cute little booth by Cactus Queen Quilt Company, and they had these very interesting quilting templates for jelly rolls called Basic for 2.5″. I had not seen them anywhere else before. As I browsed all the patterns and templates I decided to get one designed for use with Jelly Rolls. UPDATE March 2022 – Cactus Queen has been acquired by MSQC.

I have acquired quite a few of these pre-cuts they call Jelly Rolls, mostly because I thought they would be great to have on hand for easy projects when I want to make a quick quilt or one to give away. I came across someone who made 5 fabric rolls and they were much less expensive than traditional quilt shop Jelly Rolls, and I might have gone a little overboard in my purchasing and stocking of my quilt stash!

The BasicX template makes it possible to create something really fun out of another block. The concept is that you build your quick block according to their instructions so that their template, that has lines to match your seams, line up just right so you can cut around the template. This allows you to consistently create a unique pattern.

Other quilters who are not familiar with this template might look at your block and wonder how in the world you did that. I don’t know about you but I love making a block that looks difficult but wasn’t at all!

You can get it here from Cactus Queen on Amazon! Cactus Queen was purchased by Missouri Star Quilt Company so this product is no longer sold on Amazon. Please visit their website or store for purchase.

Review: Twirling Posies Pattern

I bought one pattern Twirling Posies, designed by Doris Rice. This is a cute, whimsical pattern with abstract, artsy type flower sprinkled throughout with some strip piecing. Makes a lovely little baby quilt for sure.

I found the BasicX quilting templates for jelly rolls very easy to use. It is clear with defined black lines across it. Very simple with not a lot of complexity to make it confusing. I found this very nice.

The template is a very slippery with no grip material applied to the back like quilters are used to on general quilting rulers. Since you do need to use you rotary cutter around all four sides of the template, I did find the need to add some non slip dots to the template for easier use. Especially when you are placing the template on top of a block that isn’t perfectly flat due to the seams underneath, the non slip dots are a must. For my non slip dots, I actually use sandpaper dots. It works very well!

A quick review of Twirling Posies. At first I was very frustrated with the lack of yardage requirements. I struggled very much. I have since realized I just missed it. What is funny is I must have looked 20 times. The pattern has simply been printed on regular paper and folded in half. The yardage is on the outside of the back, which does make sense, but I just missed it because the inside pages need to be taken out as they are printed portrait. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it did cause me frustration. However, is it me or how the pattern reads? I think more me than anything.

The pattern was excellent up until the point of construction of the quilt. It was a little vague and hard to interpret the printout especially in the grays. You couldn’t tell if there was a seam and where. I had to refer back to the pieces I had cut and the quilt picture on the front of the pattern to get the construction right. So I definitely think this could use some improvement. It still isn’t enough of an issue to not use this pattern.

My finished quilt will look a little different than the patterns quilt because I decided on a few changes. I didn’t opt for the smaller flowers and I placed the strips around the flowers differently. Its really up to how you want it to look.

Can you see my oops? The center posie I wanted all dark grey inside and I missed one. You can see I didn’t add the outer border and I just finished it at this size.

I would definitely make it again or purchase more patterns for use with the BasicX quilting templates for jelly rolls.

Back to the templates for a moment. One thing that you do need to know about is wastage. If you have trouble with wasting fabric, you might not enjoy this template. Because you are sewing a block and then placing a template on it at a diagonal, you will trim off quite a bit from each corner if you will. So there is a good amount of small wastage. If a scrap is 2″ or more it goes in my scraps. I’ll share that in another post for sure.

So in summary, I definitely recommend the X-Blocks BasicX 2 1/2″ strip Template for a fun, easy, and different quilt! So check out Cactus Queen Quilt Company or your local quilt shop and look into BasicX!

If you are new to quilting, be sure to check out my Quilting Tools must haves post! You’ll know exactly what you need to get going.

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