Thursday, October 8, 2015

Super Scrappy October

Brown is the color for October in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I've made a couple of blocks...


(red background but the star is a tan print)

But more of my time has been spent working on the Parts Department quilt top. If you recall, I had it up to 72" square at this point:


My goal was 84" square so I needed twelve inches overall to get there. My first idea was to use 6" Bow Tie blocks all the way around to create a final border.

the bottom row
I was hoping for a ribbon-like effect all the way around.

the top of the flimsy
The Bow Ties would have aligned beautifully at the corners, creating a continuous string. However, it only took two border strips to make me realize how distracting those Bow Ties were going to be. I had to let this sit on the back burner for a few days before a better idea presented itself.

First of all, I knew I wanted another strip of a single fabric to frame the 9" Shoo-fly borders. Had to find the right color/print for that, and something I had enough of to go all the way around the flimsy. That left four inches to fill somehow. I don't have a lot of parts that small in my Parts Department and I really didn't want to take the time to make the number I'd need to cover that distance!

Then I thought about the central section of the top, specifically the "Lego" blocks I used around the Ohio Star. Could I do something like that to make the four inches of borders I needed? Certainly! Scrap strips, 2.5" wide, sewn end-to-end until I had 145" in length, then folded over one time and sewn down the length created a four inch wide (4.5" raw), 72" long unit. Four of those were all I needed.


To turn the corners I made four chevron type Log Cabin blocks. I began with squares of the same red print that I'd used for the framing strips. That links up the four single red strips into one contiguous frame.


I like this much better. I've nearly used up my scrap 2.5" strips, made a healthy dent in the 2" scrap strips, and reduced the inventory in my Parts Department. :D When I put this on my double bed I was delighted to see how well suited it is. The blue frame comes right out to the edges of the mattress, thus allowing the Shoo-fly blocks and outer border to be seen as the drop on each side and along the foot of the bed. It could be longer of course, but this is as big as this one is going to be. Who makes up a bed formally anymore anyway? I don't! (Never could master a pillow tuck to my satisfaction. I'd spend all day fussing with it!)

I'll be linking up with the other rainbow scrappers on Saturday. Meanwhile, my F2F swap blocks have been arriving over the last couple of weeks. So much squishy goodness in the mailbox! They're going to make another rainbow quilt, this time one for my own bed. :- ) 

14 comments:

  1. Your final border choice is so good, links that to the rest of the quilt, and with the darker frame, lovely. What a grand size, like Goldilocks said " Just Right".

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  2. I think you were right to change the bow tie border as it would have been distracting unless they had all been the same colour but that's not the point of a scrappy quilt I suppose ;)
    How satisfying it must be to make such a dent in your Parts Department.

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  3. I've just surfaced enough from my post-anesthetic daze to see this and want to comment on how fantastic it's looking. Such a shame about the bow tie blocks, but you're quite right, they're the first thing the eye goes to, which is not at all the point. Your pieced strips are the perfect solution, and sooooo scrappy! It's looking really good. Thanks for letting us know we can look forward to a fabulous F2F rainbow quilt too...

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  4. love how you solved your problem! this is a wonderful quilt top and speaks well of using up scraps and the value of having a parts department...

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  5. I really like that little leaf print in the middle of your first star block. Always fun to find interesting neutrals.

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  6. Good choice on the finish of your quilt! Those bow ties will just have to find a home in another quilt.

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  7. how exciting to find a solution, and have the whole thing look great on the bed. LeeAnna

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  8. I really like your two stars, and they have such different personalities.

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  9. I agree with your thought process on the final border. Great colorful and fun scrappy quilt. Used up a lot of scraps. A win win. Congratulations on a finish!

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  10. Congrats! on the completion of your Parts Department quilt top. Have fun with the quilting!!!

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  11. Woohoo! That looks GREAT! That was inspiration, definitely. I like it.

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  12. The choice of the red border was the perfect answer, so,the eye can rest. And genius making the final stripy border. Your,math talent is amazing to get all,of those rows perfectly alighned. Big congrats on a job well done.

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  13. I always love your stars, and that parts dept quilt is just knocking my socks off! So inspiring!
    (/note to self: start parts dept...)

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  14. Wow. that is really scrappy! wonderful.

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