Scrap Happy in June

After building the back for the wedding quilt, and having made two larger quilts just prior to that one, I decided to play around with a smaller project for a change. I've had my basket medallion out and I know what I want to do but I haven't been able to give it the attention I want to due to a series of headaches. When all else fails, go to the Parts Department!

I opened the box of 12" blocks and pulled out the ones in brighter prints and colors with a quilt for a foster child in mind. I put what I had on the wall in a basic grid. It became evident right away I wasn't going to be able to get away with something that simple. A medallion setting was the next thought that occurred. (Gee, I wonder why?) Pretty soon I had a 12" heart framed with 6" bow ties and whatever those pinwheel-type blocks are called.

So far, so good. But I want this to be another rectangular quilt. That's when I remembered the hourglass units I'd made some time ago. A string of those, maybe with a narrow strip along the top and bottom to build the row up to 6" again, would do the job. I had plenty of hourglass units but most of them were in more muted tones. That sent me to that towering pile of scraps I mentioned in my last post. A few hours later I had a stack of patches and the beginning of several new scrap blocks to assemble between seams (aka leaders and enders).

I cut squares and triangles to finish at 4", 3", and two inches. There are a couple smaller triangles and parts for 9" Ohio stars and sawtooth stars, and 6" Churn Dash or Hole in the Barn Door and Shoo-fly blocks. Oh, and I made a few more 3" hourglass units too. :- )

I strung them together and added those narrow strips to achieve six inches. Except I miscalculated. I only had five inches. That called for an alteration in my plans. I removed the narrow strips from the top and bottom of the hourglass rows. I'd already figured on a two or three inch sashing to separate the medallion from the side border blocks so I just used that to separate the medallion from the top and bottom blocks too. It probably worked out better than what I'd have done if I hadn't made the miscalculation!

That's it, the top's done! I had to make a couple of 12" blocks to fill in empty spots. This liberated star:

And this Ohio star:

I'm pleased with the way this spur-of-the-moment project turned out. The flimsy is 52" X 60."

I'll make a back for it later on. I think I might be able to tackle my liberated basket medallion now.

To see other scrappy goodness go check out the blogs listed by Kate at TallTalesfromChiconia. :- )