Scrap Happy in April

It's time to share something we've made out of scrap materials, whatever they may be. Most often mine are fabric scraps, and most often I'm using them to make more quilts, like this time! 😉

Last year I made a string quilt out of strips that had been cut to 8.5" long. Some of those strips had been cut to specific widths, others were used at whatever width they cleaned up to be. This is the finished quilt:

It ended up being about 60" wide by 80" long. I was surprised at how many strips were leftover after building it. Well, needing some mindless sewing recently I pulled those leftover strips back out to see how far I could get with them. There were off-cuts from recent quilt backs that I cut into strips and added to the pile as well.

When I had six columns of strips assembled I decided to try for a different layout this time. Short sections of binding strips had been accumulating. Rather than piece them together for a scrappy binding I sewed the shortest ones together end-to-end to make vertical sashing between the columns.

When that was done I decided I also needed vertical sashes on the outer edges. I used some raw 2" strips for that (so they finish at 1.5"). Then, to bring this one up to 60" x 80" as well I found yardage in my stash and put a border all the way around.

The yardage for the border was sent to me in error from a vendor a few years ago so I don't count that as new fabric. And for the back I was able to use yardage I've had for a very long time. I'd toyed with the idea of making a set of pillowcases for the granddaughters but was never entirely sold on that prospect. They would have been fun but I think this is a better use of the prints.

It also made it easy to name the quilt. I'm just going to call it Sweet Dreams! There's enough of the border print to bind the quilt when the time comes too. You can just see it at the top in the photo below. It's a batik print of knives and forks and spoons.

Kate and Gun are our hostesses for Scrap Happy Day on the 15th of each month. Their names and links are at the head of this list of links for the others who regularly participate in Scrap Happy Day. Not everyone posts something scrappy every month but their blogs are worth a look-in any time. You're welcome to join us if you'd like, just leave a comment on Kate's or Gun's blog. 😊

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny and Kjerstin

First Flimsy of 2019!

In January, shortly after I'd injured my shoulder but before I realized how serious the injury was, I'd sewn a bunch of scrap strips into rough blocks. The intention was to create a quilt for the Hands2Help quilt drive this year. 

And then I had to set everything aside to allow my shoulder to heal. 

I've not been completely inactive but I haven't been able to build a quilt top for a good six months. Lately my shoulder has been feeling almost normal again. Hurray! I figured the easiest, safest thing to do would be to get out those string blocks and piece them into columns. 

They all turned out too long in the beginning so there was some reverse sewing involved before I had a flimsy the size and shape I wanted. The most stressful part of this assembly job was tacking those long columns up on the design wall so I could judge for color and print balance. I really have to stretch to reach the top of my design wall, even without a compromised shoulder joint. Eventually I got all the columns to the same approximate length. I wanted a whole cloth border to finish it off visually and to keep all of those seam ends from coming apart when it was mounted on the long arm.

About 60" wide x 80" long

I feel like I lucked out when I found the black print in my stash. It has other colors in it but is dark enough to corral the colors and prints in the strings. Of course, getting those borders on wasn't without a hitch. I cut 2.5" wide strips and began piecing them together end-to-end for length. Then, without thinking, I went to the ironing board and started pressing them in half as if I were making a binding! Rather than undo all that work I went back to the yardage and cut new strips. There was just enough left to get all the way around the top. I doubt there's enough of the false-start binding to use when the time comes but that would be really helpful. I typically cut my binding strips only two and a quarter inches wide though, so I'll have to deal with that issue too. First up is to create a back for this top. A big ole piece of yardage would be the simplest way to go obviously. It would also be the easiest on my shoulder. I know I don't have anything like that on hand however, and there's still old yardage waiting to be used up somehow. That's a problem for another day. Right now I'm just going to bask in the glow of having finally completed another quilt top! 😁

Starting a New Year

I dropped out of the cyber sphere for most of December, not always by choice. Now it's a matter of overcoming inertia as much as anything else.

Today I came across this quote from Mark Twain which feels very appropriate:

"Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.

Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual." 

I don't generally do New Year's resolutions. Gentle goal setting has become useful however. To that end I am planning to participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again. Not sure that I will make the column quilt Angela has designed. Instead I think I'll make postage stamp stars in the color of the month. I also want to use the practice of monthly blocks to make stars for another Christmas quilt. I've made two so far, just finishing up the second one this season. Of course I don't have a picture of the finished quilt. Getting good pictures is one hurdle in my blogging journey.

I'm doing very well with my version of Quilty 365. You may remember that I'm cutting a 2.5" x 6.5" strip each day instead of appliqueing a circle. This is what I have so far:

The column on the left is comprised of 28 strips. The right one will have 29. The third one will have 28 again, then 29, and so on. I figure 13 columns will get me through the year and make for a nice size personal quilt. There have been a couple of days when it was a challenge to choose an appropriate print but nothing has truly stumped me so far. (whew!)

The quilt tops and backs for our twin granddaughters are ready for quilting. No, I don't have pictures. Not of the quilt parts anyway. I do have this one from Christmas Eve!

The Ohio Stars quilt I made from some of 2015's RSC blocks was quilted, bound, and sent off to a cancer patient in December. It's so handy having a long-arm quilter in the house!

The feathers you see in the photo above are on the back of a quilt for a child in foster care. Two quilts were rolled together when that picture was taken. Below you can maybe see the simple meander we decided on for the Ohio Star quilt.

All of James' quilting is done freehand, which allows him a lot of creative license when it comes to the quilting designs. If you look closely you might be able to see a couple of different patterns in the block below:

Hopefully I'll be able to share examples of his work frequently in the months ahead. :- )

Boo!

Did you think I'd dropped off the face of the planet? Almost, but not quite.

After finishing up the last four quilts one right after another I was left without a clue what to do next. Oh, there were options... but none of them held enough appeal to get me going. Part of the problem was that I had emptied my creative well. I've been through this cycle often enough now that I recognize it for what it is. It's still frustrating and uncomfortable to be in that dry space however. I just feel so useless when I'm not making something. Not knowing how long it's going to last can be scary too.

I was finally able to talk myself into turning some 6" orphan blocks into 12" half log cabin blocks for future use. I pulled out the blocks that had been passed over before, blocks that didn't seem to fit in with others of their kind. I've learned that I prefer to use 3" strips for the processes that utilize strips so I also decided to use up as many of the 2.5" strips in my closet as I could.

In the photo above you can see some of the 3x6" flying geese units I'd prepared to assemble between seams when I started sewing again. It was very helpful to have them handy.

At about this point I remembered a quantity of Scrappy Trips blocks I'd made, also out of 2.5" strips. I found them, counted them, and decided to make a few more. Pretty soon I had enough to create a lap quilt. This is 12 blocks, set 3 x 4:

I set aside the half log cabin blocks to continue work on this lap quilt. To reach the dimensions recommended by the Alzheimer's Disease Co-operative Study I needed to add four inches to the width. I accomplished that by stringing 2x4" flying geese units together end to end:

By the end of the day I had a finished top and a back ready to go! There's even a batting remnant in the closet that will fit this beautifully. :- )

40" wide x 48" long

At this point I went back to the half log cabin blocks. There were 15 when I got distracted. I made five more.

This now measures 48" x 60" (plus seam allowances). I'm thinking I'll stop here, let someone else quilt it, and see that it goes to a local chemo patient. There's so much to look at in all these scraps that it ought to be a good diversion from what's going on around the quilt in that setting. Unfortunately that leaves me back at Square One. What am I going to do next?!

What?!

How is it possible that it's been so long since my last post???! Technically I guess it's only been ten days but with the new calendar month it feels and sounds like longer. I can only plead poor mental and physical health as my excuse.

The Parts Department Quilt top is complete. It's also too big to get a good picture but I can show you this one, taken on the living room floor.

It turned out to be about 87" square. You can see in the lower right corner that I used the same sashing print that I framed the Lego center with to bring the 12" borders up to size. I also took the easy way out with the backing and bought a blue 108" wide paisley that was on sale.

In other news, I recently made this string quilt for my Dear Father-in-Law.

DFiL is an avid reader and historian. I began with the book print you see in the outer border and then searched out other prints that would reflect his interests. There are a few images that represent places he's lived or visited too. And filler text prints. I even threw in some Hebrew text for his love of the scriptures.

DFiL also enjoys putting together jigsaw puzzles. My DS the quilter did a fantastic job giving the quilt the look of a completed jigsaw puzzle:

Dad was overwhelmed when the quilt was presented to him during our family reunion. That's such a good feeling for the maker!

I based Dad's quilt on this one I made for myself in 2012:

I even used some of the same prints in both quilts. My quilt was entered in the county fair this year and was awarded both a first place blue ribbon and the Best in Class rosette!

Nearly Mindless Piecing

Inbetween steps of the Portal wedding gift quilt (in the last post) I needed something to sew that didn't require a lot of mental effort. Among the many palette options available on the shelves of my fabric stash were some darker batiks that had been around for too long. And a few newer ones of course!

The big question was which technique to use. I didn't want to have to think much about value placement within blocks or arranging the blocks after they'd been assembled or anything really. Some people can sew scraps mindlessly. I've found that I can't, at least not very often. It's not a relaxing process for me. But I do enjoy selecting a short stack of prints to layer and cut and shuffle. So, crazy blocks or string blocks?

In the end I settled on string blocks. I cut my starter pieces 10" x 12" and layered five prints per stack. Originally I thought I would just make a strippy quilt sort of like my Reading Material quilt. But as soon as I started putting blocks up on the design wall some of them went vertical:

I found that this time I liked that better than having all the strips going horizontal. I ended up making 50 blocks that would finish at 9" each. Other than the strippy format I didn't have a specific plan for setting them when I began. As usual, my target was a top in the 60" x 80" range. It took me a few days to come up with a way to achieve that goal. The breakthrough moment was when I thought to make two columns that were two blocks wide each:

And separate them with a single column of single blocks down the center of the quilt.

The columns had to be created in halves, of course, because my design wall isn't big enough to accommodate the length I wanted.

I can't get the whole thing in the picture no matter what I do!

After the columns were built all I had to do was find an appropriate color for the sashing and border strips, with enough yardage to go the distance. I was a little surprised to find that I had choices. I have not been in the habit of buying yardage when it comes to batiks but there were two orange pieces that were both big enough.

Interestingly, they were both oranges that meld into purple areas. I chose to use the older of the two prints.

Here's the final product, courtesy of my son and one of his friends:

I already have a back made for it but have to get some batting before it can be quilted. It also needs a name. I think of autumn bonfires when I look at it but so far I haven't been able to come up with a name or title that doesn't have a negative connotation. Guess I don't read enough poetry!

Recent Finishes

I don't remember whether I posted these first pictures previously. I trust you'll forgive me if you've already seen them. ;- )

My most recent string quilt was built directly onto squares of batting rather than a fabric or paper foundation. I cut the batting squares at six or eight inches, sewed my strings and strips to them, and then trimmed the blocks to 6.5 or 8.5 inches. My thinking was that the quarter-inch seam allowances would fill in the depth between the squares of batting. It was a bit tedious to press them open but overall I think it worked.

Next time I might try leaving a half inch seam allowance around the batting to make pressing easier. Maybe. In the photo above you can also see where the rows of six inch blocks butt up against the rows of eight inch blocks.

Here's the completed top:

The very middle of the quilt is built of six inch blocks, the two ends are comprised of eight inch blocks.

I bought backing fabric from the clearance section of my local quilt shop and made the back. Then it sat in the closet while I pursued other projects. In the last two weeks our quilt guild received a plea for quilts for the children coming into Foster Care this summer so I pulled this out and finished it up right quick. All I had to do was lay the quilted top on the backing fabric and stitch the two layers together. I used one of the utility stitches on my machine that reaches across the seam lines to help stabilize everything. You may be able to see it in the detail shot below.

And in this picture you can see the print I used on the back and for the binding.

My most recent finish is the Treasure Island baby quilt:

Hopefully by double clicking on the picture you'll be able to see it in greater detail. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

One more finish:

You've already seen the top complete but now it's been quilted. Not that you'll be able to see the quilting unless you have the quilt in your hands. :- ) I used a dark thread and mostly just outlined the major elements.

It's honestly going to be a little painful to part with these two small quilts. But better that someone should use and enjoy them than they sit around my house taking up space!

An Experiment

So after working on that medallion quilt with a variety of block patterns I needed something nearly mindless to sew. What could be more mindless than string blocks? I didn't even try to keep the central starter string the same color or value (although it often ended up being a dark print).

I started with six inch blocks. It was fun to play around with the various setting options.

At some point I realized that I could switch to eight inch blocks and use both sizes in the same quilt. So I did! If you look very carefully at the photo below you may be able to pick out the two rows that are made up of 8" blocks. Of course here they're just raw blocks on the design wall:

I tried to make a zig zag set work...

But I liked the more common setting better. I have all the six inch blocks squashed together in the middle of the quilt and the 8" blocks were added to opposite ends to add length. The top finishes at about 48" x 62" (outside! In the sunshine! Woohoo!).

The one thing you may be interested in that I did differently with this project was to piece my strings right onto batting rather than other fabric or paper. I cut my batting squares from those strips that get cut away after quilting, and I cut them at exactly six and eight inches. Then when I trimmed the blocks to size I worked from the backside so that I could easily get a quarter inch seam allowance all the way around. I was a little nervous about sewing these bulkier blocks together but it worked out okay. The real trick was pressing the seams. I chose to press them open. My stiletto was crucial to this process!

If I were to do this again I might consider leaving half inch seam allowances. Of course that would mean leaving the strings hanging over the edge of the batting squares by a good bit before trimming. In this case it was worth it to me to take the time to press these seams open because my plan is to lay this onto the backing fabric and secure the layers together by using a wide stitch on my sewing machine to decorate the seam lines on the front. Once I choose which stitch and what color thread to use that should also be a fairly mindless process!

Pink Lemonade Flimsy

Before we get to the Lemonade let me show you how the row-by-row flimsy stands:

There are one inch sashing strips separating each row, all of them pieced of the neutral prints I'd used in the blocks. I toyed with the idea of a couple of them being in color but decided to go with the simplest route instead. I believe it was the next day that I went back to my LQS to see what I could find for the border. I ended up bringing home some of the very same print I'd purchased for the quilt back! I didn't realize it at the time of course. Oh well. It will certainly provide continuity between the front and the back! I did pick up an additional print in a contrasting color that I'm thinking I will use as a narrow frame before the border. But I haven't been in the mood to tackle that. I wanted some color, some REAL color, after all those subdued hues.

Time to bring out the Pink Lemonade!

This was the equivalent of a jelly roll, 40 strips in mostly pinks and yellows. I added a few more prints and colors so I would have enough to make a 64" x 75" top. After hearing about and doing a bit of research into the 1600" quilts that folks were racing each other to make I decided to give that a try. It turned out to be quite fun.

It certainly was easy enough. The first step is to sew your strips together, end to end, until you have one long, l-o-o-o-o-o-o-n-g strip (mine was about 2400"). I did that on Phoebe, my smaller and slower machine. It was delightfully mindless. At least until I got near the end when I realized I'd better pay attention so I wouldn't end up with the same print repeating itself over and over!

Then I moved over to Ruby Blue for the long seams that create the top. She sews faster and would make quicker work of potentially boring sewing. Basically you take that long strip, fold it over on itself, and sew until you get to the bottom. Cut the strip in half at the fold that occurs down there, bring the end of the strip back up to the top again and do it all over.

I repeated those steps until I had a total of 32 strips. Such happy colors for a gloomy day!

I took the time to heat-set my seams between steps but I have not yet pressed them one way or the other. That will require something interesting on TV to listen to while I stand at the ironing board. Right now I'm just wallowing in the lovely summeriness of this top I created in two days' time. :- D

This process was enjoyable enough and so quick that I'm seriously thinking I will use it again soon. It could be that this is what I've been waiting for to use up my 2.5" scrap strips. I might like to try it with wider strips too... So many possibilities!

It's Not All Bad

These breaks between posts are getting longer and longer! Not all of it is due to illness at least. Even when I can't be outside, doing the things other folks are doing in the summer, there have been some out of the ordinary events in my world in the last couple of weeks. Good things. :- ) We had family from out of state visit one day. I'm happy to report that I held up better than expected. And then this week I was able to get together with a lot of members of my local quilt guild - woohoo! Since it was an outdoor meeting there wasn't a lot of show and tell but it was gratifying to reconnect in person with old friends and to put faces to names that have appeared on the member roster since I had to quit attending regularly.

I have also been plugging away on the latest batch of chevron log cabin blocks. I'm making them 16.5inches square so that 20 of them will make a twin size quilt top.

Only 12 will fit comfortably on my design wall though. I'll have to move out to the living room to play with block placements.

I've been thinking a lot about that fabric challenge you saw in the last post. I have been looking at this book and getting some ideas. The question is whether I can pull it off before the deadline in two weeks!

One of my quilter friends was trying to unload some scraps at the meeting. I took what I could, and this morning used a few of them to make up these blocks:

 

Fun! (You should be able to get larger pictures by double clicking on them.) I've also acquired a copy of Gwen Marston's Liberated Medallions book recently. I have a strong suspicion that there will be a medallion style quilt made out of scrappy parts and pieces in my near future. ;- )

Strips & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

You might want to get a cuppa your favorite beverage... I have been busy!

Actually, I had a few days where I was unable to function. Then, in desperation, I paged through my Gwen & Freddy books for color and inspiration. This "Housetop" quilt caught my attention.

(ppg. 154-155 of Gwen & Freddy Collaborate Again)

I needed something I could do without too much thought or effort. This looked do-able and these 4.5" patches seemed like a good place to start.

Making a quilt of chevron or half log cabin or housetop blocks has been on my list of Quilts To Make for years. I gave myself permission to let this be the first one, and to let it be as scrappy as it needed to be. In two days I had seven blocks built up and trimmed down to 18.5," which is the size Gwen & Freddy used for their version.

Seven blocks was either one too many for a baby quilt or not enough for a larger person's quilt. Before I had made up my mind what to do my friend C~ talked with me about the need for quilts for the young men in the Foster Care system. Our local quilt group makes plenty of baby and child size quilts but the teenagers tend to get left out, especially the young men. So I decided to make five more blocks, and to try to skew the blocks masculine and older. This was not easy to do! I don't have a lot of florals in my stash but I do have a preponderance of feminine and juvenile prints - at least in my opinion. Eventually I had twelve 18.5" blocks though.

The second set of blocks were started with five inch patches, not 4.5," just because. I also tried hard to make them very dark. The upright sashes between blocks were cut from assorted 2.5" strips but all the horizontal sashing was cut from one print.

It took some doing to find an appropriate print for the outer border. I had just the right thing in my stash though. The gold in the horizontal sashing is reflected in some of the circles on the purple print. Woohoo!

So we have strips... and snails...

and puppy dog tails...

 

for a young man who, as we all know, will be a little boy at heart forever. ;- )