Scrap Basket Sunday and Design Wall Monday

I was able to make 31 split 9-patch blocks from the leader-ender triangles I've sewed in the last few days.  This quilt will be 10 x 10 blocks so I'm almost a third of the way done.  This is enough blocks that I was able to play with a couple possible arrangements. 

 

Two such different quilt tops from the same batch of scraps.  When I have 100 blocks I'll have dozens of possible arrangements.  Playing with fabric scraps is such a delightful occupation!

I couldn't resist

I had to make a couple split 9-patch blocks before I started sewing Shoofly blocks together.  It is amazing how different these blocks look considering I'm using the same bunch of scraps for both quilts.

Scrap Basket Sunday - Part 2

I'm happy to report I had a productive day.  I have finished 127 Shoofly blocks.  I decided I should plan the setting before starting to sew, so I opened EQ and got to work.  Turns out I need only 121 blocks to obtain the look I want, so I have a few extra to choose from.  I like having that flexibility.  The extras will go into the orphan block drawer, which is getting very full.  (I will need to take care of that sooner rather than later, I think!)

I'll start sewing them together tomorrow.

Scrap basket Sunday - Part 1

I don't have much to show yet, but I wanted to show that I've started making good progress again.  I've stitched the triangle squares for the rest of the Shoofly quilt, and started the triangle squares for the split nine-patch blocks.  Right now I'm sewing the last of the Shoofly blocks together - nothing has been pressed yet (obviously!)  I plan to finish those today and start sewing the blocks together.  As this is a camping quilt, I'm not worrying too much about block placement - there is no room on my design wall for the blocks!  I will lay them out a few at a time on the floor and make it in sections, just to make sure no color is concentrated in one spot on the quilt.  I think this one will be my husband's.

I'll post again tonight to show the progress I make today.

I've made a split nine-patch only once before, so I'm looking forward to having those blocks to play with.  Here is the one I made for Quilt Pink several years ago.  I had to add the hearts as I snipped clear through the quilt when taking out some bad machine quilting!

Now that I'm looking at this picture, the block doesn't look like a true split nine patch to me.  I thought that was the name of the pattern the guild gave us.  These blocks will be different, with three triangle squares going diagonally through the center of each block.

Cutting, cutting . . . and more cutting

It seems like this pile of scraps is never-ending!  If it weren't for audio books I think I would have gone nuts!  I hope to finish today - at least that is my goal.  I was planning to sew blocks in between cutting sessions, but decided I needed more dark pieces to choose from.  I've filled the cutting table as much as possible without covering my cutting space, so I've moved on to pizza boxes.  Hopefully I'll run out of scraps before I run out of pizza boxes LOL!

Cutting table

Box 1

Box 2

Remaining scraps

When I folded back the scrap pile to get an idea of how many are left I realized there really aren't that many.  Thus my goal to finish today.

I've run out of books in the series I was listening to, but have another plan today.  Last Wednesday the four Tangled Threads that aren't out of town for the summer went to see "The Wolverine".  Two of the four had seen the other movies. The third and I had never seen any of them.  We thoroughly enjoyed the movie - so much that the next day I went over to my kids' house and borrowed the first 5 movies from my SIL.  I can watch at least two and maybe three while I cut scraps today, which should keep me sane and entertained.

Ever so often I had to sit down for awhile to give my back a rest.  That's when I finished the "Frosty and Friends" top - all but the snowman's face.  I'm not going to applique 1/4" ovals - even made out of ultra suede, so I've been thinking about how I want to do his face.  French knots would be too small.  I could do satin stitch, but don't want to spend the time that would take.  Last night while cutting I remembered that I probably have a bunch of tiny black buttons in the button drawer.  That will do the trick - buttons make good eyes and mouths, even on real snowmen!

Scrap basket Sunday, a little bit early

Remember this basket?  This is what my scraps looked like when I started participating in Scrap Basket Sunday.

After making 99 blocks - 44 positive and 55 negative  . . .

the basket looked like this . . .

Doesn't look like I used any of it!  And this was just a week ago.  Now the basket looks like this . . .

I wish I could say that quilting fairies made the rest of my scraps into blocks while we slept.  If only that were true!  Instead, the contents of the basket met this . . .

And now they look like this . . .

Doesn't look like that much when it is pressed and laying flat, does it.  Over the years I've learned how deceptive a stack like this can look.  It will take many hours to cut this fabric into the squares and triangles required to make the necessary 165 more shoo fly blocks.  That will take several Sundays - probably into the middle of July!

Design wall - er, floor! - Part II

I didn't want to take the civil war diary blocks off my design wall - it involves standing on my ironing table or the top step of the stool, and I don't like heights.  I figured for this shot the floor works OK.

Here is the current "shot" of the shoo fly blocks.  This is all the blocks I've made, minus the 10 "negative blocks" that don't have "positive blocks" to partner with.  I definitely need to keep better track the next time I'm cutting for these quilts.

If you compare this picture with the last one, you'll notice that the addition of reds and a few yellows really perk up this quilt.  Hopefully there are more yellows in the scrap basket - if not I'll need to supplement from the shelves.  I know there are many greens in the basket, which is what this quilt needs the most right now.  I'll focus on those in the next cutting session.  I have no idea if there are any purple or orange scraps in the basket - if not I'll pull from the shelves for those also.  Pinks likewise.

I'm loving how this is coming together!  Now I'm thinking of a pieced border from half square triangles to use up all those I've added to that box.  I'll play with that when the time comes.

Scrap Basket Sunday

I took time to make one more Civil War Diary block this morning, and then switched my focus to shoo fly blocks.  Remember this picture?

This is what these squares and triangles look like now.  One finished block and 51 almost finished blocks.  All that is needed are the two crosswise seams in each block and then a good pressing.

I should have gotten at least another 20 blocks from these scraps, but I ran out of pairings.  Squares left with no triangles to match, and vice versa.  Sets of  three triangle squares instead of four.  Now the remainders are residing in the totes for 2 1/2" half-square triangle squares and 2 1/2" triangles.  No worries - there are certainly plenty of scraps left in the basket for dozens more blocks.

Dealing with the scrap basket a couple days late

After finishing the basket blocks yesterday, I attacked the scrap basket.  I took out the rest of the fabric pieces that I'd ironed several weeks ago, and cut them into pieces for more shoo fly blocks.  Here you see the results.  In the upper right corner you can also see triangles and rectangles of white - the rest of what I need for 30's basket blocks.  I cut them now so I could re-wrap the bolt of white fabric and put it back on top of the fabric shelves where it belongs.

 

 

I've no idea how many shoo fly blocks this will make.  Anything left over will get tucked into the appropriate scrap boxes.  A full box of scrappy triangle squares is so much fun to play with!

The scrap basket now looks like this.  The fabrics on the top are different as I've done a lot of digging

 

while making the blocks.  Here is what it looked like when I started.  Hmmm . . . doesn't really look any emptier, does it?

Ok - I lied. I wasn't too tired to put them up on the wall tonight.

I just couldn't resist - I wanted to see what they would look like.

Apparently I was too tired to count, however - and definitely too tired to add.  45 blocks total.  23 positive and 22 negative.  I spread the colors out the best I could with the limited number I had, which left a bunch of brown blocks near the bottom.  These will make perfect camping quilts - they aren't using my best, favorite fabrics, they will look interesting, and they will be warm.  We will be happy campers!

Scrap Basket Sunday - Part 2

Please visit Kim's blog to see what other Scrap Basket Sunday participants have been up to today!

I machine stitched the binding on a little quilt today, then spent the rest of the day making shoo fly blocks.  I stitched together 29 new blocks - all the blocks I cut out last Sunday while Miss Feather was at hospital.  This gives me a total of 54 blocks - 23 negative and 21 positive.  Now that I've determined how many blocks I'll need, I'm making as many as I can from each fabric pairing, rather then a set of two like I was doing the first couple weeks.

It is a good thing these go together quickly - and a good thing I have a large basket of scraps!

Miss Feather is so happy to be home she is purring like a kitten.  And I'm so happy to have her back - I don't know which of us is happier!  The loaner featherweight from Kim is a good machine, but she just doesn't have the same touch.  I think she was programmed in hospital to slow WAY down when approaching a pin, as that's what she is doing now.  A repeat injury is not to be desired!

Come back here tomorrow to see all the "shoo flys" up on the design wall.  I am too tired to put them up tonight.

Scrap Basket Sunday - Part 1

These last few weeks I've been making 6" shoo fly blocks for my Scrap Basket Sunday project.  I started these with no idea as to what I'd do with them.  After our camping trip to the coast I know exactly what I'm going to do with them.

When we got our first pop-up camper I made quilts for the beds, as sheets and quilts are so much nicer to sleep in than sleeping bags.  You can see the quilts I made in this post.  We slept under these for 9 years in our comfy little pop-up.  However, last fall we decided it was time to trade in that camper for a larger one with a bathroom and a hot water tank.  As we've gotten older we prefer not "roughing it" as much as we used to.  (Backpacking, sleeping on the ground under the stars, etc.) So we got a new, roomier pop-up with just what we wanted.  (To see pictures of the inside and floor plan click here.

 

This one also has larger beds - king size! - and our sheets and quilts no longer fit the beds.  We used them - without sheets - on our trip to the beach, but it wasn't the same as having nicely made-up beds.  King size sheets are on their way and should arrive on Tuesday.  We just need new quilts.  So two, king-size shoo fly quilts will decorate the interior as soon as I can get them made.  I know there is plenty of scraps in my basket to make the 264 blocks I need.  Now I need to get sewing!

Scrap Basket Sunday

More shoo fly blocks are half finished - 39 of them!  The triangle squares are stitched together, waiting to be pressed and trimmed today. 

Miss Feather is coming home tomorrow, and finishing these blocks are the first thing on her agenda.  It will be so good to have her home. 

When these are finished I will have 55 blocks.  I swear, the scrap basket doesn't look like I've taken anything out of it!  I think the scraps are all growing while we are sleeping.

Scrap Basket Sunday Wrap-up

I sewed most of the day, with breaks for short bursts of house cleaning.  I finished 16 blocks, and I'm pleased with the way they look on the design wall.  These are so different from the fabrics I love to work with these days, but I'm enjoying the process nevertheless.

These are 6" blocks.

I might have gotten more done, but this evening after dinner my featherweight hit a pin dead on, breaking the needle and totally messing up the timing of the machine.  So off to the repair shop it must go tomorrow, and I imagine I'll be without it for a week or so.  I could piece on my Pfaff, but I'd rather not.  It's upstairs in the longarm room which still needs much cleaning, and all my fabric, tools, cutting table, etc. are downstairs.  So this coming week I will be doing something besides piecing.  Time will tell what that will be.  This will be a perfect time to get the longarm running so I can baste a bunch of quilts for hand quilting.  I can also choose fabrics and cut for May's projects.

But first I think it is time I really cleaned the house.  I've been procrastinating for some time.  And while my baby is in the hospital is a perfect time to do it.

The decision has been made

I've always loved the simple "Shoe Fly" block, and have seen pictures of beautiful quilts made from it.  For whatever reason, I've never made one myself.  I'm sure I must have pieced this block once or twice in the past 30 years, but I don't remember doing so.  Therefore, I'm starting a new scrappy project - who knows what it will eventually turn into? - using this block in a "positive" and "negative" value arrangement.  I'm going to piece these on Scrap Basket Sunday only.  That will give me plenty of time to work on other projects during the week.

I'm also going to cut triangles, squares, bricks and strips for my scrap boxes while I work.  Each piece I pull from the basket will thus be completely used with nothing going back into the basket.  This should - I hope - slowly empty the basket.  Then I can focus on my scraps that I truly love.

I'm showing the back of the blocks also so you can see how I'm pressing these.  I clip the seams so intersections can be pressed open.  If you do this you will be amazed at how much better your project looks without thick seam allowances.  (It makes hand quilting lots easier to, if you happen to be one of the quilty "dinosaurs" who hand quilt - like me.)  Because my plan (right now, anyway!) is to set the blocks next to each other, I'm sticking with the "press to the dark" rule so they will sew together better.  This adds a bit more bulk in the "negative" blocks, but if you flatten them well with steam the quilt top will still lay flat.

My plans for Scrap Basket Sunday

I tussled with this problem all day yesterday - what should I do today for Scrap Basket Sunday?  I could start another little quilt.  I could pick a block to make scrappy and start a new larger quilt.  I could just cut shapes.  So why  is this a problem?

Take a look at that list of finished flimsies on my left sidebar.  Then take a look at my 2013 goals.  This year I want to focus on shrinking that list.  I've completed 6 quilts this year - which I'm very happy about - but I've already added 9 new tops to the list, 8 of which are little quilts.  Goal #3 says "Quilt and bind all small quilts".  As of now that total is 14.  I have several more little quilts planned for next month, the month after that, etc.  So do I want to add another scrappy small quilt now?  I don't think so!

I like the idea of picking a block and making a bunch of them from the basket.  Can I get away without saying I'm "starting a new large ongoing project", since I didn't want to do that until I finish one already on the list?  I did manage to shrink the list by 3 projects by making some decisions, and I could just think of them as more "orphan blocks" until I decide what I'm going to do with them.  (Never mind that my "orphan block drawer" is full to overflowing. 

I don't feel like spending the day cutting shapes - which helps empty the basket but doesn't result in anything interesting to show.  I really don't want to choose this one.

So . . . I guess it is choice number two.  Now to pick a block.  Should it be very simple like "Shoe Fly" or something more complex.  I'm not sure.  Come back this evening to see what I decided.

It is finished!

My Contrary Wife quilt top is finished.  I love the setting I chose.  I made each border as wide as I could with the fabric I had left.  This was all scrap fabric except for the orange - that was a fat quarter I bought for Emily's quilt that I didn't use.  All the scrap fabrics are gone except for the brown. I'm loving this way of emptying the scrap basket!  The oldest fabric in this quilt is the brown and orange acorn print, which I imagine is a VIP from the 1980's.  The border and a few triangles are a Hoffman woodblock print, which is from the early 1990's.  The brown was part of the first fabric collection designed by Connie and Mary of Country Threads (it may have been their only fabric collection) which they called "Wear Warm Clothes".  All the other fabrics - except for the orange - are from the 1990's (I think).  I love the fact that I had to do a couple fabric substitutions in four of the blocks - I think that adds some "zing" to the quilt!

This will be a great table topper for fall.  It will also be a great practice piece to quilt while getting my longarm quilting mojo back.

I've read many times that serious quilt designers do quilts in "series".  I've never done this, and I don't think of myself as a quilt designer.  But I had so much fun playing with this block that I see a series of  little "Contrary Wife" quilts made from scraps in my future.  Maybe I'll start another tomorrow!

Scraps, we love scraps! But I need your help . . .

Because I have this laundry basket of fabric pieces not big enough to fold and put on the shelf - my definition of scraps - I decided to start participating in Kim's Scrap Basket Sundays.   I know if I don't commit myself to something like this I will always pull from the shelf rather than the scrap basket.

Because I spent all day today at the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival,  and will be there most of the day tomorrow, I spent last night and tonight cutting and sewing scraps.

"1"

Because I'm part of Kathleen Tracy's yahoo group Small Quilt Talk, I decided to use April's block for my first Scrappy Sunday project.  Tomorrow night I hope to sew the blocks together and finish the quilt top.

"2"

The block is called "Contrary Wife", though many may know it by another name.  (Don't you love how block names changed from state to state and era to era?  I do!)  I originally planned to do only four blocks plus borders.  Last night I discovered what a tiny quilt that would be so I decided to make 16 blocks instead - I wanted a square quilt.

"3"

Of course, my chosen scraps didn't go that far - I was able to make only 12 blocks.  I thought about stopping then, but realized there was only one blocks arrangement (that I liked) suitable for 12 blocks.  So I did what our foremothers often did when fabric was scarce.  I dug through the basket for fabrics of similar color and value to the fabrics I'd used up.  I made four more blocks tonight substituting two new fabrics for those I'd used up.  I thought I'd use them in the center of the quilt.  Or in the four corners.  I played with both arrangements and didn't really care for either.  So I scattered those four blocks randomly though the block arrangement.  That looked MUCH better!  (IMHO)

"4"

I thought I knew which block setting I wanted.  But once I started playing with the blocks I realized there were many different settings I liked.  So I'd love your input.

"5"

Which setting do you like best?  Please vote for your favorite, either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.  Thanks!