Out of the Depths of the Orphan Block Box: Bow Diddley

 

 It's a flimsy! 

Bow Diddley

60 x 82

This month I pulled a pile of orphan blocks that have black backgrounds to see how many quilts I could make from the pile of buried treasure.   

This quilt started with twenty-two eight inch Bow Tie blocks from an online swap from long, long ago.  I finished one donation quilt made from thirty-five of the swapped blocks back in July 2016. After that quilt I had 22 blocks left for the orphanage. The ones I put in the orphanage kind of had  woodland theme going on. 

I decided I wanted a twin sized quilt so decided first to join sets of four blocks with 2.5 inch sashing and 2.5 inch cornerstones which made eighteen inch finished blocks.  To come out with an even number of blocks I had to make two more Bow Tie blocks so dug into the 4.5 inch scrap bin to look for some woodsy themed scraps. I made the lime green/pink dragonfly and green butterfly Bow Ties. 

After I made six blocks I found that I would have a 36  x 54 quilt which is a far cry from a twin sized quilt. What to do next? What to do next? 

I decided a four inch sashing to join the blocks would make a quilt 48 x 70.  I don't know what possessed me to dig into my 1.5 inch scraps to make some little bow ties for cornerstones but strange things happen sometimes when you diddle around in the sewing room. No design wall here but that's what I imagined in my mind that the quilt needed.  (Yes, I just made it all up in my mind as I went along - no rehearsals or try outs or endless fiddling and rearranging on a design wall - just imagine and then do).

So after all blocks were joined with a four inch sashing and little bow tie cornerstones all around I had a quilt top that was 48 x 70 which was still short of a twin sized quilt. What to do? What to do? 

A six inch border around would make for a quilt 60 x 82. Ok. That's close enough to twin sized for me....maybe a little small but it could also make a nice sized comfort or couch quilt. 

 I don't have a lot of large pieces of yardage to make borders with all one fabric so that was not an option otherwise I probably would have went that route. I looked into my 3.5 inch scrap bin and saw a lot of brightly colored scraps and at first thought I would make six inch Bow Tie blocks for the border but then felt a wave of laziness surge over me. I really didn't want to make that many Bow Tie blocks because I don't really like sewing and trimming those flippy corners. Instead I just made Four Patch blocks from 3.5 inch square scraps. 

The two sides didn't divide evenly by six so I ended up adding a 4 x 6 inch lozenge in the center of the border strip. 

This was orphan block top #2 from the orphans with black backgrounds pile and there are still orphan blocks in the pile.  (Coddiwomple was top #1). Stay tuned. 

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag