Plus Postage

The next couple of months I'm going to try to finish up several sets of blocks I've been making as Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. 

I've been trying to clean out most of my scrap bags, bins and boxes. I started making these Plus Postage blocks in an effort to use up the scraps in the 1.5 inch scrap bin. And now I'm scraping the bottom of the bin (thank goodness). 

These 10 inch finished blocks were inspired by a pattern in American Patchwork and Quilting April 2016 designed by Susan Ache. I say "inspired" because the pattern used strip piecing and only used two fabrics in each block. As you can see I'm using a scrappy mix instead. 

I've decided to make my quilt 6 blocks by 8 blocks (60 x 80 inches finished quilt) so I need a total of 48 blocks. I now have 38 blocks. 

So I continued to scrape the bottom of the 1.5 inch scrap barrel and cut parts for 10 more blocks. I didn't count the neutrals but I think I'll need to cut a few more of those squares.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Lil' Cowpokes and Lil' Cowgirls- Three Finishes

I have three finishes this week. 

I started the quilts back in February when I purchased some Michael Miller Lil' Cowgirls fabric for $3 per yard at Hobby Lobby. I figured it would make nice backings for donation quilts and I knew I had some odds and ends of bandana and cowpoke fabrics at home including another Michael Miller fabric - Lil' Cowpokes.  I finished the tops back in March . I also made a Strippie quilt  and paired it up with some backing but decided not to quilt it at this time because I may use both the Strippie top and backing as backings at some future date since I'm always short on backings and have quite a stack of tops that need quilting. 

I decided to get them quilted so I could use up some bits and pieces of batting. Normally I sew batting pieces together by butting the pieces up next to each other and then sew together with a wide zig zag stitch.  Sometimes while quilting my needle hits the joined area and has fits so this time I just decided to butt the pieces together and overlap a tiny bit while pin basting. I think I will do that from now on because I had no problems with quilting any of these three. 

Happy Cowpokes

40 x 60

I had a partial set of Cowpoke themed Happy Blocks in my Happy Place (box of various partial themed Happy Blocks) and some 6.5 inch center squares already cut to make a few more. 

I used to participate in a variety of Happy Block swaps with numerous groups back in the day. For this swap we sent around 10 centers to everyone in our little group. The centers were bordered with 2.5 inch strips and sent back. We then had a set of Happy Blocks framed in quite a variety of fabrics.  

Happy Blocks are a quick and easy way to use novelty fabrics and make nice quilts for kids or adults depending upon the fabrics used. They can be made with any size center and sides depending upon what is on hand. 

I used to also swap novelty or I Spy squares in a variety of sizes.  Since I was short a few Happy Blocks for a quilt I dug through my I Spy squares looking for squares I could use to add to the mix. 

I quilted all of these with some lassoes. 

Wild horses are on the back. This quilt will go to Quilts Beyond Borders.  They provide quilts to children in underserved areas of the world and have both international and domestic initiatives. 

Lil' Cowpokes

42 x 56

I mentioned I had some 6.5 inch squares of I Spy fabrics and so used them as starter to make this quilt. 

I made 6 inch finished Hourglass blocks as alternate blocks. 

I used that discounted Lil' Cowgirl fabric on the back.  

Lil' Cowpokes

40 x 56

I made some 12 inch finished Sawtooth Stars to use up bits and pieces of bandana prints. 

The centers were cut from a little pieces of Lil' Cowpoke fabric and I think that's the last of it. 

 And again I used that deeply discounted Lil' Cowgirl fabric on the back. 

These last two quilts may be donated too but I'm going to keep them on hand for a little while. I have 31 nieces and nephews (that's not counting niece and nephew spouses) and so there's always a new arrival that needs a quilt or a grandparent that needs a quilt for when baby visits.

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

'30s Thursday

A new top!

63 x 81

Tickertape Parade?

Streamers?

Twist and Shout?

Ribbons?

I had a bunch of '30s reproduction scraps 5 inches in width left over from making a Churn Dash top back in May. 

At around the same time in May I saw Ann (Fret Not Yourself) making quilts with Indian Hatchet blocks and I knew what I wanted to do with my scraps. 

There are a variety of tutorials for making a traditional Indian Hatchet block - Quilter's Cache and Generations Quilt Patterns- but I used what I had on hand which was 5 inch scraps and 2.5 inch scraps to make my blocks. 

 And now the trimmings from the corners of these blocks are being made into little flower baskets. This year I've been trying to use my scraps up as they are generated. I have not always been successful but I'm working on it. 

Waist Deep in Wonky Waste Triangles Wednesday

I've started making little Shoofly blocks that finish at 4.5 inches. I'm using little waste triangles for the corners, 2 inch scraps for the center and solid bits and pieces for the backgrounds. 

I've been working very hard to use up my bags, bins and boxes of scraps the last few years and next year will be the year of waste triangles for me. (I hope).   For me waste triangles are usually the result of trimming up "flippy corners" on blocks like Snowball or Indian Hatchet or they result from cutting binding joins.   In those cases I'm not a precisely-measure-and-trim-with -ruler kind of girl or a draw-a-line-and-sew-another-seam-on-the -corner-for-a-bonus-HST kind of girl.  I just whack off  with a scissors at what appears to me to be 1/4 inch. Voila! Wonky Waste Triangles!

The Little Shoofly blocks join the Little Basket blocks I started making a few weeks ago...

...with all those 30s reproduction waste triangles trimmed off Indian Hatchet blocks.  Those will eventually be combined with some little Hollow Nine Patches. 

Then there are all the Wonky Stars I have been working on (and off-mostly off) since 2016 using 2 inch scraps.  I need to decide a direction for these and decide if I want to continue to make them or just use these up. I sorted them into little piles and found I have around 65 of them that are different colors on colors. Maybe these would make a nice bunch of borders around some center Star or Stars???

I also had a little pile of about 25 colored Stars on a WOW or mostly white background. I thought maybe I could make Double Nine Patches with them and decide on some alternate block to go with them. Or just use Double Nine Patches in a quilt. But I don't have many WOWs so...

I also have a little pile of 15 Wonky Stars with white centers and various colors of scrappy backgrounds. Maybe I'll make more of those but make them into 25 patches. But, then that wouldn't use up more waste triangles...so...

Of course as I sort through years of waste triangles I'll find some will be larger and I will sew those into wonky HSTs or Hourglasses or Crumb blocks or.... And some waste triangles will be waaaay too small and will be thrown into the compost pile or onto a path in the flower garden. 

And just so you know I have actually used waste triangles and am not just a hoarder or waste triangles I have made two quilts using them that were gifted. 

Confetti Waves was finished October 2018 and I arranged the waste triangles like an Ocean Waves block. 

Blue Skies and Butterflies finished May 2019. 

Have you made something with waste triangles?  

This Week's Sugar Loaf Star

 Star #8 of 25 made of Sugar Loaf wedges. 

They are getting a little easier to make! 

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Yellow Wedding Rings

 Two inch yellow scraps got made into Wedding Rings this week. These finish at 7.5 inches and I now have 127 of them after making them from scraps for a couple of years. My goal is 144 blocks so by year end I hope to meet that goal. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Coddiwomple Is Finished!

Coddiwomple

64 x 82

It's a finish! 

(Coddiwomple: travel in a purposeful manner toward a vague destination)

It started with 12 orphan blocks - those Whirlagigs (or St. Bridget's Crosses) that were leftover from a quilt finished in 2010. They were originally swapped blocks made in batiks on black backgrounds. 

I added some strings, some HSTs from the Parts Department. I blogged about the whole process back in September 2019 when I made the top.  I even added a simple border which is a rarity here. 

I quilted it with unmarked and unevenly spaced vertical lines. I used gray thread on top. 

I used a bowl full of left over bobbins in a variety of thread colors.

I used a black backing so the colors showed up on back even though you can't see the colors very well in this photo. 

I just quilted lines until I ran out of bobbin threads. Then I decided that was enough quilting. 

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

'30s Thursday

Plodding along between other projects and making Economy Blocks from '30s reproduction scraps.  Not sure how many I will make yet. These originally started as a way to use some 3.5 inch scraps that are the centers. The two rounds on the sides (3 and 4 inch squares cut on diagonals) are cut from small chunks of '30s scraps. 

 Also in between other projects working on Little Baskets and Hollow Nine Patches. The waste triangles in the little baskets are cut from Indian Hatchet block corners and the Indian Hatchet blocks were made from leftovers from Churn Dashes.  So far the Hollow Nines 2 inch squares have come from the 2 inch scrap bin. I've been using muslin bits and pieces for the basket backgrounds and the "hollow".  These blocks finish at 4.5 inches. 

I've been in twin quilt mode for donation or gifts this year so these probably will end up that size. Time will tell. 

A11 -- Clue #1

Mystery Quilt A11

Seventeen blocks for clue #1

 My finished quilt will be for Quilts of Valor.

I'm using odds and ends of patriotic fabrics. 

Clue #2 will be released tomorrow.

This Week's Sugar Loaf Star

Star made of Sugar Loaf wedges.

#7 of 25

 I said I was going to try to make one block a week.  So far so good. 

Tales From The Backside: Backstories.

A Tale From The Backside

I made a flimsy

and I call it 

Backstories. 

63 x 81

I called it backstories because it is made from...

...a box of quilt BACK trimmings. And all those BACK trimmings all remind me of the STORIES of finished quilts. BACKSTORIES. 

I saw a quilt called Second Strings at Timeless Reflections and I just knew it was the perfect way to use my box of eclectic quilt back trimmings (greater than 2 inches in width) that has been accumulating for quite awhile. If I studied a picture of the quilt long enough I probably could have figured out the math on how to make it myself but I wanted to get this top made quickly before I forgot about it and while I had the urge so I ordered the digital pattern called Interweave  so I wouldn't have think much -- just cut and sew. 

When I downloaded the Interweave pattern I saw it was supposed to make a quilt that finished at 65" x 71". I like to make my twin sized quilts at least 80 inches long so tried to decide how and where to add a little length...top, bottom or center?? Well, as I was trying to figure that out I happened to notice that the block size made with the pattern instructions would NOT make for a quilt 65" x 71" but a quilt 63" x 65" instead.  Hmmmmm....I had to do a little thinking and a little math and I finally decided to make an extra set of half length blocks to add to the center of the quilt. 

Well, I did make the top in a hurry like planned and I did enjoy the process and I do like the finished top. And I did use a lot, but not all, of the quilt back trimmings. Some of those remaining trimmings I'll cut into squares, scrappy binding or strips or skinnier strings for the skinny string box which is a separate box from the quilt backing trimmings box. 

 I thought before I blogged about the error with the pattern length as stated in the pattern  I should notify the author of the problem. That message and response through Etsy are as follows: 

Date: 3 days ago 09:33 EDT

Message:  I ordered the Interweave pattern a few days ago. I think there is something incorrect about your finished length of 71 inches. With the pieces in each block cut at 3 3/4 inches I think the finished block size is 10.5 x 32.5 so the length is more like 65 inches and not the 71 inches as you have listed in your pattern.

Date: 3 days ago 11:35 EDT

Karen Griska

Message: Thank you, Cathy. I'll take a look at that. I hope it didn't cause you a problem.

Best wishes,

Karen

And now you know the rest of the story. 

And so ends the tale from the backside.

More scrappy stories may be found at:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework