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.
Blue Skies and Butterflies finished May 2019.
Have you made something with waste triangles?
As you might guess this post is a favourite one for me. I also keep waste triangles, which are usually cut off in pairs and I try to sew them up into HSTs as leaders and enders. So I have a bag of trimmed HSTs ( in a couple of sizes), a bag of untrimmed HSTs, and a couple of bags of waste triangles not dealt with at all. I will have to try to work out how you made your flower blocks as this is a new design to me. I already do Wonky stars in a variety of sizes and also know of the Shoo Fly blocks although I don’t think I’ve ever made any. I’m looking forward to seeing how you use your finished blocks.
ReplyDeleteI do save waste triangles but when they are paired I try to sew those as bonus triangles. I have a box of scrap triangles -- not exactly waste, but left over -- and every so often I take it out and sew a bunch into HSTs. I sorted the finished HSTs by size last December and have made two quilts out of them. More to come........My favorite is the confetti ocean waves! I see your scrappy projects so often that I forget you have a whole stash of yardage that you haven't shown us. Yet.
ReplyDeleteI have made star points with them--I do love those pretty little baskets--so delicate--(I see that basket squirrel bopping around in my brain now;000!!)
ReplyDeleteLove the Ocean waves one, too hugs, Julierose
I save lots of scraps but the trimmings when I. make binding go into the trash can. I do save triangle corners from larger squares but so often my snowballs, etc. are die cut that I don't have all that many leftover triangles to work with. Those that were saved have indeed been turned into quilts (notably the offcuts from strip sets). Your red ocean waves is still one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteHow ironic that I should sit down to read this post after a day spent turning my waste triangles into 2" Broken Dishes blocks! I've used my off-cut triangles untrimmed in the past but am currently serving my OCD demon and trimming them all with a ruler. 50 blocks later I now have room in my little box for more triangles. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for all those tips on waste triangles. I sure need to use mine up! They are almost as bad as strings!
ReplyDeleteI usually try to make bonus HSTs instead of just cutting them off so I don't have to trim to make proper size HSTs but looking at your quilts, I really like the idea to just cut make waste triangles. That way, you can add a cohesive background and make these beautiful wonky quilts you have made. I haven't made any quilts recently that made waste like this, but definitely something to keep in mind. Your quilts just shimmer so beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI have tons of waste triangles and also bonus HSTs. One project I'm working on now will yield HSTs which will most likely trim to 1.75", but if I use them altogether, the size won't matter. Some of them may turn into little pinwheels. One of my challenges is to become more comfortable with wonky blocks. I've also been adding odd shaped triangles to crumb blocks.
ReplyDeletePat
Beautiful quilts and the colors! I have been in the process of sewing together some bonus triangles into HSTs and some into Broken Dishes blocks. My problem is trying to determine how much background fabric I will need ahead of time. I would love to use fabric I already have instead of buying more, but I am so afraid of running short. It seems that for a full or queen size quilt, you would need about 5-6 yards at least, depending on the block design. Is there some kind of rule of thumb to go by? I usually just make up my own quilt patterns, but I do have a few that I have bought and thought that I could use one of those for a rough idea. But guess what? Patterns are usually made in a throw size. (purrfection8@gmail.com)
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