Sunday, January 24, 2021

I've Been Thinking...

Last year I decided to sort through years and years and years worth of waste triangles. Some I've been making into Shoofly blocks but most of them I sew into dinky little Hourglass blocks. When I get a cigar box full I trim them in the evening. When I say "trim" I mean I trim off the dog ears but I'm not squaring them up. 

I keep a little pencil box of waste triangles all sorted for the Hourglass blocks next to the sewing machine and use them as leader/enders. 

Now the trimmed little Wonky Hourglass blocks are mounting up...

...and almost every week I end up with a cigar box full that needs to be trimmed.  There seems to be no end in sight.  And there was no plan in sight until I saw....

 Competition Quilt. about 1895. hand pieced cotton, silk, linen; hand quilted; machine stitched backing. Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Guido Goldman. 2008.406.


I originally saw a blog post about the quilt on day 5 of Mary Elizabeth Kinch's 12 Days of Christmas posts. 

I just love love love to infinity this quilt and decided I would make something similar but use my wonky hourglass blocks instead of HSTs. As I mentioned, I'm not squaring up my Hourglass blocks (because I don't like to square up) so I will just make "made fabric" out of them for the borders and not worry so much about points matching up. Mine is definitely NOT going to be a competition quilt like the original. 

On that note I decided I should make my center star and have it handy. I made all my Lone Star wedges but then ran into a snag because I couldn't decide what to use for the background. I'm still dithering. 

Gray background????

Blue background????

Pink background???

What say you???


 

24 comments:

maggie fellow said...

oh that will be an awesome quilt - I like the first choice for the background - look forward to seeing it done in your style

Julierose said...

Maybe a pale taupe background?
Looking forward to seeing your idea for the hourglasses you've collected through the years...hugs, Julierose

Pamela Arbour said...

I think that block would look good on any backgroud. Just close your eyes and pick one!

scraphappy said...

What a fun plan for your waste triangles. I've been doing shooflies lately, but I'm not keeping up! That quilt would us up every little triangle I have and then some! I like the bright blue background for the star. Blue goes with everything.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I can so totally see you making AND FINISHNG this beauty. Just glancing at the photos of the tiny blocks, I would pull out an assortment of greens to audition for the star's background - the blue is too dark, the gray is too dull, and the pink seems a bit much (wow, did I just type that?!). If the greens fail, then my next color to audition would be a plum-y purple. Awesome project!!

gayle said...

I'm with Julie - try either a green or a purple. Or maybe both?
I fell in love with this quilt too in the 12 Quilts of Christmas lineup. I can't wait to see how your hourglasses work out for it!

Elle said...

Oh I am all about that pink background!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this HST quilt. I've saved the photo. I'm a HST fanatic :-)

Jenz said...

I would pick the gray as there is probably going to be a lot of color in this quilt. Love it!

Quilting Babcia said...

I'd choose the dark blue, it will really make the center star and all those bright hourglass blocks pop. Have fun!

Linda said...

My immediate thought was the deep blue but then I read Quiltdivajulie’s comment and could see the sense of that. Not the grey, a bit boring? Especially when you know all the colours in those tiny Hour glass blocks.

---"Love" said...

That HST quilt is beautiful, and would be quite a challenge! Rather than just trimming your HST's, maybe you better start squaring them up as you go through them, rather than having to go through them twice! I'll be watching that one progress for sure! ---"Love"

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

The pink is crazy fun but I agree that a green would be where I would head. I tend to always look across the color wheel for background fabrics to get the best contrast.

That competition quilt is amazing! I look forward to watching your version come to life. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

The Joyful Quilter said...

What a good use for your Hourglass blocks, Cathy! My vote is for the BLUE background.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I love how you challenge yourself to make these kinds of designs, and I'll enjoy seeing yours come to life!

Pamela Arbour said...

That sounds like a really good plan to me. I have a lot of those waste triangles as well. I am trimming them as I go and setting them aside until I think I don't have any more before I start something with them. I need to see what my dominant colors are.

Karen F said...

Red. I think red for the Lone Star background. I really admire your perseverance in reproducing some of these older quilts. I look at the 12,013 HSTs and just go uh uh, no way. :-D

Cathy said...

Well, no advice from me on the color of the star’s background except to say Not Pink. LOL. I can see a wonderful quilt with your tiny, wonky hourglass blocks. It will be awesome and colorful But I bet I’m the only one who does not like the original, although I can certainly appreciate the mountains of work that went into it. Your quilt is going to be the bomb!

nestki said...

First choice, the top one. The way my eyes see it, that one ( dull blue) shows off the star the best. Second choice, the bottom ( pink) one, for if you want to showcase the pink color. I don’t like the deep blue in the middle because I feel that it fights with the star. You are going to have fun with this one. I love all your quilts. You are an inspiration to me!

Kathy said...

My first thought was a nod to tradition and using muslin or cream, but the greens sound very, very good. It's like nature...everything goes with green! Should use up a few of those hourglass blocks, for sure!!

mangozz said...

I think you've really gone off the deep end now! Holy Mackerel! And, of course, without a pattern. But, I know that once you've set your mind to something, it's as good as done. You'll probably end up being featured in a quilting magazine. It will be interesting to see your progress on this one.

Mystic Quilter said...

Goodness, the Competition Quilt is something else isn't it!!! All those
triangles, wonder if anyone has taken the time to count them!

Kaja said...

I say "Fantastic!"

Ann said...

Fantastic is the word, both for the wonderful Competition quilt and your idea to use what you have.
The backgrounds are what cause me the most anxiety on Lone Stars so I'm sheepishly glad to have company. Haha. They all look good. Have fun choosing.

Quilter Kathy said...

OH my goodness I can't wait to see what's going to happen here!!!