It's A Top ! Orphan Fred

It's a top!

Orphan Fred

42 x 60

12 and 6 inch orphan blocks from here, there and everywhere.  The top left and bottom right blocks (Split Stars) are mine. I had to add a border around them so they would measure 12 inches.  I made those a long long time ago for one of my first swaps. At the time that seemed like a difficult block to me . As with all swaps I sent in the best blocks and kept the less than perfects. 

For some fun there is a little ice cream treat hidden in there. That's my orphan block too.

The September theme in my sewing room has been Orphan blocks. I got off to a late start this month and I have lots of orphan blocks so I will continue the theme into October.  I've been naming the orphan block quilts like they name hurricanes. 

And sew on...

 

Old World Quilt Blocks

Someone with the Stashbusters Group posted a link to  (1) Make an OLD WORLD quilt | step by step sewing - YouTube

When I followed the link and saw the block I was in love at first sight. Although I rarely watch Youtube videos because my laptop and phone are too old for videos to load properly, I did manage to watch it and take notes on making the block. 

I felt like a little challenge and felt like using up some aging civil war repro scraps and short pieces of yardage. So I made 6 blocks to see if I wanted to continue.   I do. 

I figured I would like to make 30 of these 13.5 inch finished blocks. 

So for my next step I went through my little baggie of 2.5 inch scraps and cut center squares and sides for 24 Square in Square (SIS) blocks -- the centers of each Old World block.  I will sew those as leader/enders. 

And sew on...

 

Streak of Lightning

It's a finish!

Streak of Lightning

52.5 x 73.5

It is mostly made of 14 quarts of warm scraps that came into my possession a couple of years ago.

  I finished the top way back in May 2021. 

Finally this quilt made it to the top of the quilting pile. 

I had a sort of woven look red and yellow piece of fabric to use for the binding. 

I quilted it on my DSM with a variegated thread in colors of a sunset. I only quilted in the dark streaks of lightning. I don't know what you call that quilting -- scribbly lines? 

I added the last of the popcorn fabric I've had forever to the yellow mix of fabrics. Wonder if anyone will notice there is popcorn here and there throughout the quilt. 

It was starting to rain the other day when I was taking the clothesline photos so I snapped them in a hurry. This morning when I went to post about this finish I noticed I didn't take a photo of the backing so just had to do that this morning. Someone gave me that fabric for the backing and I just had to show how perfectly it matched with the front full of scraps that came from someone else. And now the quilt can move forward to yet another person to enjoy. 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Posies

Posies in Posies in Aqua

10 inch blocks

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

The Answer To The Mystery, My Friends, Is Blowin' In The Wind

Mystery Solved!

I have a top!

Four Corners Mystery Quilt 

Mystery by Quiltygirl Alycia

But the clues can only be found (for a short while) if you are a member of  the Mystery Quilts For Military Group

There was a break in the storm so I went out to snap a few photos and as soon as I got the top hung up on the line the wind started blowing and I could feel another storm brewing so I had to snap photos quickly. 

I've participated in most of Alycia's mysteries over the last few years but I was going to skip this year because my stash of patriotic fabrics consists mostly of smaller scraps.   Well, not one to miss out on a good mystery I rounded up a few red, white and blue fabrics to go with my patriotic smaller scraps and managed to solve the mystery.    There's a lot of chains in this one so hopefully I know have them all going to right direction.  There are four different ways to solve the mystery after you have gotten through all the clues. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

It's A Top! Orphan Ernestine

It's a top!

Wild and Crazy Orphan Ernestine

I forgot to take her measurements but she's somewhere around 40 x 52. 

Orphan Ernestine is made up of all kinds of blocks from a lot of different folks. 

I tried to use blocks in a similar color range and value and blocks that were mostly stringy looking. Then I added in some blocks with squares and rectangles. 

I added a "border" to the top and bottom with a striped fabric and then I dug into a little bin of miscellaneous 4 inch (finished) blocks I have to make another border for top and bottom. 

I also added in some strips I had left over after making my warm and cool Chinese Coin quilts I finished up last week. 

Whew! That was a tough one to put together with all those different sized blocks, bits and pieces 

And sew on...

 

It's A Top! Orphan Dilbert

Orphan Dilbert

40 x 60

It's a top!

I spaced out for a little while. 

ORPHANS is the theme in my sewing space this month to move things forward. 

Actually there's not really any orphan blocks in this quilt - more like spacey orphan bits and pieces. 

It started with a panel someone gave me last year (or was it the year before? Time flies when you are old). 

I have a few space themed fabric scraps left over from making quilts for my grandkids and their generation back when they were younger.  I added some aliens to the top and bottom of the panel and I was lucky enough to have just enough of two different pieces of that fabric to make the top 60 inches in length. 

I have a little pile of 6.5 inch novelty squares - most are from I Spy swaps long ago when the grandkids were younger. So I found a few spacey squares to use for Happy Block centers...

...and I had a few spacey scraps to use for the sides of some Happy Blocks...

...and for other Happy Block frames I used some scraps from the black scrap bag and when I ran out of black frames I tried some fireworks.   I think the center of that Happy Block on the bottom surrounded by fireworks may be a left over scrap from curtains I made for my youngest son's bedroom long long ago when he was a little boy. He's 39 now. Like I said...time flies when you are old. 

And sew on...

 

It's A Top! Orphan Cora

It's a top!

Orphan Cora

42 x 42

Another way to use orphan blocks is in a medallion quilt. Someone gave me the Carpenter's Star 18 inch block I used for the center. 

I added four borders (3.5 inches) around in log cabin style. And I also added some 3 inch finished Nine Patches I have had around for a long time. A long time ago I used to swap them several times a year and although I've used them in many quilts I still have a small bin of them. 

And sew on...

 

It's A Top! Lacy Heart

It's a top!

Lacy Heart

39 x 42

I do love heart quilts and found a larger version of this one on Pinterest called Heather's Lacy Heart. with notes on making a smaller version. 

I was able to use a baggie of 3.5 inch lime squares that was given to me.   I dug the dark purple with little butterflies I used in the nine patches out of the quilt back trimmings box. I hemmed and hawed for a long time about what color and fabric I could use to make nine patches that would look okay with the lime green. 

I might have to make a larger version of this one. I do like heart quilts (and rose themed prints). 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Transformations

Aqua/Turquoise/Blue-Green is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. 

Several years ago I made over 300 3 inch finished Square in Square (SIS) blocks as one of my RSC projects to use scraps.   I've been slowly turning those SIS blocks into 3 different quilts.   

With a few aqua scraps this week I turned some SIS blocks into six inch Stars...

...and six inch I Spy Happy Blocks. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

It's A Finish!

It's a finish!

Warm Bits and Pieces

40 x 58

I participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) and each month after I make my blocks out of scraps I cut the remaining pieces of scraps into squares or if less than a square I sew pieces into strips. After a few years of this I had a box full of strips in all colors and widths.

In this quilt I used the warm colors.  I previously posted about the finish of the one with cooler colors. 

I quilted it with red thread with simple lines each side of the vertical seams. 

The red binding came out of the box of backing trimmings. ( I put wider pieces of backing trimmings into a box to be used as bindings and narrower pieces of backing trimmings usually goes into the string box.)

The back is the cat's meow (if you know what I mean). 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

It's A Top! Orphan Barney

Orphan Barney

42 x 48

Made from Orphan Blocks.

This method of putting together orphan blocks involves using blocks that are all the same size. I guess it could also be considered a column quilt. I added the Flying Geese column to add width and to use those Flying Geese. All of the blocks came from other folks.

And sew on...

 

It's A Top! Orphan Alice

Orphan Alice

40 x 49 

September the theme in my sewing space is ORPHANS. I might have to continue that theme into October since I'm getting a late start on that theme this month and I do have lots of orphan blocks.  At the end of August I moved all my boxes of orphan blocks upstairs to the dining room table in order to be closer to ill hubby in his recliner.  I sort of sorted through everything and divided them into piles for different quilts.    One of the ladies in our Stashbusters Group who makes orphan block quilts names hers similar to how we name hurricanes so I thought it would be fun to do the same. 

One of the easiest ways I find to use orphan blocks is in row quilts. 

I don't see a single block in this quilt that was mine. They came from several different people if I remember correctly. 

And sew on...