Quilts of September #6

Positive Attitude

40 x 59

 I started this in May 2020 when I was cleaning off my cutting mat and found a lot of 4.5 inch width pieces from various projects. 

To make the blocks I used four 4. 5 inch squares, four 2.5 inch squares and I used gray 2. 5 inch pieces for all of the Positive signs one 6.5 x 2.5 rectangle and two 2.5 inch squares.  

I had a piece of gray with positive signs to use in the middle of the top and bottom borders.

I quilted it on my DSM with horizontal and vertical lines in a light gray thread. 

The back was pieced 

The fabric with Native Americans came in a box of goodies from a friend some time ago.

 Someone with the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild was recently offering up a box of 12 inch blocks so I snatched those up to use some in pieced backings. And what did I find amongst the received blocks??? A few Framed Crumb blocks in the same colors as the fabric with Native Americans so they went into the mix for the backing along with a few small pieces of leftover positive sign fabric and a few pieces of a small fabric piece from my stash. 

This one will go to Quilts Beyond Borders (QBB) so I've added a label as required. 

QBB is currently collecting quilts for Comfort Cases and the  Navajo Nation . QBB also recently started collecting quilts for 150 Afghan refugee families in Washington State.  QBB may also still be collecting for Syrian refugees as that has been an ongoing initiative for quite awhile. 

And on to the next!

(How many will I finish in September????)

It's a Flimsy! Last Hurrah

The Last Hurrah

It's a flimsy!

60 x 80

I blogged back in July about making these blocks -- the last quilt to come out of a 4.5 inch scrap bin I've had for a very long time and have been trying to empty. Many scrappy quilts have come out of that bin. 

The pieces are cut 2.5 x 4.5 and I made 60 blocks in a Light/Dark/Light/Dark/Light configuration and 60 blocks in a Dark/Light/Dark/Light/Dark configuration. I alternated blocks in the layout 6 x 20. 

And that's the last quilt from the 4.5 inch scrap bin. The Last Hurrah! The bin is empty. Mission accomplished. 

I previously blogged that the few remaining remnants in the 4.5 inch scrap bin were cut into squares and anything less than a square was sewn into a strip by color. Those strips now join others in various widths in a box. I've been making these strips for a couple of years now so at year end I think I'll let these strips out to play. 

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

It's a Flimsy! HRT Ragout

HRT Ragout

60 x 80

It's a flimsy! 

I started making these Half Rectangle Triangles  (HRTs) in September 2018 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project to use scraps from the 4.5 width bin. 

I used a Tri-Rec ruler and cut a few pieces facing the wrong direction but I included those anyway. 

There's quite a mixture of prints, colors, neutrals - all from the 4.5 inch scrap bin which I hope to have emptied by year end. 

Since the start in September 2018 I just made a few HRTs each month using scraps from the 4.5 inch scrap bin in the RSC color of the month. Sometimes there would be lots of scraps in a color and sometimes hardly anything. I just used what scraps were in the bin only. 

I sewed the HRTs together randomly. 

I hope to finish this quilt this month so I'll declare it my 

OMG (One Monthly Goal) at Elm Street Quilts. 

Table Scraps Part II

 Yesterday I blogged about cleaning the scraps off of my cutting mat.  That was Part I and I cleaned up my 3.5 inch scraps as well as some 1.5 inch scraps.  Today I worked on the 4.5 inch scraps I found on my cutting mat as well as...

 ...a bin of 4.5 inch scraps. 

First I found a UFO that needs some 4.5 inch parts. This UFO will be 64 x 80 and consists of 20 each of four different 8 inch blocks as seen here - 16 Patches made with 2.5 inch scraps, rails made with 2.5 inch scraps, happy blocks with 4.5 inch center and 2.5 inch sides and four patches made with 4.5 inch squares.   I found I needed centers for nine more Happy Blocks and 11 more Four Patches...

 ...so I cut those. 

 Then I have a new donation quilt in mind that consists of 20 ten inch blocks that will be made of 4.5 and 2.5 inch scraps.   So I cut the four 4.5 inch squares I need for 20 blocks. 

Then I found a bunch of HRTs made from 4.5 inch scraps. I made these parts one year as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  As I made them I didn't know what I was going to do with them - I was just using scraps.   I decided I will make a quilt 60 x 80. I need 600 HRTs for that. I counted what I had and the total was 452 so I need only 148 more HRTs. 

Using 4.5 inch scraps I pair colored scraps and low volume scraps stacking them all face up then I use a Tri Rec ruler to cut the pieces. 

 I make two cuts. 

 I'm not sure how many HRTs I cut but I'll sew them together then count. I used most of the green, blue, orange scraps  (already called RSC colors) and all the scraps on the table for these HRTs. If I need more I will follow along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors to make them until I have enough for my quilt. 

 Then I finished up by cutting 4.5 inch squares for a project to be determined later.  I'm trying to clean out all my scrap bins I keep by width by cutting all the scraps into squares this year. 

Any pieces less than a 4.5 inch square and wider than an inch will get sewn into strips and combined with other strips for a Chinese Coins quilt at year end. 

Now I think I will go sew for a few days before I move on to those piles of 2 inch scraps and 2.5 inch scraps that were on the table and cutting mat. 

Stay tuned for Parts III and IV 

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Flimsy #1 from the 4.5 Inch Block Bin - Whigmaleerie

 Whigmaleerie

An odd or fanciful contrivance

60 x 84

This is flimsy #1 that came out of a bin of 4.5 inch parts and then some. 

My goal is to bust the 4.5 inch parts bin as I mentioned in a year end post 

It will be fun to see how many quilts come out of this bin. 

 For this first flimsy I decided to use blue and purple parts, orphans and squares cut from the 4.5 inch scrap bin.  Some parts like four patches and four inch HSTs are the result of various swaps over the years. 

 Some parts I made a few years ago while sorting through crumbs. I found a lot of waste triangles thrown in there so made little four inch pinwheels...

 ...and other four inch triangle blocks. 

 I didn't put anything on a design wall or floor. I first made some eight inch blocks like the Broken Dishes or Double Four Patches from the parts. Then I made some twelve and some twenty four inch blocks from the parts and I also made some blocks 3 x 6. 

 So I just kept sewing pieces and parts together until I had a nice sized comfort quilt top. 

It's always fun to see a quilt I've made like that when I go hang it on the clothesline and see the whole thing from a distance. 

On to the next...

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

It's a Finish! Streak of Lightning

It's a finish! 

Streak of Lightning

60 x 84

Ready for giving or gifting. 

And no matter how you look at it...

...it appears there is a section that sticks out like a sore thumb.  That's because it originally...

...looked like this back in April when I finished the flimsy but I decided it should be a little longer in order to be used on a twin sized bed.  So I looked into my 4.5 inch scrap bin and pulled out the blue-green and pink scraps that were in there and made more blocks and added them on to one end. Now I can see this is a lesson in the value of value and maybe I should have cut from yardage rather than use those lighter scraps. 

This is made entirely from my 4.5 inch scrap bin. I started making HSTs and then Streak of Lightning blocks from blue-green and pink 4.5 inch scraps back in 2017 because that is what was mostly left in there after I used a lot of the rainbow colors to make my Wandering Geese quilt. 

 I just did simple quilting on either side of the lightning using pink thread in the pink lightning and teal thread in the blue-green lightning. 

 The backing is aqua and pink. Maybe the back should be the front in this case.  Whoever receives it can decide.  This will probably be donated locally to Humility Homes and Services. 

This was my goal #3

for 

Q3 Finish-Along

Using 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 Inch Scraps

 This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is orange. I'm also making blocks this month in last month's color which was aqua. 

I dug into the 2.5 inch scrap bin and made some 8 inch Garlic Knot (aka Arrowhead Puzzle) blocks. 

 I also made a few six inch Plus blocks from 2.5 inch scraps. I've been making these off and on for a few years if I end up with enough 2.5 inch scraps after making other blocks.  I was going to alternate light and dark/bright background but think I might end up with two separate quilts instead.  Working titles -- The Power of Positive Thinking, Nix the Negative, On the Plus Side. 

 With 3.5 inch scraps I made a Sixteen Patch with Star...

 ...and some Broken Dishes blocks. 

With 4.5 inch scraps I made some Half Rectangle Triangles (HRTs).  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Green 4.5 Scrap Edition

I started making HRTs from 4.5 inch scraps late last year as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  This is my second batch of green ones since I made green ones last year. 

 I also started making Fractured Rails last last year. I've been making them using a unit that Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession uses in a few of her quilts in a few of her books. I call them Fractured Units.   I've been adding a complementary color to make the blocks.  I made a couple of red and green ones when red was the color of the month in January.   Here's four more.  

I have some blue and orange blocks too and a yellow and blue one made last month which is incorrect since it should have been yellow and purple. 

These are big blocks that finish at 16 inches. 

Now that I see the red and green together and have several blocks I'm thinking I'll make two twin sized quilts - one in red and green and the other in blue and orange and I'll just take this out of the RSC projects for 4.5 inch scraps and use scrap chunks to finish up blocks since the 4.5 inch scrap bin is starting to run low of scraps. 

I can't decide if I should put the blocks on point or...

...just sew them together in rows and columns. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday