It's A Finish! Orphan Bertha's Crackers

It's a finish!

Orphan Bertha's Crackers

40 x 56

Someone sent me these 8 inch (finished) Cracker blocks a long time ago. I've gotten them out several times to put into a quilt; however, the block sizes, seam allowances, colors, fabrics were alll over the place and I just couldn't put the blocks together so they played nicely with each other. Normally I think Cracker Blocks should go together with all colored corners touching. I even thought of putting them into a few rows for a row quilt alternating with other blocks. Nothing ever satisfied me so the blocks always went back into the orphanage. 

Last December I was working on getting a lot of orphan blocks into tops and finally decided to deal with these blocks. I trimmed the ones that needed it to 8.5 inches trying to keep the seam allowances along the points at 1/4 inch. Some blocks had seam allowances over that, some under and some were just right. When I put the blocks together with the colored points all touching it was very obvious and really bothered me that seam allowances were not all right. Then I tried laying them out on the diagonal and the seam allowance discrepancies was not so noticeable.  Then there was the problem of colors and fabrics being all over the place. Some blocks even had two different colors in them. 

It worked it out so that warm and cool colors could alternate in the diagonal rows and Orphan Bertha was born.

I quilted it on my sewing machine - both sides of the block vertical and horizontal seams and then through the blocks on the diagonals.  

Orphan Bertha got a wild and crazy pieced backing. The top fabric is a multicolor polka dot.  The binding is scrappy and came out of the leftover binding box.

When all was said and done and I was getting Bertha ready for a bath I noticed a small stain on that polka dot backing fabric.  I rubbed in some Grandma's Secret Spot remover, waited a few minutes and then rubbed it with a little water to try and remove stain.  After stain was removed I looked at the front and noticed almost every color of fabric from yellow to purple bleeding. Oh, for Pete's Sake, Bertha, you are such a problem child!  So I boiled some water and immediately put her to soak in a Dawn Bubble Bath.  She came out looking her Sunday Best. 

And sew on...

I just added a page at the top of my blog with pics of orphan block quilts finished within the last year or so if you are interested. 

Now it is ready for donation to Wrap-A-Smile.  There has recently been an urgent call for quilts because there are more upcoming Rotaplast missions than prevously anticipated. That's a good thing.

"Rotaplast International, Inc. is committed to helping children and families worldwide by eliminating the burden of cleft lip and/or palate, burn scarring, and other deformities. Working with local professionals, Rotarians, and other organizations, Rotaplast sends multidisciplinary medical teams to provide free reconstructive surgery, ancillary treatment, and training for the comprehensive care of these children." Wrap-A-Smile provides each child undergoing surgery with a quilt. 

I have donated quilts to Wrap-A-Smile since 2013 (I think) and every once in awhile it is fun to spot a quilt I made with a child. I just added a page at the top of my blog with pics of kids around the world I have spotted with a quilt I've made. 

If you are interested in donating quilts to Wrap-A-Smile (WAS) please read the WAS Guidelines and WAS Shipping Info.  Or you can email me and I'll be happy to answer your questions. 

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REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

A few weeks ago I started tomato seeds under lights in a corner of my sewing space. 

They are all heirloom tomatoes. The Rainbow's End mix contains Brandywine, Marvel Stripe and Green Zebra seeds. The Summer Feast blend contains Black Krim, Persimmon and Costoluto. I like how they dye the seeds of the varieties in the mixes different colors so you know exactly what to expect. I planted a few seeds of each variety except for the Green Zebra. I planted more seeds of the Jersey Devil because that is a big meaty paste tomato I really like for canning and freezing; sauces and salsas.  I'm trying Peron for the first time this year. The "Peron" or "Peron Sprayless" tomato is a 1950s heirloom variety developed in Argentina known for its disease resistance and high yields, earning it the nickname "Sprayless".  We shall see if that is true!

The seedlings were outgrowing their seed starting tray so yesterday I moved them into bigger pots. 

The "bigger pots" are big plastic cups with holes punched in bottom for drainage. As you can tell I've been using same cups for years. After I plant my seedlings into the garden I wash the cups in Dawn with a few drops of bleach.   I now have 27 tomatoes in plastic cups. That's too many for me especially now that hubby can't swallow and eat real food. I'll be giving some plants away to a few folks but most folks I know prefer that I give them the ripe tomatoes instead. And I'm okay with that too!

 

I Thought I Left Orange Behind in the 70s

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is Orange. 

I really haven't had many orange scraps in previous RSC years. I don't really like orange.  I thought I left it behind in the 70s when most of our walls were painted apricot, orange or peach, our carpet was brown and gold shag and most of our plant pots were wrapped in macrame (and we wore flowers in our hair). 

So, I dug through my 2.5 scrap box and yikes...Who put all of those orange scraps there? 

First up...any 2.5 piece that is at least 24 inches (length of my cutting mat) long I put in a pile for my kaleidoscope blocks.   I then pair those pieces together, sew them together, cut wedges with kaleidoscope ruler and make my blocks.  (That fruit salad kaleidoscope was two different fruit fabrics and together that block kind of makes me cross-eyed.)

Then the scraps left over after cutting kaleidoscope wedges gets made into four patches.  I have a pile of four inch blocks that will get made into a kitchen sink type quilt some day. 

After the kaleidoscopes are made any piece that is at least 18 inches long gets cut and made into Cracker blocks. 

After the Crackers scraps get cut into 5 inch pieces and made into Lozenges  Suppositories.

Next I find some neutral 2.5 scraps and pair them up with any remaining pieces of orange and use my ez angle ruler to cut HSTs.   The HSTs get made into 8 inch Depression blocks and any other HSTs get made into a variety of 4 inch blocks and go into the Kitchen Sink pile I talked about above. 

And finally if there are any pieces that I can cut 2.5 inch square I make those into Twinklers. 

And that's the end of the story as to how I use 2.5 scraps no matter how they got here. 

We all need a little orange in our lives lest we get scurvy, matey. 

Got any orange scraps in yours? 

Use them up and join us for ScrapHappy Saturday

And, I'm going to join up with Scraptastic Tuesday...another link where the scraps are on parade in all sorts of awesome projects. 

Odds and Ends or Bits and Bobs?

Nine - 9 inch Double Nines for Block Lotto

I didn't realize I had so many black and white prints. 

I hope I win this time. Wouldn't these look nice with some turquoise, raspberry or lime green blocks? 

Six inch Pentland Cracker blocks. I'm getting ready for a swap with Block Swappers Yahoo Group.  And, I'm making more each month from scraps as one of my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

3 inch mini bow ties for a swap with some ladies with the Quilting Bee Yahoo Group.  I'm also going to make more of these each month from scraps. 

Making parts of Sunny Lane blocks from civil war reproduction fabrics for a a swap with Block Swappers Yahoo Group. 

Two red 12 inch Ohio Star blocks for Lorene as requested for her birthday.