Red Scraps 3.5

Snowball Nine Patch

9 inch (finished) blocks

Made from 3.5 inch width scraps

Red is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for March. Last week I made my blocks from 2 inch width scraps. This week I'm using what is in the 3.5 inch width scrap bin.

NOT Disappearing Four Patch

9 inch blocks

Combining shirtings, homespuns and plaids with solids.

Uneven Nine Patch

7 inch blocks

3.5 inch squares with multicolor sashings

Four Patch

6 inch

Light and dark of same color.

I made all of these blocks and then happened to find more squares hidden away and I received some squares from a friend so went through those squares to make more blocks in red but in the past RSC colors of blue and green. I'm hoping to have an empty 3.5 inch width scrap bin by year end! 

Uneven Nine Patches

Four Patches

Hollow Nine Patches

9 inch blocks

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

From The 3.5 Inch Width Scrap Box

 

The other day I posted about digging into my 2 inch scrap bin with a plan to empty it by year end. I left off with four patches for Buckeye Beauty blocks. So, now I am continuing on into the 3.5 inch width scrap bin. I have pulled out the blues and used pieces long enough to cut and make HSTs to finish up Buckeye Beauty blocks. I have been making them from scraps since last year.

Then I dug into the blue 3.5 inch squares. Sets of four went into uneven 9 Patches with the center strips pulled out of the 1.5 inch width scrap bin. This is a new start. I will just make them all year and put them into comfort quilts at year end.

Sets of two squares went into Four Patches. This is a new start and I have no plan for them right now. At year end I will decide what to do with them. Quite possibly they may be used as an alternate block.

I made Hollow Nine Patches with novelty squares. This is another new start and will make a cute comfort quilt for a child.

Then I made Nine Patch Snowball blocks. I started making these back in 2023 According yo my UFO list; however, I did not get very far and only have nine blocks not counting these. I think I ran out of 3.5 inch width scraps and squares and have not worked on them since 2023. My goal is 48 blocks for a quilt like the one I made back in 2018. I think I will make goal this year!

Oh, and one other thing...I made a few more Streak of Lightning blocks from 2 inch width scraps. In my blog post the other day I mentioned I needed to make A and B blocks in order for my diagonal streak to appear. So I made B blocks...

...So now with A and B blocks I am streaking! 😉

I have a lot of longer blue 3.5 inch width scraps so will be working with those for awhile.

And sew on...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Four Patches

Four Patches

3 inch finished

Black, white and one other color.

I made 80 of them this week.

I now have met my goal of 270 of them. I started making them from 2 inch scraps and squares as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project back in 2023. 

The Four Patches will alternate with 3.5 inch solid squares in a quilt. I have been accumulating 3.5 inch width solid scraps so the next step is cutting those into squares. 

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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After a week of rainy days we are having beautiful weather again so I have been spending a lot of time in the gardens. I am clearing spots to winter sow some seeds that need 30-90 days of cold stratification. 

***

Finished a book! The Forgotten Children by Ann Bennett. WWII historical fiction. The lives of twin Jewish girls are changed forever after Kristallnacht.

 

And Now The Box Is Empty!

At the end of last month  I posed the question WITB? 

(What's in the 11 x 13 x 8.5 inch box of 3 inch width scraps?)

Most of the squares and scraps in that box came from several different friends this year. I usually have a block in process for almost every size scrap I receive; however, I rarely end up with 3 inch width scraps of my own and when I did I usually cut them in half for 1.5 inch pieces because I have several blocks in process that use that size of scrap. 

I was able to make 9 comfort quilt tops from the scraps in the box and I also made half of the blocks for another. 

I've been kind of obsessed with getting all those scraps used up this month. 

And now I have succeeded in emptying the box but not all the scraps are used yet. They are; however, assigned to different projects or cut for the Parts Department. 

Above is what I will call WITB #11 - Sawtooth Stars with orphan block centers.   I have a little pile of 24 -- 5.5 inch orphan blocks plus some 3 inch scraps to use for star points. I will probably use the same background on all of the stars.   I've put all of the parts and the example Sawtooth Star in a project bag and will make the stars at some later date. 

There are still some 3 inch brown squares left and I just sorted my brown scraps and found some more 3 inch strips so I will make some Hollow Nine blocks...

...and use them as alternate blocks for my 7.5 inch (finished) Churn Dash blocks. I have a partial set of brown Churn Dash blocks left over from all the Churn Dash blocks/quilts I've made in the past years. 

I actually have a box with three different projects that use brown scraps so the Hollow Nines and 3 inch scraps are now in that project box. I may work on some of those blocks next month when the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month is brown. 

I can't believe there were so many brown scraps. I previously used brown and cream squares cut on the diagonals as the sides for Pavement Pattern (Square in Square) blocks and I used brown and cream squares to make Unchained Melody. 

I had several scraps with cherries. So I put those in my little box of fruity scraps. 

The multicolor black and the black and white scraps when into their respective scrap bags. 

For one of my quilts I was only able to make 25 out of 48 Sawtooth Stars out of the green, orange and purple scraps in the box. I put them in a project bag and since I made those 25 stars I have found more 3 inch scraps in the designated colors so added those to the bag. 

This is WITB quilt #12 - Four Patch blocks. I put the ones I made awhile ago in a project bag and as I've been making blocks and tops this month I have set aside any small pieces that will yield 2 squares. They are in the project bag with the Four Patches now. I just need to go through my neutral scraps and cut some squares to be used in the Four Patches. When I get all the Four Patches made I'll count them and see if there are enough for a quilt. If not then I may alternate Four Patches with 5.5 inch squares. Time will tell. 

I have some 3 inch squares left. I will put these in the bin that holds all my different sized squares. 

I have a variety of longer strips left. I'm just going to put them in the Parts Dept. and they may get used as fillers or something like that when I make orphan block quilts.  

Then I cut remaining scraps into rectangles and squares.  The squares went into the squares bag. The rectangles are 3 x 5.5, 3 x 5, 3 x 4.5 and 3 x 2.   I have a box of bags of rectangles in all those different sizes (plus many others). 

And then any pieces between 1 and 2 inches got sewn into strips. I have  box of strips in all different widths that accumulate until there's enough for a Coins quilt of some kind. 

And sew on...

CELEBRATE ! (my word of the year)

Sept. 26 - Scraps! Scrap Quilts! 

 

WITB Top #1 - Complements

It's a top!

Complements

50 x 70

This one is made of four patches of 3 inch squares in complementary colors. 

I started on this one last year after someone gave me a big bag of 3 inch squares.   Since then I have received other 3 inch squares and 3 inch width strips in various lengths from other folks and I have been accumulating them all in a box. Normally I have a block going for every size scrap I encounter; however, I have really not ever generated many 3 inch width scraps of my own and in the past if I received some 3 inch width pieces I cut them in half for two 1.5 inch pieces because I usually have a lot of blocks in the works that use that size of scrap. When I received that gallon bag of 3 inch squares last year I decided to start making a few quilts with those scraps and start saving those scraps in a box instead of cutting them smaller.  

The other day I posed the question WITB? 

This is comfort quilt #1 ! 

Stay tuned! 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

*****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

August 27 - I received a box of orphan blocks, crumb blocks and fabric from Teresa. 

August 28 - With my Hy-Vee Grocery Store fuel saver card I saved $1.36 per gallon on gas. I only go grocery shopping twice a month and go on Mondays because if I spend over $45 on Mondays I automatically get 45 cents off per gallon. I even put gas in the lawn mower gas can. 

August 29 - I received a box of shirtings, homespuns and other plaids from Nann. That was the packing material for a couple of cute little ceramic items that had my city on it. Actually, I don't live in the city but live in the township so I guess it is actually my P.O. community/mailing city. But never mind...those little ceramics are cute little things. I may put dried flowers in them or some little fabric hearts/pocket prayers or they might make cute bases for pincushions.  What a lucky week I had - two surprise packages within a few days! 

I also made 8 pints of bread and butter pickles with my homegrown cucumbers and onions. 

Piecing Potpourri

I do a lot of piecing but sometimes don't get around to ironing things for quite awhile. I keep a box at the end of my ironing board and throw things into it that need to be ironed or trimmed. Usually it is  leaders/enders or Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) blocks or other block pieces I've kitted up to sew when I just want to do a whole lot of chain piecing at one time on a whole lot of different things. I don't really like to iron. Well, the box was getting full so I was forced into it. So...here's what I ironed...

9 inch Snowball blocks made with 9 Snowballs. Blocks with light and dark corners will alternate in the quilt.  These are a RSC project.  I made a quilt like it a long time ago and after my daughter saw it she asked if she could have it. Oh, yes, indeed!

3 inch Bow Tie blocks

I've been making these from scraps for a long, long time. My goal is 900 blocks and I think now I ony need about 40 more so will probably make my goal in July. 

10 inch Cheerio blocks

This is another RSC project. I started it a couple of months ago. I've made blocks from scraps in the color of the month plus I went through my 4.5 inch squares and pulled out any sets of 4 identical squares to make blocks. I cut block parts and sew pieces together when I'm on a piecing binge.

4 Patch HSTs

made from 3 inch width scraps left over from making last month's Sawtooth Star top. I use an Easy Angle Companion ruler to cut the Flying Geese bodies and I use the Easy Angle ruler to cut HSTs from the two ends so they don't go to waste.   I have a bunch of other 3 inch scraps that I will use to make more blocks for a child's quilt. The blocks finish at 5 inches. Maybe I will alternate them wth squares. Who knows?

Four Patches

made with 2 inch scraps.

My theme is "black, white, and one other color" in each four patch.

Four Inch Broken Dishes

Made with HST parts that resulted from making Flying Geese. See explanation above of rulers I use when making Flying Geese. I think the Geese that went with these fabrics were made into Twilight Flight blocks a few months ago. 

HST parts were the result of making QSTs last month for my Bramble Blooms II medallion center piece. Not sure what these will be used for. Just sewing up scraps.

More HSTs that came to me in a bag of scraps.  I haven't sewn them all yet. Not sure what they will be used for. 

And finally...some strip sets for a Coins quilt made with 2 inch scraps. I think I should see how many strips I have now in my little box of Coins. 

And sew on...

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

July 25 -- Finished a book!  - Levi's Eyes by Aphrodite Jones.  It is a true crime story. Karl Karlsen murdered his wife and 17 years later murdered his son for insurance money. It took more than 20 years to bring him to justice for both crimes.  I don't understand how a person could be so evil. It gives me nightmares. 

July 26 - I love grapefruit juice and drink a glass almost every day. 

 

Emptying Out A Bag of Three Inch Squares

Orange is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. I really don't have many more orange scraps except for a few crumbs and a few chunks. I decided to cut off a 3 inch width strip from a couple of orange chunks. 

Back in March I received a bag (gallon size?) of 3 inch squares and started making Four Patches with pairs of complementary colors.     I've been working on them since then as leaders/enders and saw I was only 26 blocks away from my goal of 140 blocks for a 50 x 70 donation quilt.   I had pairs of blues but didn't have any orange pairs to match with them so cut my squares from those 3 inch width orange strips. 

After that....

...I only needed 11 more Four Patches and so I made those and now...

...I have 140 Four Patches and there's some assembly required. 

Then I moved on to make blocks for donation quilt #2 from 3 inch squares.    I decided to make Four Patches in blacks, whites and one other color.  Again, my goal is the same size of donation quit so I need 140 Four Patches. 

I was able to make 53 Four Patches of blacks/whites/one other color with what was in the bag. So now I'll set these aside until I come across more black and white scraps. 

There were some novelty squares in the bag so I thought I would see how they would look in some 16 Patch Stars.   The blocks finish at 10 inches so I only need 24 blocks for a child's donation quilt.  There are more novelty squares in the bag but I'm going to look through my novelty scraps for a few more squares for variety before I make more blocks. 

I made a few Nine Patch blocks with the pastel and white squares. There's a lot of white squares but not that many pastels. 

I have a small box of pastel bits and pieces I rarely use so it might be a good idea to dig in and use some now to finish up blocks for a donation quilt. 

I pulled out sets of four brown 3 inch squares for the outside of the square in square blocks. The centers are 3.5 inch squares I pulled out of my 3.5 inch squares stash.  I'm not sure what I will do with the rest of the brown squares in the bag that aren't in sets of four.  Time will tell.

The block is called Pavement Pattern - tutorial by Beth Shibley - inspired by a vintage quilt.  And it's a new block just in time for June when the them in my sewing space is "brown stuff".  I have a giant bag of brown scraps waiting to be used in some of the Pavement Pattern blocks and lots of other stuff. 

So that's what will come out of that bag of 3 inch squares and then some. And if after all those blocks are made any squares are left over they will be cut into four 1.5 inch squares because I do have a postage stamp UFO.

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday