This, That and The Other Thing and The Other Thing

I like to work on lots of different projects at one time. And that means that a lot of time sewn pieces and parts pile up behind the sewing machine and when blocks are completely finished they sometimes pile up at the end of the ironing board waiting for the final go under the iron. Yesterday I ironed. And this is the story of what I found to iron. 

The Kentucky Crossroads blocks were made in January. I made one back in November to see if I actually could make the block because it was inspired by a vintage quilt. The plan is to use civil war reproduction scraps. 

Postage Stamp Pandemic

I think I now have about 80 or 90 or so of these 8 inch blocks. 

Lynn's Legos

These are 13 inch Lego blocks made Lynn's (Klein Meisje Quilts) way from 1.5 x 2.5 pieces. I cut those pieces when I have scraps - kind of the end of the scrap fabric chain. My little collection box of pieces was full so I decided to see how many blocks were in there.  This is a pretty slow moving quilt for me and that's okay -- no hurry,, no worry.  (2023 or bust? It's just a load of scrap. 

Hearts

I belong to the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild ( a group of us who like to make and donate quilts). It has been a tradition to make six inch hearts to send to a member when a parent, spouse or child passes away.  Someone's father recently passed away and bright hearts were suggested. I used some butterfly scraps. Butterflies are symbols of metamorphosis.  I need to find an envelope and mail these now so they can wing their way to Bev. 

Speaking of hearts...I also made some four inch Hearts for me. I've been reading up on genetic cardiac disorders, sudden cardiac death (SCD) and sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) and that's what prompted me to make these.   I'm making them in reds and whites. I'll alternate light hearts on dark and dark hearts on light blocks. 

Hearts

The 2.5 inch flippy corners trimmed off of the Hearts were made into HSTs and then sewn into strips for my version of a vintage inspired quilt.  I just whack off those flippy corners with a scissors so they are not precisely trimmed so some HSTs might be wonky as well as the strips and I'm all right with that. 

I've been working on six inch Double Four Patch blocks in an effort to use up a lot of brown scraps. 

I have now finished all 120 blocks - 60 with dark chains and 60 with light chains. I'm going to put these blocks away for now into my "Some Assembly Required" (SAR) box because I just have too many tops piled up right now waiting to be quilted so don't want to keep adding to that pile right now.  And I've already fixed my two boo-boos that had to go under the ripper and needle. 

I also made Jacob's Ladder blocks (webbed together at the moment) with brown scraps so I have a lot of 3.5 inch and 2 inch brown and cream scraps - scraps of scraps- you know how those scraps breed faster than rabbits.  Well, anyway, I used up some of those brown 3.5 inch scraps and made some Four Patches I matched up mostly with yellow scraps since yellow scraps were out since it is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. 

Some of those brown 3.5 inch scraps were cut into four 2.5 x 3.5 pieces and matched up with some pieces from the Eight Patch project box. I have quite the accumulation of these blocks now. 

3.5 inch brown scraps less than a square were sewn into strips for future Chinese Coins quilts. Gosh I have quite a collection of these strips too. 

I used the brown and cream 2 inch scraps to make Little Bow Ties to add to my collection. I had to fix one little boo boo. 

I used the 3.5 inch and 2 inch cream scraps left over after making the Jacob's Ladder and Double Four Patch for the center and corners of Puss in the Corner blocks. The 2 x 3.5 inch sides were cut from homespun scraps left over after making a few quilt tops with homespuns and plaids.   These light cornered Puss in the Corner blocks will alternate with some dark cornered ones already made. 

A few miscellaneous blocks that got made when I came across scraps of a certain size. Horizon blocks are made from 5 x 9.5 scraps and the Bear Paws from 2.5 and 4.5 scraps. I have quite the collection of both of these blocks and at year end (if not before) will make them all into donation quilts. 

I also put some longer brown 2 inch scraps into the Trip Around The World (TATW) box. And there's a pile of brown 3.5 inch squares for the Squares Bin and a pile of two matching 3.5 inch squares for future Four Patches. There's a little pile of 2.5 inch squares for the Squares Bin and a few pieces for the box of Legos. 

And finally, I ironed some wonky QSTs and trimmed the dog ears. Someday they will all go into my version of a vintage inspired quilt. I have quite the accumulation of these and a center block made. Won't these be fun to put together!

And sew on...

 

Before-I-Forgets

Sometimes one thing leads to another around here. And when I think of what I should do with these scraps or that and an idea pops into my head I make a few blocks of said ideas before I forget about those ideas.   I try a few blocks and then decide if said ideas were good ones or so-so ones. 

I call those blocks I make "Before-I-Forgets". 

You know I've been working on six and three inch Nine Patch reduction this month. You may or may not also know that I love vintage quilts and so have lots of pictures of ones I've come across that I would like to make.   

Above is a block I wanted to try with some civil war reproduction scraps. It has a nine patch center.   

I think the block above is called Kentucky Crossroads; however, the picture I found (sorry, I forget to save where I saw it) called it Cross and Crown.  Well, anyway, I could not find a good pattern for it so I made one up. I like how it turned out but it turned out a weird size - 8 3/4 unfinished. That's okay with me because I'd rather have a weird size unfinished block than cut weird sized pieces in order to make a standard sized block. 

Well, here's the photo of the vintage quilt and my notes on making it. I wish I had enough cheddar for the background but I don't so I will use muslin for the background. 

While I was digging around in the box of civil war reproduction scraps to make Kentucky Crossroads I thought I might as well see what I could do to reduce that box of scraps. It's a BIG box of scraps. 

There's a bag of 2.5 inch width scraps. I found another vintage quilt photo I've wanted to try and thought I could use the 2.5 inch scrap bag for the squares for these blocks that alternate the placement of Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs) and Squares. I used 1.5 inch scraps to make the 2.5 inch unfinished QSTs. I cut them using the EZ Companion Angle ruler. 

I like how these look so I'll continue on. I will call this QST Nine Patch. 

I have a lot of wider 4.5 inch civil war repro scraps so looked around in a couple of books for ideas. I've made a couple of these Spiraling Flying Geese in the past and like how they turned out. So thought I would make another. 

Found in the book "History Repeated" by Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle. 

These are a quick make and I'll have 90 Flying Geese made in no time. Not sure what I will use for the "spiraling" fabric. I'll figure that out later. 

I also use the EZ Companion Angle ruler to cut fabric for the Flying Geese body. When I do that I first cut the beginning of the piece with the EZ Easy Angle ruler so it can be used to make an HST later.  The Flying Geese wings are cut with the EZ Easy Angle ruler. 

I went ahead and used those cuts to make 4.5 inch finished HSTs I will just put in the Parts Department for now. 

I also made little HSTs left over from making the QST Nine Patch blocks and then sewed them into strips of five.  I'm not really concerned if they end up wonky. I don't like trimming all that much and just snip of a few dog ears. 

I've been slowly sewing together waste triangles into strips for a quilt like the one above. 

While I was browsing through my "History Repeated" book I saw this photo of a Double Nine Patch quilt. Goodness gracious...I have a LOT of brown scraps. And I have some little 3 inch brown Nine Patches. Maybe I should make a quilt like this. 

I made a few "Before-I-Forgets" with some of the Nine Patches I had on hand. More to come. 

Still with Nine Patches in my mind I decided to try the Buckeye Beauty variation that combines little Nine Patches instead of Four Patches with HSTs.  How about I look at what I have for '30s reproduction scraps.  (There's a LOT of them). I made a couple of blocks but can clearly see I need to add in some solids, ginghams, polka dots and shirts or I will go cross eyed. 

Since these blocks uses 3.5 and 1.5 inch pieces I pulled out some '30s scraps that were at least 5 inches wide to use to make these blocks. 

In the '30s scraps I found a bag of 2.5 inch width scraps and a baggie of 2.5 inch squares. In the bag was the Ocean Waves pattern from Quilter's Cache I used to make my Ocean Waves quilt that is still in the hand quilting pile. That was started in 2014 and the top was finished in 2018 so these scraps are pretty old. 

I made a few HSTs and then made a Carpenter Star that finishes at 16 inches. I probably have enough scraps in that bag and baggie for 12 blocks so that's what will happen to those scraps. 

There's also a bunch of 3.5 inch width scraps. 

How about some 8 Patches?  I have been making some of these with the general population of scraps when I have them so I'm not sure if I'll combine these made with '30s with the general population or not. I'll use up the scraps and see how many I end up with. 

Depending upon the length of the 3.5 inch scraps if there is not enough for an 8 Patch then I just will make Four Patches for the Parts Department. 

And finally, while looking through the '30s repro scraps I came across a little pile of prints with animals and kids. I thought I would combine them with a little pile of solids and make these blocks that finish at 5 inches. Sixty-four of them should make a cute little baby quilt. 

Of course I had a photo of a vintage quilt or what I think is a vintage quilt. Anyway, I figured out how to cut pieces if I made blocks of 1.5 inch strips or 2.5 inch strips and opted for the 1.5 inch strips because I just have little bits of solids to use to make these blocks.