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Pavement Pattern

I started making blocks in June 2023.

Pavement Pattern Tutorial by Beth Shibley

The blocks were inspired by a vintage quilt. 

And sew on...

Pavement Pattern

Pavement Pattern blocks has been one of my leader/ender projects. I started making them in May of last year. I have enough pieces cut for 35 blocks and will soon have those finished. Then I am going to decide if I have anything to use for sashing or if I should make more blocks.  I have been using brown scraps to make these blocks following a tutorial by Beth Shibley. 

This year I am continuing on with my own monthly themes to move UFOs forward.   This month my theme is "Browns and Blues".  

I don't normally pick a word for the year but we have had a rough couple of years with many family members passing away, others with critical illnesses and if you read my blog once in awhile you know about my husband's health problems and that I've been his caretaker for awhile.  With all that going on it is sometimes difficult to stay in a positive frame of mind. So this year I chose a word -- CELEBRATE. And I'm going to try to find something each day to celebrate. 

CELEBRATIONS:

Jan. 1 - Several of hubby's surviving siblings (he is oldest of 8) came from NC, TX and other parts of IA to visit for a few days.  

Jan. 2- Hubby's visit with pulmonologist showed that most of the fluid on his lungs (from aspiration pneumonia and from  6 months of aspirating food and drink because he can no longer swallow) is almost gone.

 

Jan. 3 - Hubby's lab work showed that his critically low sodium is finally now within normal range. Confusion and tremors in hands are gone. 

Jan. 4 - Another seed catalog full of colorful photos arrived yesterday full of all kinds of seeds I want to order. 

 

I Haven't Managed To Make A Molehill Out Of A Mountain

8 inch

  Patchwork Stars

made with 2.5 inch scraps. 

Goal: 63 blocks

Current count: 6

Brown Stuff

has been the theme in my sewing room this month. I moved along a few brown UFOs and scraps but I have not managed to make a molehill yet out of that mountain of brown scraps. But I am ending the month with three brown comfort quilts in process so I am headed in the right direction.  This month I used mostly bits and pieces of brown scraps already cut to a certain width to mke blocks and have not cut into many scrap chunks yet. 

6 inch

18 Patch

made with 1.5 inch scraps

Goal: 108

Current count: 34

8.5 inch 

Pavement Pattern

made with 3 and 3.5 inch scraps.

I'm thinking this quilt will have a 2 inch sashing with cornerstones.

Goal: 35 blocks

Current count: 17

And sew on...

This week was definitely a NOT FINISHED week.

Finished or NOT FINISHED Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Pavement Pattern

The theme in my sewing room this month is "brown stuff". I'm using a monthly theme to help me move forward some UFOs as well as scraps that fit the theme. 

Pavement Pattern Blocks

3.5 inch square centers

3 inch squares cut on diagonal for sides

I received a bag of 3 inch squares last month and I decided to use the brown and cream squares in that bag (if there were 4 matching squares) and then go to scraps to make these blocks.  I also used pairs of 3.5 inch squares from my Parts Department and then went to scraps.  I've used up all my squares on hand in the making of these blocks and so moving forward they will all be made of my brown and cream scraps. 

Pavement Pattern Tutorial by Beth Shibley

The blocks were inspired by a vintage quilt. 

These blocks were meant to be.  At the time I was pondering what to do with the brown squares in the gifted 3 inch squares I received last month someone with Stashbusters group  posted a link to the Pavement Pattern video.   My old laptop computer does not do well at all with videos so I rarely watch them.  But I saw this one was by Beth Shibley who used to blog at Love Laugh Quilt and since I always liked her work I thought I would try to load and get through the video for the block - basically looking for the measurements for the Square in Square blocks.  And then I had a new start! Add these 8 blocks to the 4 I made last month and now I have an even dozen and something that will maybe help whittle down that mountain of brown scraps. 

And sew on...

 

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