Loose Ends: QSTs

 

I ironed and trimmed a few QSTs!!

I use a variety of things as leader/enders. I toss them in boxes for ironing and trimming but never seem to get a lot of ironing done. I figured since the theme in my sewing room this month is " loose ends" I would try to empty a couple of those boxes of leader/enders. 

Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs)-

 also called Hourglass

Most are around 2 inches. A lot of them are wonky. Some are from binding joins. Some are floppy corner cutoffs or waste triangles. I iron and twirl seams and cut off dog ears but don't trim them up to any size.

After ironing and trimming they go into a box with others. 

I have a medium flat rate priority box almost full of them. 

I have been making them since 2021. 

Competition Quilt. about 1895. hand pieced cotton, silk, linen; hand quilted; machine stitched backing. Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Guido Goldman. 2008.406.

(Picture from Denver Art Museum)

I just love love love to infinity this quilt and decided I would make something similar but use my wonky QSTs instead of HSTs. As I mentioned, I'm not squaring up my QSTs. I will just make "made fabric" out of them for the borders and not worry so much about points matching up. Then i will trim the  "made fabric" border. My version of the vintage quilt is definitely NOT going to be a competition quilt like the original. 

I have had the center block made for my quilt for quite awhile. 

And sew on...

In The Pink Again

8 Patch

8 inch blocks

Made from 2.5 or 4.5 inch width scraps

I now have 19 blocks and target is 63.

Posies

8 inch blocks

Pieces cut from floral scrap chunks. 

I now have 43 blocks. Target is 63 blocks.

Posie corner cut offs got made into little Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs). I haven't trimmed the dog ears off yet. After I do they will go into a box with all the other QSTs made from cut offs over the years and someday they will all get made into a quilt. 

Wonky Windmills

8 inch blocks

Made with 4.5 or 5 inch width scraps. 

I made a pile of them last year and made one child sized quilt top mostly from novelty windmills. I divided up the ones left over after that into a pile of florals and a pile of geometric, etc for two twin sized quilts.   Two of these will go into the floral pile and the rest into geo,etc. 

Target for both quilts is 63 blocks. I now have 20 floral and 23 geo, etc. blocks. 

And sew on...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

***

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

One of the seven different Amaryllis my husband gifted me is in bloom. There's one stalk with two blooms open and two more flowers on that stalk ready to open. And there's another stalk!  It is getting top heavy. This one came in it's own plastic pot along with coconut coir for the planting medium. I might have to find a big rock to put in the pot to keep it from tipping over. 

 

Decisions, Decisions! Moving Forward!

This month's theme in my sewing room is 1930s.  Back in January 2011 I started making Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks with 1930s reproduction fabrics. I chose those fabrics because my grandmothers were farmer's wives and those fabrics remind me of them. 

The Farmer's Wife Sampler calls for 111 six inch blocks.  As I made blocks I just inserted them in the book. 

I haven't worked on this quilt for a very long time and I think I completed almost half of the 111 blocks. 

Back then I worked on the simpler blocks that did not require me to use the templates. And now all these years later I don't think I want to make any more sampler blocks but I do want to use the ones I have made.  I was thinking maybe I could use an alternate block.  And I figured if I did use an alternate block then maybe I could make a quilt with 10 blocks x 12 or 13 blocks which would be a 60 inch by 72 or 78 inch quilt. 

I do have some six inch orphan and swapped blocks I can use to supplement my Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks and so came up with 65 blocks to use with an alternate block. 

I tried a Quarter Square Triangle (QST) as the alternate block. I chose Kona Snow and Kona Spring Green to use as the fabrics and made sure I had enough of both of those before I tried some test blocks. I stocked up on those two Kona colors before I retired to use with the '30s repro fabrics. The green reminds me of the color green my paternal grandmother (of Irish ancestry) used in her quilts and the Kona Snow is a good alternative to muslin. Although I do think I have some whiter Kona than Kona Snow mixed together in the stash. I'll use whatever.  

Ok. So I guess I like the QST as an alternate block so guess I need to make a few more and move this really old UFO forward. 

And sew on...

 

November Triangles

I have had several different large shoeboxes of triangle parts cluttering up my sewing room. They have accumulated for a number of years. There are cut off flippy corners, cut off binding joins or pieces given to me; if I cut Flying Geese or Quarter Square triangle pieces with an Easy Angle Companion ruler then I cut an HST from the beginning and end of the fabric strip with an Easy Angle ruler.  

I've been trying to empty the boxes for quite awhile and usually use the parts as leaders and enders. 

This month I saved up all the pieces and parts I've sewn together for one blog post. 

Above are some of the HSTs cut when I cut Flying Geese bodies for a May 2016 finish called Butterfly Garden.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the HSTs now. 

I have 24 sets of four HSTs that finish at 4.5 inches. Maybe I'll make the Broken Dishes blocks and then use them as the center for a medallion quilt. Maybe...

I think these parts were all given to me. The sets of four with neutral will now go on to become Monkey Wrench blocks. The others will go into baggies sorted by size. 

I think these green HST parts were left over from cutting Flying Geese for a March 2021 finish called Pea Soup.  I had to cut some neutral scrap HSTs to pair up with the green parts.   Now I think these 4.5 inch HSTs will be made into Broken Dishes blocks. I have collection of Broken Dishes blocks now in several different sizes.  I will use them in donation quilts. 

These are little Broken Dishes blocks made from the waste triangles left after trimming 9 inch Snowball corners in a Snowball/Nine Patch quilt top made a few months ago.  I have a few more Snowball/Nine Patch quilts with novelty fabrics picked out so maybe after I make a couple of those quilts I will have enough flippy corner waste triangle broken dishes blocks for another kiddo sized quilt. Time will tell. 

Most of these HST parts were cut with the Easy Angle ruler from the beginning and ends of strip pairs used to make Flying Geese for Sawtooth Star points in a neutral baby quilt finished for my niece in May 2021. 

Miscellaneous pieces and parts I made into HSTs and then into Broken Dishes.  Most of these just go into the Parts Department but a few of them...

...that finish at 3 inches will be used to make some Squared Away blocks.  Someone in our Stashbuster Group was making them and I was inspired to make some too. I think this will turn into a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. Each month I will go through my little stash of Broken Dishes blocks and look for sets of four in the color of the month and then make a block or two. 

I found a little baggie of sets of four Flying Geese with white. Someone must have given them to me. I looked through my 3.5 inch squares for centers for Sawtooth Stars and cut some white squares for the corners. They turned out cute. I guess I will add them to the orphan blocks.

Then I made some waste triangles into Quarter Square Triangle (QST) blocks. 

I have quite a collection of QSTs now. I don't really care if they are wonky. I'm going to make a medallion quilt out of them inspired by a vintage quilt. Some of these are wonky and different sizes but I am just going to sew them all together into made fabric for some rounds of the medallion. I have my center star already made and am ready to move forward but I just have not been in the mood to tackle the project yet. 

Then I sewed together some 1.5 inch HST parts and then sewed some of those into strips of 5. Again, some of these are wonky and there are different sizes and colors.  Most of these came from making QSTs for the Clarissa quilt top finished in January 2021. 

I have a little box of strips of HSTs. Maybe someday I will have enough to make a quilt inspired by a vintage one. Mine will be a little different because I hope to use different sizes of HSTs between 1 and 2 inches.   

More to come! My boxes are not empty yet. 

And sew on...

 

September Blues Part IV

Zip Blocks

6 x 9 finished

Light blue is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for September.

I finished up the last of my blue Zip blocks. I now have 42 blocks that I will set 7 x 6 for a child sized donation quilt. 

And then I used up all the 2 inch scraps left over after I made the Zip blocks.  I cut the QST (Quarter Square Triangle) pieces with an Easy Angle Companion ruler. The beginning and end of the 2 inch pieces were cut into HSTs with the Easy Angle ruler.   I made Four Patch QSTs that I will use as an alternate block with Four Patches I made last year.  With the HSTs I made some Broken Dishes blocks that finish at 3 inches.  I also cut some HSTs with the Easy angle ruler to use as the corners on the Indian Hatchet blocks that finish at 4 inches. 

I also made a few 3 inch Bow Tie blocks. I think I have over 450 Bow Ties in my collection now. 

Then I cut 2 inch squares for the Parts Dept. --- a pile with 4 squares the same, a pile with 2 squares the same and single squares. 

Then anything less than a 2 inch square but greater than 1/2 inch was sewn into a Chinese Coins strip. 

And sew on...

fyi - I'm going to be away for a few days. 

 

September Blues - Part II

Zip Blocks

6 x 9 finished

Blue (actually light blue) is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. I'm using all blue scraps that I didn't use when the RSC color was bright and dark blues. 

Zip block tutorial at Klein Meisje Quilts. 

I made blue  Zip Blocks as well as a couple others I had cut out previously when I ran across 2 inch scraps long enough to make blocks. And, oops! ...now that I see the photo this batch was made incorrectly. I usually have the solid up in the top left. Maybe I'll just leave them as is and sneak them into the mix. These blocks are going toward an adult sized comfort quilt so when all is said and done I'll probably make 90 blocks so a few oopsies in the mix might not be noticed. And if I make two more the "wrong" way then all nine blocks could go into their own column and all "zip" along and dance to a different drummer than the rest. 

I had some lighter blues in my scraps so I started a different set of blocks for a child sized quilt with a layout of 7 x 6. I think I have enough lighter blues for that many blocks and will use white in all the blocks instead of different solids. 

Monkey Wrench

7.5 inch finished

I've been working on emptying a couple of shoe boxes of HST parts and came across quite a few sets of four HSTs with yellow. I previously made those into Monkey Wrench blocks. I also found some yellow HST halves and so matched them up with some blues to make more Monkey Wrench blocks. I'm aiming for 48 blocks for a child sized donation quilt. 

Four Patch QSTs

6 inch finished

cut with Easy Angle Companion ruler and 2 inch width scraps. I will use these as alternate blocks to some 6 inch Four Patch blocks left over from last year. 

I cut the beginning and end of the 2 inch strip with the Easy Angle ruler and make those into little Broken Dishes blocks that finish at 3 inches. 

With a few blue 3.5 inch scraps I made Snowballs that finish at 3 inches. These will be an alternate block to some 3 inch nine patches with light corners.   I cut 4 -1.5 x 3.5 inch pieces to make Switch Plate blocks with light centers.

Bow Ties

3 inch finished

Chinese Coins strips with 2 inch leftovers less than a square. 

Remaining 3 inch scraps got cut into squares. The pile on the left has four squares of the same fabric for the Monkey Wrench parts box. I'll be making those in three sizes all next year from scraps.   The pile on the right will go into the squares box for some as yet unknown future project. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Scrap Processing: 2 Inch Pieces

Indian Hatchets

4 inch finished blocks

inspired by a vintage quilt

I recently received a very large box of very small scraps from a quilty friend. I immediately started sorting and making blocks to add to my different collections of small blocks. The first scraps I pulled were what looked like at least 2 inch or a little bit wider but less than 2.5 inches width pieces - some long, some short. 

The Indian Hatchet blocks use four 2.5 inch squares in addition to 2 inch pieces. The four 2.5 inch squares I had previously cut and had ready in a parts box.   For the Indian Hatchet corners I sometimes use 2 inch squares but sometimes I also cut triangles with an Easy Angle ruler. 

Sometimes they end up a little wonky but I'm all right with that - wonky or not they are cute little blocks. 

Zip Blocks

6 x 9 inch finished

Instructions for the block found at Klein Meisje Quilts

Bow Ties

3 inch finished

I think I have over 400 of these now. 

Four Patch QSTs

QSTs finish at 3 inches and Four Patch QST finishes at 6 inches. They will be an alternate block for Four Patch blocks made last year. 

I cut the QSTs from 2 inch width strips and use an Easy Angle Companion ruler. Rather than waste the beginning and end of the 2 inch width piece I cut an HST at beginning and end of the strip with the Easy Angle ruler. I've been turning those HSTs into little Broken Dishes blocks that finish at 3 inches. 

2 Inch Squares

After I make all those blocks any leftovers get cut into 2 inch squares for the Parts Department. (Yes, I need a new cutting mat. Look at those grooves. Groovy, in this case, is not a good thing). 

And, if there is a piece less than a 2 inch square and at least 1/2 inch wide then it gets sewn into strips for a future Chinese Coins quilt. 

And sew on...

I think the 2.5 inch pieces will be processed next. Or maybe the 1.5 inch pieces. Time will tell. There's a few other things going on in the sewing space in addition to scrap processing.