Crumb Stars Finish

 Crumb Stars

40 x 56

It will probably be donated to Wrap-A-Smile. But it and another Crumb Star quilt finished earlier this year might get gifted to a niece who is due to deliver twins this year.  (A little stork also told me two nephews and their wives will also be the recipients of new babies this year. With 31 nieces and nephews the stork stays busy with deliveries.)

 I made this crumb blocks last year as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. Each month I sewed together crumbs for the 4.5 inch centers in the color of the month. The star points usually matched the center and the backgrounds were made from scraps in a complementary color. 

 It's fun to see what shows up in little crumbs. 

The batting was pieced. The backing I had set aside eons ago to make a shirt. Then I set it aside in a backing pile to use on a small red/white quilt but then forgot it was for the red/white quilt so it got used as the backing for this quilt.  I quilted it with loops and stars on my Brother.  For the binding I used bits and pieces of leftover solid bindings from the leftover bindings bin.  I'm not a fan of sewing the binding on my machine but a lot of charities request that it be done that way. 

This was my goal #14

for

Q2 Finish-Along

Go Figure

 

 For a couple of years I've been making these blocks from 1.5 inch scraps as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. The blocks measure 6" x 14".  I have been keeping my 30s reproduction scraps in that size separate from other scraps so I could finish some String Stars.  I finished the 30s String Star blocks so recently made these blocks (and then some)  from those scraps. 

I've been calling these blocks Whatchamacallits for lack of a better name but then I saw Sally at The Objects of Design was calling them Bitcoins and I think I prefer that name so that's what I'll call them moving forward.  

 Speaking of moving forward...I decided I should figure out how many blocks I have and how many blocks I need. So I took count. I have 52 blocks. I want to set them 14 x 6 for an 84 inch square quilt. The colors will all be mixed up so I don't need to worry about how many of each color I need. I'll continue just using whatever shows up in the scrap bin. 

So if I make 32 blocks next year I'll have the makings of a quilt. 

I've also been making these little 3 inch rail blocks from 1.5 inch scraps for a couple of years. 

It's also time for me to figure out how many of these I have an how many I need. 

 I sorted them into piles of 50.  And was surprised I had that many.  Again, these will be all mixed up in the final quilt and not separated by colors into rows or columns so I don't need to worry about how many of each color I have. I can just go where the scraps take me. 

I like big quilts so decided I'd aim for one 90 inches square.  (You know I've never liked square quilts but it seems that's what I've been making lately for some reason).   As of today I have 591 blocks. I need a total of 900. So if I make 309 in 2019 I'll have the makings of a quilt top. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Green Scraps

 I just started making these HRTs last month from 4.5 inch scraps. 

 I also started making Fractured Rails blocks from 4.5 inch scraps in the color of the month mixed with a tone on tone in a complementary color..  

These blocks I make from 1.5 or 2.5 inch scraps.  The little pieces are 1.5 x 2.5. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

From the 3.5 Inch Scrap Bin

The last couple of years I've been making Bow Ties and Snowballs from the scraps in the 3.5 inch bin.  Now that the Bow Tie quilt is finished and the Snowballs quilt is at flimsy stage it's time to decide what to do with the few scraps that are still left in the 3.5 inch bin.  How about Broken Dishes blocks in complementary colors?  Green is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month and red is the complement. 

I've also been making little three inch (finished) rails for a couple of years from the 1.5 inch scraps but decided to use 3.5 inch scraps now to make them since the 1.5 inch scraps are running low. 

And the strip on the right side is what I make when the scrap ends up less than a 3.5 inch square. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

It's a Snowball Flimsy!

Snowballs

It's a flimsy

54 x 72

I started this Rainbow Scrap Challenge in January 2017. That year I used what was in my 3.5 inch scrap bin and made Snowballs with light corners.  This year I've been using what was in my 3.5 inch scrap bin to make Snowballs with dark corners. As I was making them I was thinking I would lay them out like a Lozenge quilt I made several years ago with alternating dark and light corners. 

I don't precut scraps for any size but I do sort scraps by size as they occur so some months I would have very few scraps of a color and other months I would have a lot of a color. I simply used what I had to make Snowballs. 

Last month when I had a large pile of blocks I played around with different settings and decided on a nine patch of blocks in the same color/corner which I thought was a little unusual and sort of vintage looking. 

After I made the nine patch blocks I made sure I had enough blocks to alternate dark and light and filled in a little again using the 3.5 inch scrap bin. 

I sewed the blocks together randomly - again a sort of vintage-y process. 

I like the top but it kind of looks like it has a few holes in it with all the neutral/light corner blocks.  But that's where the scraps took me. 

I still have a few 3.5 inch scraps in the scrap bin and have been cutting one inch off the end of those scraps and one inch off some other sizes to make some fun little log cabin blocks. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Those Crazy Ladies of the Lake

I have finally completed all 81 of the ten inch Crazy Lady of the Lake blocks.

This has been a RSC project for a few years. Each month I made a few blocks from scraps in the color of the month.  Here's the ones I just made that use blue scraps. 

And here's the final six blocks. 

Now I'm ready for assembly. The quilt that inspired this was a vintage one and when I was looking at it again a few days ago I noticed it was set on point.  I'm not sure I'm going to do that. There are many ways to set the blocks in regard to the orientation of the dark and light in the blocks.  I may actually have to use the rarely used design floor and dither a bit before I decide what to do. 

A lot of the centers (six inch HSTs) for Crazy Lady of the Lake are leftover HST halves from this 2014 Basket Bounty (Cake Stand blocks) quilt I made.  The rest of the Crazy Lady centers came from the scrap chunk crate. All of the smaller HSTs were made from 2.5 inch scraps. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

From the 4.5 Inch Scrap Box

 Last year I depleted a lot of the 4.5 inch scraps but I still have a few in the scrap box.  Last month I decided to make some sixteen inch Fractured Rail blocks.  I am making them in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month plus its complement. I really didn't want to use white as a complement for black so used gray instead. 

Last month I also started making HRTs from 4.5 inch scraps.  I had a lot more black scraps than dark blue.  And that's okay.  I just go with the flow of the scraps. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

From the 1.5 Inch Scrap Bin

 This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is dark blue/dark neutrals. This week I dug into the 1.5 inch scrap bin and made some blocks I call Whatchamacallits. They are a version of Coins. The pieces are 1.5 x 2.5.  This is the second year of making them. 

 I've been making little Rails for two years also from 1.5 x 3.5 inch scraps. 

 I made a lot of them this month from what was in the scrap bin. 

After I use the scraps in the 1.5 inch scrap bin to make the two different blocks...

...I've been putting them in a shoe box with some Spider Webs. 

I'm not sure why the 1.5 inch scrap bin isn't empty yet. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

From the 3.5 Inch Scraps

This year as one of many Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects I've been making Snowballs with dark corners from 3.5 inch scraps.   This month's color is dark blue/dark neutrals.  I don't precut scraps and just use whatever is in the 3.5 inch scrap bin when the time comes. 

In 2017 I made Snowballs with light corners thinking I would combine them all together randomly at the end of this year similar to a Lozenge quilt I made a few years ago.  

In July I decided to play around a little bit with the Snowballs and decided I would try something different instead of going with the Lozenge idea. 

 I started sewing together all the Snowballs into blocks of nine of the same color. 

I'll probably alternate dark and light blocks and make a twin sized donation quilt. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday. 

From the 4.5 Inch Scrap Bin

 I haven't had a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project for a couple of years that uses 4.5 inch scraps.  Last project I made Flying Geese and turned them into Stars using the Geese as the points.  I used almost all of my 4.5 inch scraps in bright rainbow colors. Since then I seem to have filled back up the 4.5 inch scrap bin. 

When I saw Patty's (Elm Street Quilts) HRT quilt top (and loved it) I figured that is what I should make with my 4.5 inch scraps.     The HRTs are 2.5 x 4.5 unfinished.  

 I used my Tric Rec ruler to cut them.  I made the brown ones first and ooops...I made a few backwards so there may be a few rogue HRTs in the top before all is said and done.  Or they may become an orphan block. Time will tell. 

I also made a 16 inch block using orange 4.5 inch scraps and the complement color of blue.  Kathy Doughty (Material Obsession) makes and uses these units in several quilts in her books.  I'm making simple rail fence blocks with them.   

And I'm thinking of adding nine patches to the list of blocks that come out of the 4.5 inch scrap bin but I haven't made any yet. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Orange Crumbs and Other Tidbits

 Crumb Stars from a galaxy far far away.

 Orange Crumby Yummies from Cathy's Confectionery Company

 Itty Bitty Nitty Gritty Fish from the deepest dark regions of the sea. 

I ❤ Slabs

 Crumb Mendota (off center square) blocks. 

 Scrappy and flowery Mendota blocks

 From the box of  wonky and waste triangles...black and orange...

 ...white and orange...

...four inch (or close to it) blocks. 

All bits and pieces to be assembled into donation quilts at year end. 

It should be fun.

It's also fun to see what everyone else does from week to week with orange scraps. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Orange 3.5 Inch Scraps

This week I dug into the Orange and Brown 3.5 inch scraps. 

That resulted in a few Snowballs with dark corners and a little strip. If a piece ends up to be less than a 3.5 inch square I sew those pieces into a strip. I used to throw them in the crumbs box but for awhile now I've been making some strips in the various sizes. I'll determine a use for them later. 

I normally make these little 3.5 inch Rail Fence blocks from the 1.5 inch scraps but I know there are only a couple of orange pieces in there so instead of cutting two 3.5 inch pieces off of a 1.5 scrap like usual I cut two 1.5 inch pieces off of the 3.5 inch scrap.   I do have lots of brown scraps in the 1.5 inch scrap bin so will make more brown rails when I get to those scraps. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Cleaning Up the Red Crumbs

 Two Slabs (twelve inch)

I work with my crumbs all month long. I have an old sewing machine set up with a couple of boxes of all colors of crumbs next to it.  That's my Crumb Machine.   I define crumbs as odd bits and pieces usually less than a six inch square. 

I've never been very successful at ridding myself of these crumbs so this year I decided to sew them together each month by color - the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.   And then I'm saving up all the blocks to make donation quilts at the end of the year.  I can't wait to see how many donation quilts I will be able to make. 

First of all, I usually pull the biggest regular shaped pieces out to make Slabs with heart centers. 

 Nine Mendota Blocks (Ten Inch Offset Squares)

These have five inch centers. So if I come across a big five inch crumb I set it aside for these blocks. If color is primary I use primary color for borders and if secondary color then it gets secondary color for borders. 

In the wonky HST box I found enough red/white HSTs in various sizes to make a quilt all by itself I think. I have an idea in mind but haven't gotten to it so set these aside to work on later. 

 Various Sized Orphans with HSTs

I sewed together the rest of the wonky HSTs that weren't red and white into a variety of blocks. The reason these are wonky is because I think most have been cut off blocks made with "flippy corners" and I don't cut them off leaving an accurate 1/4 inch...I just cut with scissors and eyeball it. Hey...what does it matter? The seam is already sewn.   I used to sew those flippy corner cuts together right away and throw them in a box but I've gotten sloppy over the years and now have a box of  flippy corners that need to be sewn into bonus HSTs as well. 

And I chain piece and discovered that when you sew the half pieces together for Pinwheels or Broken Dishes they are the same - just depends on how you arrange them.  I think I meant about half of them to be Pinwheels but arranged them as Broken Dishes. That's how I know. 

 This year I've also been making strips from the various sized scraps as I use them...for instance when I work from the 2.5 inch scraps and a piece ends up less than a 2 inch square I set it aside for a strip. Until this year I did not do that so those bits are in the crumb boxes.  Anyway...I dug out those pieces and made a strip and a couple of nine patches for the orphan box (orphanage). 

 Six Crumb Stars

I found a few pieces that were 4.5 inches that were just right for star centers. I've been adding a background in complementary colors. 

 From Cathy's Confectionary Company - Twelve Cherry Crumby Yummies

(If you look closely enough you'll see that a few are chocolate covered cherry flavored!)

For the Stars, Candies and Fish I usually sew crumbs together into several long strips trying to keep them about 4.5 inches wide.  I later then cut those into 4.5 inch squares. I was mindlessly chain piecing the blocks and was almost finished when I noticed I had left off those "flippy corners".  Well, I could have just left them as square candies but they just didn't look right so to the seam ripper I went.  This batch of candy ended up to be more work than expected!

And finally...

Twelve Itty Bitty Nitty Gritty Fish

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday