A Switch Plate Flimsy

It's a flimsy!

Switch Plates

60 x 82

I've been trying for a couple of days to get a photo of this top but it has either been raining or very windy. This was about the best I could get before the top turned into a kite and flew away. 

So I took some close up photos indoors.

I started making blocks as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project back in 2022 I think. I made blocks from 1.5 or 3.5 inch scraps long enough for four 1.5 x 3.5 inch strips (the plate) and I used 1.5 x 3.5 neutral scraps for the center switch. 

Last year (2024) I had enough blocks for a top - 320. I put the blocks in a bag and put the bag in the SAR (Some Assembly Required) bin. 

I dug out the bag this month because emptying bags as well as moving UFOs with 1.5 inch scraps forward have been my focus for this month as well as using yellow scraps.

When I started to assemble the top I decided to stagger blocks in columns so made a few more Switch Plates so I could cut some in half to use at the top or bottom of every column. 

Sometimes I think they look more like windows than switch plates.

And sew on...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

***

 WITB (What's in the Box, Bin, Bag) is the theme in my sewing space for the month of March. I've been trying to see how many bags, bins and boxes I can empty to move a few UFOs forward. 

I've also been working with yellow scraps this month because that is the March Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color. 

And I don't always follow the challenges issued by the Scrapbuster group but this month the challenge is 1.5 inch scraps. I have been trying to empty a couple of boxes of those this month.

And now that the Switch Plates are in a top I'm left holding the (empty) bag! 

I'm keeping score of what bags and boxes emptied this month:

Boxes:

1- Coins

2 - Legos

3 - 1.5 inch width scraps

Bags:

1 - Kaleidoscope

2  - solid 1.5 inch strips for 51 Waffles

3 - 1.5 inch strips for 9 Legos

4 - Windmill blocks

5 - Happy Block parts

6 - Posies

7 - 1.5 inch strips for 78 Rail Fence blocks

8 - Four Patch parts

9 - 1.5 inch strips for 92 strip sets for Boo Boo Patches

10 - 1.5 inch width strips cut into rectangles and squares

11 - Tumblers

12 - Four Patch parts

13 - Sawtooth Stars 

14 - Sawtooth Stars

15 - Switch Plates

***

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

I received a box of treasure (scraps) from Donna yesterday. Oh joy! They are already sorted and ready to be made into something(s). 

And Now There Are 320+

Switch Plates

3 x 5

I've been making Switch Plate blocks for a long time - maybe a couple of years- from 1.5 inch width scraps. A few times I've made them from 3.5 inch width scraps. They have been a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project so I've been making them a few at a time from scraps I happen to have in that month's color.  I don't think I've ever actually cut any 1.5 inch width strips in order to make these. I've just waited for scraps to happen.   I have been blessed this year with scraps from a lot of folks. As I sort scraps I first sort pieces less than a 6 inch square by width like 1.5 inch or less than 2 inch that I will cut down to 1.5 inch.  Then after I have a pile of 1.5 inch scraps I sort those by project. So...any strips at least 14 inches go into a pile for these blocks; strips at least 10 inches go into piles for little Windmills and so on.  

So, anyway, I've been making these blocks for awhile but have not been counting them. My bag was getting pretty full so decided it was time to count them the other day. 

Total count was 232. 

So I figured out what size quilt to make. How about a 20 x 16 blocks (staggered) for a 60 x 80 inch quilt. In my head I figured I needed 98 more blocks (later after I made 98 I realized my head math was incorrect and I only needed 88) so I dug into that pile of 1.5 inch scraps and made 98 blocks. 

Now I have a complete block set ready for assembly.

And sew on...

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Sept. 4 - I spent a couple of hours browsing through catalogs and then I ordered some bulbs for fall planting and I ordered some seeds for fall and winter sowing. 

 

Orange Itty Bits

Boo Boo Patches

(18 Patches)

3 x 6 inch

I didn't get much done on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) blocks this week.  I just worked with some of the longer orange 1.5 inch width scraps in the orange scrap bag. 

Switch Plates

3 x 5 inch

I've been making both of these blocks from scraps for more than a year so maybe one of these days I should take count and figure out what size quilt I am making! 

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

****

CELEBRATE ! (My word of the year)

August 7 - I love wind chimes!  Over the years I've been given several wind chimes so I have them in all the gardens. My fav is the one my niece gave me in memory of my granddaughter Kayla who passed away a couple of years ago. On the clapper it says - "Listen to the wind and think of me. I am always with you."  It's been windy so I've been seranaded by thoughts of Kayla. 

August 8 - Oh what a beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day!  Oh gosh, has the weather been beautiful - cooler temps, less humid and breezy. I've been working outside a lot lately - weeding, cutting scrub brush, harvesting, deadheading, planting.  I even stopped to smell the roses a few times! 

August 9 - Lots to celebrate...

 For the last 3.5 years I have had an appt. with an opthamologist every six months because I am glaucoma suspect. I still don't have glaucoma and actually she said my eye pressure was better than normal and visual field test was good.  Oh, thank goodness! 

On my way home I saw sweet corn at a stand - a dozen for $4. A deal!  (The grocery store has been selling it for 3 ears for $4) And it was delicious! I plan to blanche and freeze half of it.   I haven't grown sweet corn for years. When it would be ready for harvest the raccoons would go through the patch and tear off the ears and take a bite out of each.  A couple of years of that and I said "never again"! 

I dropped two boxes of quilts (12 total) off at the UPS. I mailed them to a lady who is a coordinator for both Wrap-A-Smile and Quilts Beyond Borders. She will get them to the places where there is most need at this time.   That makes 54 quilts I have donated so far this year! 30 of the 54 went to a local foster care group - Fostering Crossroads.

 

Itty Bits

Bow Ties

3 inch

I have been making these for a few years as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC). My goal was 900 Bow Ties for a 30 x 30 layout. I have now (finally!) reached that goal.

Note that last Saturday Angela called dark neutrals as the RSC color for the month for August. So I started right away making blocks with my dark neutral scraps. Then she evidently changed her mind on Sunday to orange for August and dark neutrals for September  but I did not see that change until this morning so I'm going to maybe have a mix of dark neutrals and orange scraps throughout August and September. In addition I did not have many aqua scraps for July so was saving the few I did have to mix with August's color.   So anyway...for me the next two months of working on RSC blocks will have a mix of orange, aqua and dark neutrals. 

18 Patch

6 inch

I have been making these blocks only in browns and creams.  I'm aiming for 120 blocks for a 10 x 12 layout.

Most of my blocks this week were made with 1.5 inch width scraps. I have been fortunate lately to have a lot of folks send me scraps. I usually sort anything less than a 6 inch square into sizes by strip width and then I usually have a block in process that covers each width of strip. Anything more than a 6 inch square gets sorted by color.  

Boo Boo Patch

3 x 6

So called because I made a mistake when cutting my pieces. I meant for the strip sets to be cut into 2.5 inch pieces so I could make the 18 patch blocks in the previous photo.  That happened last year and I've been making Boo Boo Patches in all colors. Maybe I should count blocks now and see if I have enough for a quilt of any size. 

More Boo Boo Patches

3 x 6

Aqua scraps plus in recent scraps I received there were a few strip sets already made with a color and neutral so I cut them up to make blocks plus I had a 1.5 inch purple scrap sitting there after I made the recent Purple Poindexter orphan block top so it got made into a Boo Boo Patch right away. 

Switch Plates

3 x 5

I think I've been making these for a few years too. Maybe I should count them and decide upon quilt size. 

Windmills

4 inch

Maybe I should count these too! 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

August 2 - I'm starting to see a lot of butterflies flitting from flower to flower in my gardens. They especially love the Zinnias.

 

The Blues - Chapter I

Little Baskets

4 inch

All baskets have cream/tan/taupe backgrounds and brown baskets.  When all is said and done these will be set on point and the blocks will alternate with squares of a basket print. 

Blue is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for June.  This week I worked with all the 1.5 inch width pieces I found. 

Boo Boo Patches

3 x 6 inches

So named because originally I meant to cut 1.5 x 2.5 pieces.

Windmills

4 inch

Switch Plate

3 x 5

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

****

CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

May 28 - Finished a book - The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz. Good vs. evil, synchronicity, quantum physics, AI and the power of positive thinking and hope. 

May 29 - Found my second four leaf clover this year. Poor thing was in some weeds and it looks like an insect or two took a few bites. 

May 30 and May 31 - I noticed the roses have started blooming and I had not even properly pruned, weeded and fertilized them yet so I spent several hours for  two days amongst the roses. It's always nice to stop and smell the roses too.  I also said a few prayers and did quite a bit of positive thinking. We are once again waiting to hear if my husband John has cancer. 

In The Pink Part I

Boo Boo Patches

3 x 6 inch finished

Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for May. 

This week I dug into my pink scrap bag and took out all of the 1.5 inch width pieces I could find. 

Little Baskets 

4 inch finished

Windmills

4 inch finished

Switch Plates

3 x 5 inch finished

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

May 3 - Finished the book Elsewhere by Dean Koontz. The Key to Everything might have been a better name. (I know I would not ever want to be trusted with the Key to Everything).  The book is a fantasy that explores the multiverse theory and travel between parallel worlds. What if?  Also I had to laugh a few times when I read about bad guys with names like Yessman and Canker and a scientist that invented travel between parallel worlds named Harkenbach.  

 

This And That

Twilight Flock

6 inch blocks

I was busy with my quilting marathon in March so I did not get any Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks made. This month I need to catch up on a few blocks and colors. I made my yellow blocks and had a few other 2.5 inch scraps near my cuting mat so turned those into Twilight Flock blocks too. 

Bow Ties

3 inch blocks

I had red and purple blocks cut but now sewn together. I don't think there will be any yellow ones this month. I don't have that many yellow scraps.  I've been making these for a couple of years and I think now I have over 600 of them. 

Boo Boo Patch

3 x 6

That's my name for the blocks because I made a mistake when making them. I sewed two 1.5 inch width scraps together and mistakenly cut the strip sets apart at 1.5 inch instead of 2.5 inches. Of course I also figured out incorrectly the length of the strip I needed in order tto cut them apart at 2.5 inches too. So Boo Boo Patches is what I ended up with and continue to make. 

Windmills

4 inch blocks

I make these from 1.5 inch width scraps or 2.5 inch width scraps. 

Lil' Baskets

4 inch blocks

Switch Plates

3 x 5 inch blocks. 

9 Patch 

Potato Chip 

6 inch blocks

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

April 5 -- After a couple of days of snow, rain and wind it was a nice sunny day. Everything that was in bloom before the bad weather is still in bloom! That's definitely a cause for celebration!

Ear worm:

Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo

Here comes the sun

And I say, its alright

     ...the Beatles

 

Red Scraps Chapter III

Windmills - 4 inch finished

I continued on from last week with my 1.5 inch width red scraps and made a few Windmill blocks.  Earlier in the week I made a few Lil' Basket blocks with some red 1.5 inch width scraps.   

I only had enough of one red 1.5 inch scrap to make one 3 x 5 inch Switch Plate and I sewed together pieces for a Boo Boo Patch block that I found on the floor under the table. 

Scrapbuster Blocks

9 inch finished

I've been making these from some 4 inch squares that had accumulated. 

Happy Critters

8.5 inch finished

I cut enough small animal print squares for a child's quilt (30 - 5 inch) and decided rather than dig through scraps for border pieces I would just dig through scraps in the color of the month for border pieces  - mostly solids or tone on tones (TOTs).  

Happy Rainbows

8.5 inch finished

Someone gave me some Happy quilt border pieces cut for five inch centers. A lot of them were mulitcolored so I picked those out and cut some of my rainbow looking bits and pieces to add to the gifted pieces so I would have enough for a Happy Block quilt. Then each month I find 5 inch square TOTs  in the color and border them with Rainbows. 

Clue 5 of Stars Like Spaghetti Patriotic Mystery

12 inch finished Wonky Log blocks

I used a lot of red scraps in these! 

And also this week I finished some Crow's Nest blocks and used some red scraps to make those. 

And I still have some red scraps to work with this coming week. So I will be making a few blocks from 2.5 inch width red scraps. And I don't think I have done anything yet with a few 2 inch width red scraps. 

And sew on...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

******

CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

Feb. 16 - My husband John was discharged from Visiting Nurses Home Health Care. He will still be receiving home visits for physical therapy for a few more weeks.  A nurse was coming once a week to monitor his vitals and weight (he needs to gain it) and to make sure he was tolerating his tube feedings okay and not aspirating. Basically the health system wanted to keep him out of the hospital for at least 60 days since he had previously had two inpatient stays less than 60 days apart.  So anyway...celebrating husband's progress! 

 

Green Scraps Chapter I

Boo Boo Patches

3 x 6

The Boo Boo Patches are a result of a mistake I made last August when I intended to make an 18 patch with 1.5 x 2.5 inch strip sets but measured incorrectly and ended up with an 18 patch of 1.5 inch squares.  So I turned a mistake into a new quilt and will carry on making Boo Boo Patches. 

Green is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. I keep my scraps by color and then within the scrap bag I sometimes have separate bags of different widths of scraps. If I know the width as I sort and put away scraps I put them in the appropriate scrap width bag within that bag of colored scraps.  My intent has always been to get the bags down to scrap chunks but you know how scraps just happen around here.  Then it just so happens that I usually have a different block going as a RSC project to use each size width of scraps. I have found this a good way to use scraps and have fun doing it. I can make scrappy blocks a few at a time each month and before I know it I have enough blocks for a quilt or two. Sometimes I have to wait for scraps to happen in a particular width and color. If I don't have any scraps in a particular width and color then I skip making that block or I cut a width from my scrap chunks. 

It is always a lot of fun to see what scraps I get to work with each month when a color is declared. So, anyway, when green was declared the color for January I pulled out the huge green scrap bag and within I found a whole lot of green 1.5 inch width scraps. So all the blocks this week are made from those scraps. 

Lil' Baskets

4 inch 

I started making these little baskets last February. I made a few pink ones and then must have promptly forgot this was a RSC project and never made any more.  These will be set on point and  alternate with squares of a red fabric with baskets. Pattern from the book Scrappy Firework Quilts by Edyta Sitar. Background fabrics will be all creams, baskets will be all browns and HSTs will be in he RSC color of the month.

Potato Chip Blocks

6 inch

I started making these in September 2022 and have not gotten very far. There are usually not many 1.5 inch scraps left by the time I get to making these blocks. When I started making lots of blocks from 1.5 inch scraps I had a bin of 1.5 inch scraps I was trying to empty. This is actually the last block I make with 1.5 inch scraps if there are enough 1.5 x 2.5 inch pieces for a block after all other blocks are made. 

Windmill

4 inch

I also started making these back in September 2022 and have quite a few of these. 

Switch Plate

3 x 5

I've been making these since May 2022 and have quite a few.

And then I cut what was left into 1.5 x 2.5 pieces for the Lego project box. And then I cut 1.5 inch squares for the Postage Stamp Strippy project box. 

And sew on...

Got scraps?

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

************

CELEBRATE:

Jan. 5 - I won 27 FQs!!! Stashbusters UFO Challenge 2023 year end random drawing. 

 

There's More Than One Way to Make A Hummingbird

Hummingbird Quilt Blocks

9 inch finished

Last week I posted about a Hummingbird orphan block in a finished orphan block quilt. I said " I really wanted to make a quilt of Hummingbird blocks but just did not like the process of making them at the time I tried. I made two blocks and said "no more"."    The reason I wanted to make a Hummingbird quilt was because I saw a vintage one I loved in the July/August 2011 issue of Quiltmaker made by Minnie Jacoby Schultz c. 1930.  I liked that there were two ways to make the block - templates for piecing or a four patch with applique pieces. I had seen paper pieced instructions for making the block; however, I don't like to paper piece so I was excited that there were instructions for piecing the block. But I didn't like the curved piecing in the small block after all.  December 2019 after making a test block I decided that although I really wanted to make a Hummingbird quilt I didn't really want to make it with paper piecing, or using either of those two methods in the Quiltmaker article. 

So, after giving the little history of my Hummingbird orphan block  Nann's (With Strings Attached blog) comment was " IMO the Hummingbird block is easier when constructed as a 9-patch with an hourglass unit in the center, four isosceles triangles, and then plain squares for the corners. "

Oh, why didn't I think of that?  Well that works for me. I may actually make a Hummingbird quilt after all. I had a piece of muslin that might be enough for blocks for a lap quilt and the muslin might give it that vintage look. And it is easy enough to find more muslin if I don't have enough.  I was thinking I should make 6 inch blocks but ended up making 9 inch blocks. I also decided two of the Humminbird triangles should alll be in browns. I used my Tri Rec rulers to cut the triangles and sides from 3.5 inch strips of scraps and I used my Companion Angle ruler to cut the pieces for the center QST from 2 inch width scraps.  

In the process of researching ways to make a Hummingbird Quilt block I came across other names for the block - Periwinkle and Arkansas Snowflake are a couple of aliases.   

I was almost tempted to try the Periwinkle version made from 4 inch squares and then appliqued to a background that I found at Susie's Scraps. Actually, I might even give that method a try in another quilt. Might be fun. 

So, in summary, I guess I'm making 9 inch Hummingbird blocks on muslin background with two triangles in browns. And I will add this to my list of Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects for 2024. The other two triangles will be made from scraps in the RSC color of the month. 

The method I am using to make my blocks is similar to the Triangle in a Star instructions found at Scrapish; however, like the instructions say....the Arkansas Snowflake has an hourglass center. 

And since I cut 3.5 and 2 inch strips from my scrap chunks I can also use anything left to make a couple of other RSC blocks I started  few years ago (2022) but have kind of neglected this year. 

This is a six inch block I called Dalarna.  A quilt called Dalarna can be found in an issue of Quiltmania (Issue 68, 2008, #4) and was made by Mariet Soethout-Mous.  Her quilt was inspired by a child's quilt found in Asa Wettre's book Old Swedish Quilts. Now I've been inspired by Mariet's Dalarna to make my own version of an Old Swedish Quilt. 

I make it with 3.5 and 2 inch width scraps and a solid.  With the scraps of the scraps left from making the Hummingbird blocks as well as an addition of some solids I was able to make a few more for my collection of blocks. 

I think I have a little over 30 blocks now and hopefully I won't neglect these blocks in 2024. 

And then another block started in 2022 that uses 3.5 and 2 inch scraps and solids is the Overlapped Nine Patch. Instructions for the 7.5 inch blocks may be found at Klein Meisje Quilts.

With the Hummingbird and Dalarna block scraps I was able to make 3 more Overlapped Nine Patches for my collection of a little over 30 blocks. This is another block I hope does not get neglected in 2024. 

And then you know how one thing leads to another...

...with some scraps remaining from making above blocks as well as a few 3.5 inch scraps within my reach I cut parts and made some 3.5 inch HSTs.  Last month when I went to assemble some blocks into a top (QST/4P quilt) I noticed I did not have the HSTs I needed for the border so I stuck the QST/4P blocks back into the SAR (Some Assembly Required) box and made a mental note to make some 3.5 inch HSTs whenever I am around some 3.5 inch scraps. I made 26 toward my goal of 100. 

As the 3.5 inch scraps got smaller and smaller if there was enough left for four 1.5 x 3.5 pieces then I cut those and made a few Switch Plate blocks to add to my collection.   And then I also cut a few 3.5 inch squares for my collection but forgot to take a pic of them. 

And sew on...