Green 3.5 Scrap Edition

This year as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge I chose a UFO to work on as one of my projects. In this case I'm working on Floribunda (aka Jacob's Ladder) nine inch blocks.   I actually don't use scraps to make these but as you scroll down through this blog post you will see how I use the resulting 3.5 inch scraps left from making these blocks.   In a later blog post this month you will see how I use some of the resulting 2 inch scraps. 

Making a few of these blocks in the RSC color of the month has helped me move this UFO forward.  I now have 62 of the necessary 81 and do not get bored making a bunch of them all at one time. 

One of the blocks I'm making from the 3.5 inch scraps is Glitter (from Jen Kingwell's book Quilt Lovely).   Gayle (Mangofeet blog) is also making these blocks and has a nifty way to make templates and cut pieces from a 3.5 x 4.25 scrap. 

Also from 3.5 inch scraps I made a few six inch bow tie blocks...

And then I made a few more. 

And I made a few 3 inch Snowball blocks with muslin corners. 

To see what others are whipping up with their green scraps visit Rainbow Scrap Challenge's ScrapHappy Saturday.

From the Parts Department: Fall Festival

Fall Festival

4 - 15 inch blocks so far

Back in 2015 I participated in several themed Chunky Churn Dash swaps - Patriotic, Floral, 30s Reproductions and Fall.   My intent was to see how many different layouts I could come up with for the Chunky Churn Dashes.  It was sort of a self-imposed challenge. I blogged about it back in October 2015.   So far I have only finished a quilt from the Patriotic blocks - a Quilt of Valor for my brother-in-law. 

Fast forward to this year and Kaja ( of Sew Slowly blog and Ad Hoc Improv Quilting monthly linky co-hostess)  issued a quarterly challenge to use alternate blocks so I dug out the floral themed Chunky Churns and then dug into the Parts Department for some fall themed four patches and framed them so they were the same six inch size as the CCDs.   I also found some fall themed 3 inch 9 patches for block centers.  I didn't have any Flying Geese in the Parts Dept. so made some alternating dark and light cornered 1.5 x 3 inch geese (finished size).   

I came up with two different but similar 15 inch blocks. 

Parts Dept.

So now I guess I'll see how many CCDs I have and make some dark cornered flying geese so I can make up those blocks.   Then I'll know how many four patches I need to frame and how many light corned flying geese I need to make for the alternate block. 

Stopping to Smell the Roses

Most of my rose themed fabrics I blogged about yesterday are saved and they now smell like sunshine since they hung outside for two days.  

While the rose themed fabrics were out I combined a few with some tea themed fabrics and whipped up a Blind Man's Fancy block.   Well, they don't exactly "whip up". They are a bit fiddly but what else do I have to do now that I'm retired other than fiddle around?  So, tea and roses it is...high tea in the rose garden...I have another UFO.  

I've been using civil war reproduction fabrics in another Blind Man's Fancy UFO.   The book History Repeated by Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle has instructions for an 18 inch Blind Man's Fancy block that I was going to use but instead I made a 15 inch one using  instructions by Beth Donaldson. 

These blocks get a Flying Geese sashing.   I'm still undecided as to whether or not the Rosebud quilt will get any sashing at all. 

Not Everything is Coming Up Roses

I found my missing bottle of Best Press. It's been missing for a long, long time. 

I was going to work on my Rosebud quilt, a very old UFO. The box of rose themed fabrics resides under my ironing board. It never did get closed up but I have instead piled things on top of the open box. And then I piled more things on top of those things until the pile got as high as the ironing board and I could pile no more.   (Did I mention I have a small sewing space? I must insert that here now lest you think I'm a slob).  Yesterday I unpiled stuff to get into my rose themed fabrics and to my dismay there was the missing bottle of Best Press and it was empty. It has been slowly leaking for a long, long time on to my rose themed fabrics and where it has been slowly leaking there was mold or maybe it is mildew...whatever, it was gross and kind of growing on top of bunches of rose themed fabrics.  Yuck.   So, I found a new box to pack up the undamaged fabrics and went about trying to salvage the rest.  There weren't lots of big spots on anything except the top piece of fabric - just little furry spots here and there on lots of fabrics.     I gave the mildewy fabrics  a good soaking for several hours in Oxyclean.   Then I rubbed laundry detergent into the spots if I could still see them and scrubbed the backside of the spots with a toothbrush.   Then I washed the fabrics adding 1 cup of vinegar to the wash water.   Then I hung them out to dry in the sun where they still hang today.   I haven't closely inspected the fabrics yet. I think the longer they hang in the sun the better. 

In the meantime...

 A long time ago I thought maybe I'd experiment with a different layout for the 12 inch Rosebud blocks than the usual "just-sew-lots-of-blocks- together" layout.  

So this morning I made some HSTs out of a green rose fabric and another limey green tone on tone fabric I now think I don't really like.  Let's call those HSTs "thorns" for now.     One of the layouts I thought of was off setting the blocks in columns with some thorns in between columns.  No design wall here but I kind of propped some up on my old cutting mat covered with batting.  See above. 

Nope...does nothing for me. 

Let's try again without columns of roses offset. 

Nope...does nothing for me. And I'm kind of hating looking at that lime green too. 

Ok. How about set on point and surrounded by thorns? 

I really really hate that lime green now but so far like this setting best. 

Maybe if I turn the thorns around?   That lime green is really distracting. 

Maybe I should just use the usual "just-sew-lots-of-blocks- together" layout and forget about thorns...at least for now. 

I'll think on it for awhile out in the garden. 

Gone gardening...

39Ps

I have lots of little 3 inch 9 patches. Some are ironed...

...some are not. 

I usually make the when I get to the end of a piece of fabric and have at least 3 - 1.5 inch strips. But sometimes I just throw that end piece into the 4.5 inch scrap pile.  

I've turned the little nine patches into 5 inch Sister's Choice blocks and made the above quilt. 

I've added a few navy hexies and bright solid triangles to the bright little nine patches and made a Jack's Chain quilt 

I'm working on Jack's Chain #2 which is bigger and uses darker little nine patches, neutral hexies and muslin triangles. 

I also have a couple of other ideas (only in my head for now) for these little cuties. 

I'd like to swap some 3 inch 9 patches. 

See the tab at the top of my blog for further info. 

Help Wanted! 39P Swap.

Due May 15

I've already received some from 2 swappers but haven't peeked into the packages yet. 

Use those scraps!

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework. 

Green Scraps: Chunks and 1.5 Edition

Green is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

I started digging through my scrap chunks - big pieces less than a fat quarter. 

I do that because when I cut into the chunk it leaves me with other smaller scraps that I use in blocks later in the month.     So, with chunks I made five 15 inch Burgoyne Surrounded blocks. 

My photo wall is just an old cutting mat covered with a piece of batting so not many blocks fit on there to take a pic.  Here's the fifth one fresh from ironing - looks like it's still a little wet from Mary Ellen's Best Press.  I think I missed ironing in those areas.  My iron shuts off automatically right in the middle of ironing after I've been using it for a short while, darn it.  

I use Best Press on my blocks when they are finished because I toss them around, throw them in boxes, lay other things on them until I have enough for a quilt. This keeps them from getting too wrinkly after all the abuse I inflict on them. 

I made these 3.5 inch units from my 1.5 inch scraps - some of them leftover from those chunks I used in the Burgoyne Surrounded blocks.  There's more green units than this - that's all I felt like putting up on the board. 

If there was a piece left over for a 2.5 inch unit I cut scraps for these little units too.  Any green 1.5 inch scraps get cut into 1.5 inch squares and I put them in a pencil box for postage stamp quilts. 

These units are pretty versatile. I'm not yet sure how I will use them - Chinese Coins?, little four inch windmill type blocks?, rail fence?, or on point they look like rick rack. 

Got green scraps?

Join us this month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

ScrapHappy Saturday

Speaking of green....looks like I will be working outside today. It has been cold and rainy for weeks which is good for quilting but not good for gardening.   So far I'm harvesting asparagus and a few green onions. I'm thinking those ingredients would make a good frittata for dinner tonight. 

Another Top to Add to the Quilting Pile

Roman Stripe

74 x 86

It's a top right now

Still trying to decide if it needs borders but it's a nice twin size now and I'm not really a border person - I like making blocks, not borders.  Maybe it just needs a border wider than the sashing in red? Wish I had more of that fabric I used for the corner stones.  Hmmmm, maybe it doesn't need a border.  Maybe I have enough red for a thin inner border and then a wider border of the yellow plaid?  Hmmm, maybe it's fine the way it is? 

The 10 inch blocks are made of 1.5 inch squares and muslin strips.  For a few years I've made a couple of blocks from scraps in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

This is the old quilt I saw on Ebay that inspired my quilt. 

Whooping it up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

Scraptastic Tuesday