Using 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 Inch Scraps

 This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is orange. I'm also making blocks this month in last month's color which was aqua. 

I dug into the 2.5 inch scrap bin and made some 8 inch Garlic Knot (aka Arrowhead Puzzle) blocks. 

 I also made a few six inch Plus blocks from 2.5 inch scraps. I've been making these off and on for a few years if I end up with enough 2.5 inch scraps after making other blocks.  I was going to alternate light and dark/bright background but think I might end up with two separate quilts instead.  Working titles -- The Power of Positive Thinking, Nix the Negative, On the Plus Side. 

 With 3.5 inch scraps I made a Sixteen Patch with Star...

 ...and some Broken Dishes blocks. 

With 4.5 inch scraps I made some Half Rectangle Triangles (HRTs).  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Serendipity

A New Project. 

Maybe these are a Stone Mason's Puzzle blocks or a variation. 

How did these blocks come to be? 

Serendipity. 

I recently saw Kaja, who blogs at Sew Slowly, making some blocks  that I love. Then I remembered that a long time ago I had bookmarked a similar quilt I love at a blog named Cactus Needle.  That quilt was in an exhibit in the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles in 2011.   The info with the quilt was as follows:

 Unknown Crosses (Stone Mason's Puzzle) 

c. 1940-1970 

71" X 81" 

Collection of Roderick Kiracofe 

*The quilt top was found in Alabama 

Back when I saw the quilt from the collection of Roderick Kiracofe and the mention that it might be a Stone Mason's Puzzle I looked at the directions in my Ladies' Art Company Block Tool (now out of print but I see there's a new version) I saw pieces had to be cut at an angle, some pieces reversed, etc. and my lazy self decided then I didn't love the block all that much.  I also looked at the block instructions at Quilter's Cache and yuck...that version is paper pieced and I like that even less than cutting and sewing angled pieces.    So the idea of a Stone Mason's Puzzle quilt for me remained as a bookmark for many years until Kaja reminded me how much I liked it. 

My recent research shows that Jinny Beyer has free templates for 6, 10 and 12 inch Stone Mason's Puzzle blocks based on the Ladies's Art Company 1922 block. I still didn't like all that cutting, all those angled pieces, some reversed. I never remember to put the template on the fabric the correct way when there are reverse blocks.  But I was tempted by those templates and a small six inch block because I love scrappy small blocks. 

Then...

As you have seen the last few Wednesdays I've been making Spider Web blocks. While making those blocks an idea popped into my head as to how lazy me could make the Stone Mason's Puzzle. I gave the idea a try. 

 I cut 9.5 inch pieces of newspaper for foundations and  I made two blocks exactly the same. 

I cut strips and sewed them to the foundation, keeping both sides of the center strip the same. My center strip (aqua brown steam punk) is 3 inches, next pieces (orange) are 1.5 inches, the next two pieces (brown arrows and gold floral) are 2 inches and the corners are 2.5 inch squares cut in half. 

 Trim to 9.5 inches. 

 Cut on the diagonal making sure the block is oriented properly. 

Tear paper foundation off the back of four quarters. 

 They will be assembled like above...like I've been assembling Spider Web blocks...

 ...sew together the top two quarters, the bottom two quarters and then sew those halves together for a roughly 12 inch block.   

I notice that a lot of the versions of Stone Mason's Puzzle have a center square.  I might experiment with that by adding "flippy corners" to the center of the quarters before they are sewn together.  I also see a lot of the versions have all the same sized pieces. I might make some blocks substituting the 3 inch center and two 1.5 inch side pieces with two inch strips. When sewn together either sets of 3 center strips equals 5 inches. 

I also think I noticed last month when the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month was aqua that aqua/teal/turquoise/sea foam, etc. goes well with every color. So I'm going to test that theory by using aqua in each block. Aqua is my neutral. 

Serendipity! 

Wednesday Webs

 Only two more Spider Web blocks to show for this week. Now I have 24 blocks which is exactly half of my goal. 

 No worries, though. I have lots of block quarters that need trimming and papers removed.  I trim a few up each day if I feel like it (I don't like trimming) and then remove papers while watching TV after dinner.  Then I sew them into blocks the following day. Well, in theory that's how it's all supposed to work. Some parts of the process get clogged up sometimes but things are still moving forward somehow or other. 

 I also prepare pieces for sewing the next day in front of the TV.  I think that spider and webs glow in the dark.  I'm not normally awake when it's dark so I'm not sure if that's true. 

 I usually work on 8 quarters at a time and cut pieces for each round as I sew. So I sew a strip each side, get up and iron, cut pieces for next round, sew a strip and so on.  I use a tiny stitch setting so papers practically remove themselves when I sew. That means these blocks are thread eaters. I sew with old thread from the thrift store, ends of spools, bobbins that aren't empty in any color. And then when those run out I sew with cheap polyester thread from Dollar General. 

 As I cut strips I keep two piles of short strips going. If after I cut a piece it looks too small for the first round I put it in a pile. I will sort through it for pieces to cut for each successive found before I cut additional pieces from strips in the shoe box.   If a strip seems too small for the end piece it goes into a baggie. At some other time I will sort through that baggie and cut postage stamp squares of 1.5 inch or sew them all together into one long strip. 

To make this quilt I've been using Bonnie Hunters tutorial for a 10 3/4 inch block.  I'm using 1.5 inch scraps that have been accumulating for quite some time. 

In 2012 I made a Spider Web quilt using a tutorial from Quilt It and a varied widths of scraps.  That tutorial uses a fabric foundation that is cut away so I felt there was a lot of waste. 

But I've saved that "waste" all these years and I've been sewing some of those scraps together into larger pieces of made fabric to cut and use for some of the center kite pieces for this string quilt. 

Cavorting With Elves and Fairies

Behind the blooming Bluebells you can see a sundial...

 ...and in the base of the sundial is a fairy door.  The fairies and some very small elves live in the sundial and tend the fairy garden ...

...within the fairy ring of little species tulips and pinks. 

 Some fairies guard the patch of miniature lilies and hostas. 

 Little elves sometimes tend to miniature lilies too. 

Some elves just sit in the shade of the grape hyacinth and read. 

 Old ma and pa frog have been guarding the miniature columbine for ages and yet it appears the rabbits still take a nibble off of it now and then. 

 The Lamium fairy was knocked off her pedestal a long time ago by some wild animal like a raccoon or deer. 

 The fairies and elves tricked my daughter one year with their fake cement morels. 

 The bird house marks a little honeysuckle that the fairies and elves are going to try to keep small like a bonsai tree.  

 Meanwhile I'm doing the real work. My sewing room shares space with seedling flats this time of year.  I save a lot of my annual flower and veggie seeds from year to year. 

After seedlings get their second set of leaves they get planted into paper cups and pots also saved from year to year.  Each day they get carried outside to harden off and are brought back in again at night if we think the weather will get too cold for the tender seedlings. 

 I also winter sow seeds in plastic bags - little individual greenhouses. 

 I've been practicing winter sowing for years.  Certain flowers, veggies and herbs can be sown in containers and left outside all winter. They will sprout when the time is right. If you are not familiar with winter sowing then WinterSown.org is the place to start reading.  A lot of my seeds have sprouted and will be ready to plant into the garden soon. 

 The elves and fairies do NOT help with the sewing. There are piles of chain pieced blocks behind the sewing machine. 

And there's piles of blocks to be ironed and trimmed. 

 And sometimes blocks actually get made like this month's Block Lotto block - Modified T

Orange Scraps

It's always exciting to find out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  It means I get to dig through my scrap bins and see what old friends (aka scraps) I get to work with.  This month the color is orange but I'm also catching up on my RSC aqua blocks. Last month I had lots of  scrap chunks of aqua so finished a few flimsies instead. 

At the beginning of the month I start with my scrap chunks I keep in a milk crate. Scrap chunks for me are scraps of fabric less than a fat quarter and greater than 4.5 inches.  I usually pull out the biggest pieces to make blocks that take bigger pieces and blocks that require multiple sizes of pieces. 

These cats take bigger pieces so they are usually the first things I make.  I'm using scraps of gray for the background.   And note to self...wow aqua and orange makes a nice color combo. 

New for me this year are these Double X  blocks and Snowballs inspired by a vintage quilt.  The blocks finish at four inches and I'm using a light mint green for the background because I've had a big piece of yardage around here unused for ages.   

These blocks take 2.5 and 1.5 inch pieces so I cut the scrap chunks to make these blocks and the remainder of the 2.5 and 1.5 inch pieces go into their respective scrap bins to be used later in other blocks. 

 Also inspired by a vintage quilt are these little 3.5 inch finished blocks called by a variety of names. Temecula Quilt Company is having a sew along and is the first place I saw the vintage quilt and the block they are calling Cathedral Window Hexagon Variation.  On other blogs I've seen these called Buttons and Doughnuts and Wishing Rings.   I really like the name Wishing Ring so that's what I've decided to call the block.   I cut the 2 inch center and 1.5 inch corners from a 3.5 x 5 scrap and the sides are cut from 1.5 inch scraps.     So I go through the scrap chunks and the 3.5 inch and 1.5 inch scrap bins to make these blocks. 

 I've been trying to make an equal number of light and dark corners since they will alternate in the quilt. I iron seams toward the darker color so seams will nest when sewn together.  Actually I haven't yet properly trimmed and ironed these corners yet.   I figured that's a job for a summer day on the deck with a glass of homemade wine. 

 With all the blocks that use multiple sizes of scraps out of the way I dug into the 1.5 inch scraps and made Bitcoins and Little Rails. 

 I've been making the 6 x 14 Bitcoin blocks for several years and have 61 blocks. My goal is 84.  I will set them 14 x 6 for an 84 inch square quilt. 

I've been making these Little Rails for several years too. I have no idea how many I have and no idea how big I want to make the quilt. I guess I should count and decide. 

After I make the Bitcoin and Little Rails I've been throwing any remaining scraps of that color into a shoe box to be used in a Spider Web quilt.   So, the 1.5 inch scrap bin is getting low but the Spider Web shoe box is overflowing.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

The Blues. The Finish.

The Blues

It's a finish! 

60 x 80

It's out in the fog this morning. 

Last year I made an effort to use my string scraps and ended up with several tops.   This quilt came out of the light blue and gray assortment of strings.   I used a consistent center strip for the center of the blocks which was not a scrap. It was a fabric my husband wanted me to buy several years ago because he loved it. I wasn't that fond of it so it's been laying around in the sewing room for quite some time waiting for a project. 

I used newspaper as the foundation for these ten inch blocks.

 I quilted it on my DSM with some four petaled flowers and leaves in a variegated blue thread on top and white in the bobbin. 

 I've really been trying for consistency of space when I've been quilting.  The spiral center in the flowers allowed me to exit out of the flower in any direction and the addition of leaves allowed me to fill in any spaces where I didn't leave enough room for a flower.  

I used a flannel sheet from the thrift store as the backing. And I had enough of that fabric my husband loved for the binding. 

I finished up sewing the binding down and was folding it up for the donation pile when my husband asked if the quilt was for him. (He hardly ever notices when I finish another quilt and he's never asked if it was his). No, he didn't recognize that fabric I used for the center strips and binding. When I reminded him he picked it out several years ago he said he knew there was something about the quilt he really liked. 

This was my goal #6

for

Q2 Finish-Along

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More