Once More with the Veggie Leftovers

Wendy at The Constant Quilter has been encouraging quilters to make monthly mini quilts for the past few years.  I've always enjoyed seeing what different quilters created each month, but I never thought I would make time for a new quilt (or twelve!) since my pile of UFOs was so huge.

However, after seeing January's mini quilts, I was inspired to at least pull out a small UFO and finish it as my own February mini project.  I don't know if my quilt strictly qualifies as a "mini", since it measures 25 inches on each side, but at least it's now a Finished Object!

My mini UFO started as an exercise in using up waste triangles from an earlier quilt.  I had a batch of small HSTs left after making snowball blocks using these vegetable-dyed, woodblock print fabrics. 

Once the center was complete, I used some striped fabrics from the same collection to make mitered borders.  There wasn't enough of the black and blue stripes to make an entire border, so I used both colors.  

The quilt top needed batting (pieced from scraps), backing (found a piece of light brown floral in my stash), and binding (leftover Moda Grunge binding).  I pinned up the layers, did some outline and ditch quilting, then hand-stitched the binding and added a hanging sleeve.  A quick trip through the wash and some drying and blocking and I now have another project crossed off the UFO list!

Scrappy Quilt Construction Goes Pink

Pink is the color for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I've scoured the bins of pink strips and squares and pulled some pink scrappy chunks from various drawers.  Blocks were made and parts and pieces assembled.  I'm getting anxious to finish up a couple of scrappy projects from last year, so I jumped ahead and made some extra parts and pieces as well.

First project:  use up some 1.5 inch strips to make 49-patch blocks.  I already had one pink block from last year, and I was able to add 2 more.  I'm waiting for the end of the year before I decide what to do with these blocks.

I started making these quarter square log cabin blocks this year using reproduction fabrics.  My original plan for these blocks was to make a straight set quilt, but maybe I'll reconsider and set them on point.

One of last year's RSC projects was based on Windblown Wishes, a quilt from Diane D. Knott's book, Scrap Quilt Secrets.  I decided to do an outer border of HSTs, and planned to make the HST parts each month as part of this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Since I had the box of 2.5 inch scrappy strips out anyway (for the pink HSTs), I went ahead and finished up all the remaining colors needed to finish the border.  I'm not sure when I'll get to start assembling this, but at least the HSTs are ready to go.

This is another Rainbow Scrap 2017 project that still needs attention.  The scrappy pinwheel blocks need sashing and cornerstones; the cornerstones are more pinwheel blocks.

And now the cornerstone pinwheels are complete, so as soon as I cut the sashing, I can start assembling this RSC project!

If you love scrappy quilts, be sure to check out today's Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up - lots of colorful inspiration!

Burgoyne Goes Purple

After seeing all the mistakes I had made in previous Burgoyne Surrounded blocks, I wanted to take my time with the next block and make sure I put all the parts together correctly!  I worked slowly and deliberately on this block today and managed to assemble all the parts without having to rip.  Yay!

I've been trying to incorporate at least 2 colors into my Burgoyne blocks, but the purple fabrics for this version practically jumped out of the stash at me.  I'm sure there will be other purple-themed blocks in the finished quilt, but I'm happy with this one for now.

In other news, I also made some scrappy HSTs for the border on my Windblown Wishes quilt.  Whatever doesn't get used in the border can go into the Parts Department basket.

That's the limit of my scrappy stitching today.  I'm looking forward to checking out the RSC link-up for lots of wonderful purple scrappy ideas!

Some Veggie Leftovers

A few weeks ago, I finished one of the quilts on my "Finish It" list for 2015 - a snowball quilt featuring some wonderful woodblock prints made with vegetable-based dyes.  As I petted the new quilt and started to put away the leftover fabric, I was somewhat dismayed with the amount of leftovers!  In fact, those leftovers haunted me for several days and inspired lots of thoughts on how to best utilize the remaining fabric. 

 

In particular, a bag of bonus HSTs kept calling out to me, and eventually they formed themselves into the center of this mini quilt (26" x 26").  Those HSTs are only 1.25" finished - that's a lot of seams!

 

The leftovers included some stripes, which were just calling out to be a mitered border.  I didn't have enough black or blue for an entire border, so I used them together.  I hadn't done a mitered border in years, but I enjoyed it and plan on making more mitered borders in the future!

 

The leftover HSTs still aren't all gone, so I've been using them as leader-enders and making pinwheels.  I'm going to randomly float them on the back of the quilt.  

I really hadn't planned on starting a new quilt just now, but sometimes you have to go where inspiration takes you!  I feel very satisfied to have used up at least some of those veggie leftovers and look forward to another project with the bigger chunks of fabric.

 

Memory Quilt: version 3

I've been working on the third memory quilt made from my dad's shirts.  Versions 1 & 2 can be seen here.

I'm just kind of making this up as I go along.  My initial inspiration was to use half-square triangles to form square-in-a-square type blocks.  I also wanted to experiment with using a zig-zag border.  Since I already had lots of HSTs, I just played with those until I had a zig-zag I liked.  Of course, making it up as you go along sometimes creates design flaws...or are they planned design elements?

Can you see the flaw?

I have to make more HSTs for the bottom row.  Once I've got that laid out I'll decide if I can live with the flaw...er, design element.

Civil War Tribute BOM: block 2

The second block for the Civil War Tribute BOM is called "Thunder & Lightning".  I like the name (I grew up in the thunderstorm capital of the US) and I like the block.  I was not so happy with the cutting and piecing method provided in the instructions.

All of the half-square triangles (HST) in the pattern were made by one of the most time-consuming methods I know.  The HST were made by cutting individual squares, then cutting those squares on the diagonal, then piecing the resulting triangles together based on color/fabric.  Yes, only four of these blocks were needed for the quilt, but it still would've been faster to use some speed cutting and piecing methods.  I was afraid to veer too far from the written instructions, as running out of fabric before completing the blocks would not be a good thing.

Still, I finished all four blocks and added the spacer strips.  These blocks commemorated the first battle of Manassas, or Bull Run as Northerners are want to call it.  First Manassas was the first land battle of the Civil War.  You  may recall it from history class as the battle where many of the fine folks from Washington, DC rode out in their carriages to watch and picnic.  When the tide of the battle turned against the Union army, many panicked soldiers overran the picnicking citizens in their haste to retreat to Washington.  One of New Orleans' native sons, Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, was the commander of the Confederate army.