Who doesn't have a box of test blocks, miscuts and orphan quilt blocks? Oh, I'm sure there's one or two of you out there with the will power to use them up immediately or toss them in the trash. And I'll admit I've done it a time or two myself.
But the older I get the more frugal I get when it comes to quilting.
I've done a little research on making quilts from the orphan blocks and Improv quilting. Those who do this style of quilting make it look easy, but I know it's a learned skill. My style of quilting is a bit more structured.
Repetitive quilt blocks and well-balanced quilts is my style. Can a dress right dress kind of quilter, like me, be taught to think outside the box and go willy nilly?
There's only one way to find out and that is to jump in and give it a try. The worst thing that can happen is I make a few quilts that I don't like and that's nothing new. There's been a few over the years that made me wonder "what was I thinking?".
So, here I stand at the edge wanting to jump in with both feet but I'm just not ready to make the leap. The plan for these three bags of misfits is ...someday. I realize, someday, is how my UFO's have become out of control...sigh.
These will go to the bottom of the list because they overwhelm my dress right dress quilty brain. For now, I'll work on the simple and easy to finish UFO's. One has already been chosen, and I will start it when I have a slot in my 3-quilt rotation.
I've found the best way to use orphan blocks is to use a row by row method. I sort the blocks into comparable sizes. You might need to add sashing to some of them, then sew that row together. Put a narrow sash and make the next row. These make good compassion quilts. You could donate them to a women's shelter in Indy. Happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteYou have some fun demo blocks. I've avoided making a lot of demo's, I do all my working out in EQ so I don't sew many test blocks. Gretchen's suggestion sounds like a good plan. Using black sashing might be another thing to look at. I find that black seems to calm down all the business down if you got lots of different colors, it works well with the rainbow scrap quilts that I've made over the years.
ReplyDeleteI have had trouble with orphan blocks because the fabrics are so diverse. A couple of times if I have had only one block I have made a mug rug. Three blocks have become a table runner. Depending on the size of the block a table mat or topper. Mug rugs make excellent gifts. I have also put them on the back of a quilt if I had a bunch left.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the tricks people use to make different blocks work together is to sash them to a uniform size with a uniform fabric. I happened to find a stack yesterday so need to do something with them but right now I have other UFO’s I am working on. I also decided to figure out what was in some of my boxes and prioritize getting some older projects finished this year. It is like I opened Pandora’s box. What a bigger mess my room has become as I try to decide what to do with all these projects in various stages of becoming a quilt top.