Patriotic Quilt Challenges

This quick and easy scrappy patriotic quilt is coming along nicely even though I've had a couple of challenges. 

The first challenge was finding enough scraps in the scrap bins to make (4) identical red star blocks and (5) identical blue star blocks.  Below shows what a normal variable star block looks like.  Sharp outer and inner points.

After cutting the large center square I knew I would be short enough of this fabric to make the star points.  I had a decision to make. 

1. Pull a new fabric from the larger fabric stash.  

2. Use a different fabric for all of the star points. 

3. Cut individual triangles for the points instead of doing flippy corners.  

4. Reduce the size of the star points for the flippy corner method and cut off the sharp inner point.

As you can see, I chose option four.

I took the chance, and I lost.  I needed two more squares and all I had was these small pieces.

 

Where there's a will, there's a way.  Quilting is all about patchwork.  So, I sewed the scraps together and cut them into squares.  It worked out perfectly.  Even I have a hard time finding the star points with the seams.  Winner!

Now to dig through the yardage stash for quilt borders, binding and backing.  I'm pretty sure the backing is going to be two or three different fabrics.  Well unless I find a good sale on 108 wide backing fabric.

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Bonus HST's Quilt ~ 5 Inch Cake Stand Block

 Hi Quilty Friends!  It's time for me to start using up those bonus HST's of which I have thousands. Just how many?  Well, I counted them about 3 years ago and there was about 3500 but I've added many more since and didn't count the additions.  So, my guess would be around 4,000 ranging from 1 inch all the way up to 5 inches.

The Cake Stand quilt will require (1014) 1.75" HST's and (169) 3" HST's.  The three ziploc bags of 1.75" HST's have been sorted by color into stacks of matching pairs.  In retrospect I should have counted all of them while sorting but I didn't, silly me.  After pulling all that is needed for this quilt, the remaining will be counted and the total added to the outside of the bags. 

This cute little block will finish in the quilt at 5 inches.  I would have preferred that all the HST's background to be a low volume print or all white but I'm working with 30 yrs of bonus HST's.  So, it's going to be a mishmash of both.  All of the 1.75" squares will be cut from my low volume scrap bins.

The test block went together quickly.

At this point in the block is when I remembered there will be an alternating block and my pressing was wrong...fiddlesticks!  

No use crying over spilled milk and definitely no reason to rip out stitches. Pressing the seams open on both blocks would solve the pressing issue without changing the quilt.  Sigh...something to think about while prepping the basket blocks for assembly.

The block looks a little wonky to me but she measured almost perfect.  Just a few raveled threads were trimmed.  The main thing is my seam allowance was good and I won't lose any points on the HST's when it's finished.  Maybe I should say, I shouldn't lose any points on this block.  Sometimes it happens anyway.

With the test block out of the way it's time to start sorting this mess into blocks.  The 3" HST bag was pulled and counted.  Just as I thought, I'm to need to make more.

But before making more let's trim down the larger HST's in the stash.

And... I'm still short 87 HST's.  HAHA!  The plan was to use up the HST's not make more...HAHA!  Reducing the size of the quilt to throw sized crossed my mind...but I'm dead set on a queen size.  No worries, my scrap bins are full of fabric and ready to assist.  But not today.  Playtime is over and it's time to get the Daisy quilt finished.

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Starting A New Scrap Quilt 3 Inch Blocks!

Hi Quilty Friends!  I'm so excited today to share my newest quilting adventure. Three inch finished Bow-Tie blocks.  

The plan is for a 90 x 90 quilt.  That's 900 Bow-Tie blocks.  

Assembling the blocks is a breeze.  The challenge is digging through the scraps.  It's going to be 100% scraps, even the background fabric.  You see, I have this large tote of white scraps.  Different shades of white fabric and a few white on white fabrics.  If I had to guess I would say there's about 12 years worth of fabric in here.  

For the white background fabric I will need (1,800) 2" x 2" squares.  So, I just grab what's on top and start cutting.  I don't care if they are the same shade of white.

Oh boy, this was quite the chore.  Cutting 1,800 squares from odd shapes took all weekend.

Today plan is start cutting the (1,800) 2" x 2" and (1,800) 1.25" x 1.25" prints.  

This is what it looks like after cutting all those white squares.  It barely made a dent.

The plan is to work only from my scrap bins.  Using every color except for black.  I think some of the low volume fabrics will work too if they have enough color on them.

Are you wondering why I'm starting a new quilt?  Well, I ordered a couple new tools to help me with the applique on the Bumpkin Basket quilt.  So, until they get here I need a project.  Another UFO would have been the smart choice. But a lunch break and scrolling Pinterest took me down a rabbit hole.  This was the image on Pinterest that stole my heart.  Those are 2" blocks!  The picture is from a blogger I know well.  Missy no longer blogs but is on Instagram.  Clicking on the image will take you to her blogpost about this quilt.

https://missyscakesandaprons.blogspot.com/2013/04/bow-tie-blocks.html

Then a couple hours passed as I searched for images of Bow-tie quilts and making my own Bow-Tie Pinterest board for the many different layouts and sizes.  There was no plan at the time to make this quilt, I was just killing time.  Something happened in those two hours and here we are making tiny little Bow-Tie blocks using Bonnie Hunters 2011 Leaders and Enders tutorial.

This post has been linked up at

Songbird Designs for Monday Musings

And

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Hop over for more quilt inspiration!

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Tackling The Red And White Scraps

 Hello Quilty Friends!  It took two days to work my way through the red and white fabrics.  I took breaks often to give my back a rest. Then I had to cut some of them more than once because the universe knows I love scrappy quilts so it worked in a few miscuts.  Awe, how sweet.

I opted to use what I have on hand.  I did not open the fat quarter bundles and did not purchase any fabric.  My friend Judy offered to let me pull from her stash.  What a good friend to feed my addiction but I graciously declined her offer.  I ended up with 19 repeat fabrics.  Once everything was cut, they were separated to make sure there would be no repeat fabrics in one block.  I don't think I've purchased any fabric this year, can you believe that!?

Yesterday and this morning my back has been feeling  much better.  There's some work needing done outside today so I hope to get into the sewing room around lunchtime.  That should be more than enough time to complete all the simple quilt blocks today. If you missed my blog post about this free quilt pattern, you can find it here.

Below is short video this morning for my Facebook friends.

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Almost a Quilt Top

 Hello Quilty Friends!  This week has flown by faster than a witch on Halloween.  My plan was to have this quilt finished and shipped by today.

Yesterday evening I managed to piece the bottom two rows together before calling it a day.  As I stood back and looked at the layout before putting them together I realized I really didn't care for the sashing or cornerstones.  Word of warning...striped sashing is hard on the eyes and makes me a little dizzy.

I think the cornerstones would have looked better had I used the colorful prints instead of the black prints.  But this granny is running behind and doesn't feel like bending over or squatting in order to test my theory.  What if I don't like it?  More bending and squatting.  And seriously, would the grandkids really care about the color of the cornerstones?  Probably not. 

The new plan "Quilt till you wilt" and have this girl on the quilting frame by this evening and finished by Sunday evening so it can be shipped next week.  That means three full days in the studio, maybe some scary Halloween-ish movies to set the mood.

I also need to decide if I want to ship on Monday or make a few small items with the scraps. Maybe a pillow, table runner, or pot holders.  Or should I just wait and use these scraps up next year?  There's still plenty of time before Halloween.  We'll see how I feel after the quilt is finished.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Another Halloween Quilt From Scraps

Hey Quilty Friends!  What do quilters do when they don't want to store or save scrap fabrics?  The answer is simple, make another quilt from the scraps.  In order to make another quilt from the Halloween prints I needed to pull more Halloween-ish fabrics for the borders and binding.

I can see how this could become a scrap quilt rabbit hole because there will be more scraps produced from the fabrics I pulled for the borders and binding in the picture above.  On my cutting table is a basket of white background fabric scraps, they will be worked it into the new scrap quilt.

And let's not forget the mountain of black scraps from the background of the five Lone Star Quilts made over the last year.  A little of  the solid black will be used in this quilt.  

The cutting for this quilt is finished and there's still scraps!  

They may be used to make a scrappy quilt backing or table runner.

The last three Halloween quilts and pillows were bound with this black striped fabric.  I'll be using it for the sashing in the current quilt. The black squares will be the cornerstones.

Here's the plan but things can change, especially the sashing.  I may turn the stripes vertical, it all depends on how hard it is to cut them horizontal.  I love the look of them horizontal but we all know how fabrics can get wonky when printed and ironed.

Right now it's pedal to the metal time!  I'd like to have this girl finished in a week or less.  

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

 

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