Playing with scraps

I have been playing with scraps and strips the last couple of days. I started out to "make fabric" for an Anvil block to send to Victoria (Bumblebeans)and the blocks for this were on the wall above my sewing machine. Oh look, the colors are the same as what I have out on the table, there is only one block to finish, it will only take a few minutes. Well, it took a few hours, for a number of reasons. I was also cooking dinner and  cleaning up after dinner, and I had to do some ripping and I had to remake one of the finished blocks and no one ever said I was fast. I found this last year on FilmintheFridge blog and I thought I would make a large quilt. That didn't happen and it never will; there are just too many decisions  about fabric choices and the width of the blocks and I was really slow. I like what I have and it is enough.


So after I finished that one and tidied up the mess, I decided to make the Anvil block to send to Victoria. Click on her name to see some of the Anvil quilts and for a link to the tutorial. I am going to make another block but I am not going to make one large piece of fabric to cut into 1- 6 I/2 inch square and 5 - 4 inch squares. I am gong to make one piece big enough to trim to 6 1/2 inches and 5 pieces big enough to trim to 4 inches and I will make the HST's by layering 2 squares and stitching one both sides of a diagonal line and then I will trim the HST's to 3 1/2 inches. I found that by making one big piece I ended up with several seams coming together just where I didn't want them. I think I will also use something with more contrast for the background fabric. I might use larger pieces so I don't end up with so many tiny pieces in the HST's. I see that Victoria is asking for blocks with a blue background. No big decision problems there for me, I have only a few blue fabrics that could be used for background. You can see I missed that blue background request for the first block.

This has been a learning experience for me. I have made a lot of quilts with "made fabric" squares but to cut up a piece to make components for a block requires a different approach, for me anyway.

So..... I will make another block and if any of the Diva's would like to make one or two, I will collect them at our next meeting and send them.

July pics



I had good intentions of blogging after our July meeting.  I can't believe that was three weeks ago! Actually, it all started at Friendship when Lynn brought her fabulous made fabric piece.  I think she plans to add more to it but I think it is pretty great just the way it is.

 

 

 

I also don't want to miss posting the Kilroy shot of Ruth's lovely Blitzen Jelly Roll quilt.

 

 

Aside from cramming in lots of summer activities, I've been trying to finish up a few things.  First, I got the binding finished on the checkerboard.  You can see I took the safe route when digging through Jan's stash but I think it is the right choice for this one.  I didn't take the time to crop the rest of the pics, as you will see.  Maybe next time.



 

 

Next, I finished the two I Spy's for our friends who adopted twin 4 year old boys from Bulgaria. I'm hoping they can use these for bonding and a little vocabulary.

 

 

After sending the Bernina to the spa, I needed a piecing fix so I started working on my Wildwood challenge. I decided I'd save time by using some leftover squares from the Subway quilt, not thinking that this would make the triangles 1 inch finished size.  Let's just say that my piece will be much closer to the minimum than the maximum dimensions.

 



We're on hiatus for August and it looks like our September get together will be 9/21.  I believe that we decided to discuss a Mary Ellen Hopkins challenge in more detail at that meeting.

 

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer!