Trial Blocks

I am going to sew a baby quilt, but before cutting into my chosen fabrics, I decided to sew trial blocks. 

These blocks are cut in stacks, then the fabrics rearranged. Finished size of blocks are 5.25".

Next are scrappy stars. I was looking through a book from the library and fell in love with the little stars. 

Since I have so many scraps cut into squares, I knew it would be quick and easy to make these.I used 2" squares, and my blocks finish at 5.75"

Earlier this week I read a tutorial on a quilt blog regarding string block construction without using a foundation or paper. I had to try it!

It worked beautifully! Finished block size is 9"

Here is the back, nice and neat. I ran a basting stitch around the outside to keep the stitching from unraveling. 

I'm linking up today with http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2017/02/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-quiltcon-2017.html

Two more...

I found I had two more charity quilts made from the stack of fabric squares a friend passed on to me. I assembled them last year, but they kind of got buried during the holidays!

The first one is a simple baby quilt. There were so many of the blue floral squares that I put them in their own quilt. 

The second one is a lap quilt; I thought I should try to make at least one masculine quilt!

I've passed these on for quilting and binding. Glad to have them all out of the house at last!

What a difference!

I put borders on the charity quilt. Such a difference!

Here it is without the borders: Not all that attractive, just okay.

And here it is with the borders! I really like it now!

Here are the other quilt tops I sewed with the same large pile of squares from a friend. I am thinking they would have benefited with added borders. 😕

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

For two years I have been watching the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/. Angela, the blog hostess chooses one color each month, and she challenges her readers to use scraps in that color to make blocks. Eventually a participant will have enough blocks to make a quilt in the colors of the rainbow.Well, this year I am playing along! 

The color in January was purple. 

The February color is aqua.

I start with 2" squares, and the finished block size is 9".

A few years ago I was trimming red scraps into usable squares. What to do with the leftover bits of fabrics that were too small for squares but too large for the wastebasket? I made slab blocks!

I decided to make more slab blocks each month in the chosen color.

I simply sew together the scraps until the slab measures between 6 and 8 inches square. The backside of the slab shows many seams, making the blocks thick and heavy. 

Eventually I will come up with a plan for the slabs, but until then I will keep making them!

Linking up with http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/2017/02/scraphappy-saturday-teal.html

Determination

I've had a mess on my dining room table, and I have been determined to get it cleaned up. 

I had been sorting some fabrics and also cutting up the teal blue scraps into usable squares.

Here is the result of perseverance! 
*The table is cleaned off. 
*Nice piles of teal blue squares will be added to the storage boxes. 
*There is a pile of leftover scraps that can be sewed into improvisational blocks. 
*I also cut out enough colorful fabrics to make six additional blocks for a charity quilt.

I sewed those six blocks together, then got busy arranging the squares into a pleasing design. 

I like this one best!

This setting is kind of fun, but it does not look so nice using these unrelated fabric scraps.

I'm working on using my pre-cut scrap squares to make these blocks. More on that in the next post.

Completed purple blocks

Teal blocks ready to sew