Corner Fix

Recently I was finishing the edges of a small quilt.  I was using the facing technique instead of binding because there was not enough of my border fabric to make binding strips.  

As I was inspecting the edges of the quilt, I saw that one corner antique block had a slit along an edge.  I thought that my walking foot took a wide enough seam allowance that the slit would be enclosed.  All would be okay.

 

But it was not okay.  It wasn't until I had all of the facing turned to the back side that I discovered the batting poking out of that corner.  Now what?  This project was set aside as I pondered how to fix this problem.

Several other quilts were waiting for bindings, so I set to work on one of them.  I chose a tan fabric with which to bind a charity lap quilt.  The binding strips were joined in the usual way--perpendicular to one another--so there were small triangle pieces to cut away from the seam allowances. 

 

Hmmm...could one of these triangles be used to fix the problem with the other quilt?  The fabric was a good color, but would the size work?

The facing was undone in that corner area and a triangle basted in place.  There was enough seam allowance along the diagonal edge to turn under.  That allowed me to applique the triangle in place, over the damaged original corner of the block.  

 The facing was reworked in that area, and one would never know that a repair had been made! 

 

 

 

Another use for a cut-away triangle.  :)

Waste Not

I get excited when I see the possibilities in fabric bits that others might consider waste.  

Depending on their size, I like to play with triangle cut-offs.

At a fall retreat, we were given kits to make blocks for the Cluck Cluck Sew pattern, "No-point Stars".  In this pattern, the stars in the blocks are created using "Triangle Corners" or "Diagonal Corners" (A small square is placed in the corner of a larger square.  After you sew on the diagonal of the small square, the corner is trimmed away and the remaining small triangle is pressed to the outside.)

For these stars, 3" squares were placed on top of 4" squares.  The leftover trimmed corner was large enough to sew a 1/4" seam and finish with a decent size half square triangle square. 

Because 3" squares were placed on adjoining corners of the 4" squares, there was an unexpected result using some of the half square triangle squares to make pinwheel blocks!  (See the small pinwheel in the center of the square on the left?)

The binding for one of my prayer quilts was made from striped fabric.  I joined strips of the fabric using  diagonal seams.  Instead of throwing away the seam trimmings, I decided to stitch them to scrap squares of white fabric.  Pinwheels from these triangle trimmings turned out fun, too!

 

Often I will find random triangles in scrap bags that are given to me.  As I did with the striped triangles, I will stitch these to scraps of background fabric, then cut them out and trim to size.  

What will I do with these little blocks?  Right now I have a basket in which I put little blocks that I have either made or inherited.  My vision is that someday, they will be made into a sampler quilt.  TBD  :)  In the meantime, it is definitely fun to play! 

Road Construction

Some chunks and strips of fabrics featuring roads, road signs, and vehicles were in a bag of scraps that I brought home from a retreat that I attended a year ago.  These were leftovers from a fellow quilter who was making a quilt for her grandson.

 

Since a number of the pieces were fairly long strips, I planned that this lap quilt would be made from horizontal "stripes".  I began by piecing together chunks or adding chunks to strips to make stripes approaching the width needed for a lap quilt.  In my stash, I found coordinating fabrics from which I cut more long strips.  Now I needed to map out the details of how all of these stripes would go together.

At one of this year's summer retreats, I took advantage of a large work space to lay out the stripes.  (While doing so, a retreat friend contributed some "truck" fabric leftovers to add to my quilt!)  I was able to determine the best order of the stripes, then cut them all to the size of the shortest one. 

 

When pieced together, the quilt top measured ~31" x 34".  I wanted to add a 3" border to make it bigger.  I did not have enough of any of the fabrics that I had used to construct the basic quilt top, so had to go shopping. 

 

I purchased a gray fabric that blended with the gray in the fabrics of the quilt top.  But when I laid that out next to the quilt top, it just seemed kind of "blah".  I went "shopping" in my stash and found a black fabric with a subtle gray print.  This did a better job of framing the quilt top. 

 

 

Corner squares were cut from some of the leftover vehicle fabrics. 

 

Construction complete with no major road blocks!  When it is tied up and bound, this lap quilt will be ready to be used and enjoyed.

Sailing Away

Lap quilts are the perfect size with which to experiment with leftovers...both mine and those that I "inherit" from others.  

I was given 15 squares, plus several scraps, of a colorful "boat" print. The squares measured 6".

Since 15 was an odd number to work with, I was able to piece an additional 6" square from the scraps (just like our quilting fore-mothers did when they didn't have a big enough piece for their design!) . Now I would be able to set the blocks 4 x 4.

Something had to be done to the 6" squares to make them GROW into a decent size lap quilt.

Using the colors found in the print, I searched my stash to see what fabrics I could use to border out the squares, making them bigger.  I found a dark turquoise "blender" fabric that would be perfect!  However, there wasn't enough of that fabric to add borders to all sides of each square, so the dark turquoise became the top and bottom borders of each square.  A solid red fabric was used to border the sides, with solid white used for the corners of the blocks. Because all of these border strips were cut 2", the blocks now finished at 8 1/2".

 

To help the quilt grow a bit more, the blocks were set with solid turquoise sashing, cut 2" wide.  To mimic the smoke coming out of several of the boats in the print, a grey "blender" fabric was used for the cornerstones. :)  The finished lap quilt top measures ~38" square.  

After the quilt is tied, it will be bound with the solid turquoise fabric, and will be ready to sail away to a new home.  :)

 

Hurrah for Red, White and Blue!

Every once in a while I like to work with my stash of red, white and blue fabrics--especially since most of my lap quilts are donated to the local VA hospital.  

A pack of red/white/blue charm squares was saying "use me".  One fast and easy way to use charm squares is to make half square triangle squares which then become pinwheel blocks.  I decided that my design would alternate red pinwheels with blue ones. For 16 pinwheel blocks I needed 32 light charm squares and 32 dark ones (16 red; 16 blue).  Since there weren't that many of each type in the charm pack, other 5" squares were cut from my stash fabrics.  

The sixteen pinwheel blocks, when set together, measured 32" square, finished.  To make the lap quilt bigger, a 4" border was added. 

My stash also included many red/white/blue scraps and leftover blocks/block parts.  These were scrappy pieced together for a second lap quilt.  The chunks were pieced so that, when sewn together, I could cut 8 1/2" squares.  I planned to use 2" (finished) sashing between these blocks in order to make the lap quilt to finish 38"square.  I also thought that forming stars at the cornerstones would be interesting!  But what colors to use for both?  

There was not much, if any, gold in the fabrics that make up the blocks, so I decided on gold sashing.  With that color sashing, I chose white for the cornerstone stars.  But the more I studied the blocks as I was arranging them, I noticed white fabrics at many of the block corners.  White stars would not really show up at those intersections; plus many stars would make the quilt much too busy.  One star in the center seems perfect! 

 

While working on this lap quilt, I realized that it takes much more time to create scrappy pieced blocks than it does to make pinwheels!!!  :)

Both lap quilts will be tied.  I like to use 6 strands of embroidery floss for tying...for these I will use 2 strands white, 2 strands red and 2 strands blue.  Patriotic all the way!

 

Buried Treasure--Strip Sets

It's a good idea to sort one's sewing room every so often.  It's amazing what can be found stashed away!

These strip sets were buried in a box in my sewing room closet.  They were leftovers from a quilt that my daughter made many years ago.

 

It was definitely time to do something with them.  They would be perfect for a lap quilt.  

The strip sets measured 6 1/2" long.  I decided to put them inside cream-colored squares.

The cream squares were cut 4 1/4", then cut in half diagonally.  The center of the long edge of the half square triangle was marked, as was the center of the strip set.  The center marks were matched up to stitch the strips inside the squares.  Once both sides were stitched, the block was pressed and squared up to 4 1/4".

I had seven sets of 6 blocks of the same print combination.  But not all of the strip sets were the same width.  I experimented a bit with the best way to set the blocks together--even tried a pinwheel design.  In the end, to my eye, diagonal rows looked the best. 

The blocks were set 6 across and 7 down.  With six of each strip-pair block, the order of the rows worked out just right!  :)

More buried treasure was found in my closet--enough fabric in my stash for the borders.  The gold fabric was cut 2" wide; the green fabric was cut 4 1/2" wide. 

 

The finished size of the quilt top is ~34" x 38".   It will be a cozy little lap quilt!

 

Not Quite Log Cabin

 As you may know by now, I am always on the lookout for quilt designs that will work to make lap quilts and use up my fabric scraps.

At a retreat that I attended last year, there was a basket of $1 patterns.  Looking through it, I found "Garden Window" by Bits 'n Pieces.  The description said "a pieced quilt with applique flowers--make it with quilters quarters".  The background on which the flowers were placed appeared to be a kind of Log Cabin design.

One of my scrap bins contained a stack of "somewhat" coordinated larger pieces of fabric, several of which were wide strips.  These fabrics were perfect for this pattern!

The instructions said to make strip sets of two different sizes and cut those into chunks for the block centers.  The centers were then surrounded by four strips, all cut to the same size.

As I was making the various block parts, I made sure to mix up the placement of the fabrics.  Piecing the blocks was quick and fun.  

When the blocks were set together, no matter which way they were turned, there were no seams to match up!  Easy!!  

 

The "somewhat" coordinated fabrics are repeated enough so that the resulting quilt top is scrappy, but not too busy (at least to my eye).  Twenty blocks, set 4 x 5, finishes to ~32"x 40". 

Hopefully this colorful quilt will bring joy to its new owner.  :)

 

Trial and Error

Thirty years ago I was making miniature quilts, thinking that by making small quilts, I could try out all kinds of designs faster than making them in standard size.  

Today I am making lap quilts with the same rationale--trying out new ideas while using up fabric scraps, leftovers and stash fabrics.

Several months ago I met a lady who asked if I would help her to make her first quilt.  Happy to start someone on her way to being hooked on quilting, I said "sure".  

During our first meeting, I learned that she does have a sewing background and already owns some of the basic tools.  She showed me the pattern that she wants to make:  "New Shoos" by Jenny Kae Parks, found in the Mar/April 2021 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine.  I could see why she was attracted to it...the model in the magazine was made from Kaffe Fassett fabrics and was bright and cheery. 

I congratulated her for choosing a fairly simple-to-piece design and a quilt that will turn out not too large.  This quilt will be a great one for her to learn some of the basic techniques--rotary cutting in general, construction of half-square triangles, precise piecing, etc.

Her first "job" was to get the necessary fabrics.  The pattern called for a layer cake for the main fabrics in the blocks and I showed her some ideas on Missouri Star's website.

It would take her a few weeks to gather up her fabrics so I decided to try out the pattern with some fabrics I had on hand--beginning with some 10" squares, charm squares and yardage from a friend, plus pieces from my stash.  The pattern makes 9" finished blocks, so 16 of them will make a lap quilt measuring ~36" square.  

Each block requires two pairs of the same 5" squares to make four identical Half Square Triangle squares.  These are trimmed to 4 1/2" square. The center rectangles are cut 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" and the center square is cut 1 1/2" square. 

After my 5" squares were cut, I marked the diagonal on ALL of them...hadn't yet paired them up. Then I paired them up, stitched both sides of the diagonal line, and cut them apart on the line.  Because I'd marked the line on both squares, I had to be careful about the line on which I was cutting--had to make sure it was between my lines of stitching.  My head must have been somewhere else in cutting one of them--I cut on the line, but this line crossed the lines of stitching!  Now what?  

I still had some of that particular fabric, so after taking the "oops" apart, I pieced together enough fabric to make two 5" squares.  (Just like our quilting foremothers did with their scraps!!!)  I then used those to make more HST squares.  That fabric is a busy enough print that it isn't that noticeable.

 

This lap quilt was easy to make and mine turned out bright and cheery too!  After making this, I now know exactly how to guide my new quilting friend in making hers.  :)

 

  

Squares Squared

While browsing in an antique shop a while ago, a set of simple Square in Square quilt blocks caught my eye.  The fabrics used in them are those that I love, from the late 1800's and early 1900's, so I had to bring them home.  

Upon closer inspection, the blocks had been carefully hand-pieced.  And the maker was a true "scrap" quilter!  Several of the blocks contain lots of fabrics pieced together to create the needed size and shapes for the block.  :)  

A few of the blocks contain small stains but I ignored those as I was working with these blocks.  I will freshen up the entire piece once it is quilted.  

The blocks were squared up to 7", a size that worked for all but one of the blocks.  I then had 16 blocks with which to work--they could be set 4 blocks x 4 blocks. 

I wanted a color "softer" than solid black for the sashing and border strips.  Although it is not a reproduction fabric, a brown/black print from my stash was just what I was looking for.  The sashing strips were cut 2" wide.  

Among my collection of vintage fabrics was a bag of shirting squares--same era, so perfect for my cornerstones!  Because many of these squares are age-spotted, it took some sorting to find nine squares that were free of spots/stains.  Those were trimmed to 2" square.

While thinking about the border for this small quilt, I had the idea to make Square in Square blocks from the shirting squares for the border corners. I found four more "clean" squares, trimmed them to 2 1/4" and made the four corner blocks.  The size of those blocks then determined the width of the border for the quilt--3" raw.  The finished small quilt top measures ~35" square.

These vintage blocks are now preserved in a way that I will enjoy looking at them.  The next decision--How should it be quilted? 

 

It Just Kept Growing!

The idea to make a row quilt came to me as I looked at my collection of vintage fabric scraps and blocks from the 1930s and 40s.  

Fat Quarter Shop has been posting weekly blocks for their "Sewcialites" quilt and one of those designs reminded me of patchwork from the 30s.  So I began there, making 6" blocks from a variety of vintage fabric pieces.  Seven of them, pieced together side by side, resulted in a 42" wide row...perfect for the width of the muslin that I wanted to use.   

I had a few star blocks that a friend had made from some of HER vintage fabrics.  They just happened to measure 6 1/2"...I pieced some from MY vintage fabrics to complete a row of them.  

There were some small 9-patch blocks in my collection.  After piecing more of them, I  decided that they would be more interesting on point.  

Corner triangles were drafted to add to seven Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks so that they would be "squared up" to piece into a row.  

Three arcs left from a Double Wedding Ring quilt that I had reassembled a number of years ago found their way into two rows, too.  I cut the arcs in half and appliqued them to strips of muslin.   

I have a shoe box full of small squares of 30s fabrics.  Some were squared up to 2 1/2" and made into 9-patch blocks.  Others were used to make scrappy pinwheels and 1/2 square triangle blocks.  

 

 

 

 

 

It wouldn't be a 30s quilt without Scotty dogs.  After they were appliqued in place, they were top-stitched with black embroidery floss.  

And what about butterflies?  These were appliqued in place, then bodies were added with chain stitching using 6 strands of black floss.  The blanket stitching around the bodies was done with 1 strand of black floss.  

I had to include a row of bow-tie blocks, too!!!  

Each row was adjusted to measure 42 1/2" wide.  Then all of these rows were pieced together, with spacers between the rows.  The quilt now measured 72" long.  But at this point, it was only 42" wide--very long and skinny.  Time for side borders.  These were cut 5 1/2" wide.  And because I wanted Sunbonnets in this quilt somewhere, a couple of them were appliqued to this border.  

The addition of the side borders brought the width to about 52" wide.  This still seemed too narrow.  I decided to add another 5" muslin border to each side.  But just stitching those to each side would look like an "oops" to me.  To solve that problem, vintage fabric strips were pieced together and stitched between the muslin borders as spacers.  Now the quilt measures 72" x 62" and fits nicely on a twin bed!   I really like the way it grew!  :)

Tiny Trapezoids

 I don't remember where I bought it, but I know that I've had it for a long time...this $3 quart-sized bag stuffed with small scraps.  I was attracted to it because the fabrics are from the 30s and 40s.  

 Upon opening it, I was surprised to find all pieces of the same size and trapezoidal shape!

 

When I first brought the bag home, I hand-pieced a few pairs of the pieces together.  But not really knowing what I wanted to do with them, the bag was put aside.  I found it again while sorting my collection of vintage blocks and fabrics.  And because I'd been browsing scrap quilt ideas on Pinterest, I now knew what to do with the tiny trapezoidal pieces! 

I began by sorting and counting them (there were more than 500 pieces in the bag!!!).   Those that were too soiled or too irregular to use were discarded.  The rest of them were pressed.  

The trapezoids were randomly machine-pieced in pairs, short end to long end.  After pressing, they were all trimmed to 1 1/2" x 2".  

 The pairs were then randomly pieced in sets of 4 to form the sides of churn dash blocks.  Since most of the scraps were pink, solid pink fabric was chosen for the corners and muslin for the background.  I had enough scrap sets to make 16 blocks.  

(Scrap sets measured 2" x 4 1/2".  Muslin sides were cut 2" x 4 1/2".  Center square: 4 1/2".  Half-square triangle blocks cut 4" to start; pieced; trimmed to 3 1/2" square.  Block: 10 1/2" raw.)

The blocks were set together with simple pink sashing (cut 2" wide) with muslin cornerstones.

It is still a mystery to me from where these scraps might have come--so many of them and all the same shape and size!  How to use them is no longer a mystery--I now have a wonderful lap quilt:  "Churn Dash and Shoo-fly"