Hey Baby it's cold outside!

Thank the Lord, I have a nice warm house.  It is so unfortunate that not everyone is able to say that and so sad to think that many of the ones who don't have a nice warm house are children.  Wish I could give them a nice warm quilt to snuggle up in and a nice hot meal to warm their tummies.  It is a great comfort to me to know that my kids and grandkids are taken care of, and my great-grandson also.  They all have nice warm quilts that I have made for them to snuggle in if they like.  Each year at Christmas I start going through the quilts that I have on hand and pick out what I want to cycle out of the house this year and I always have a wonderful time doing that.  I'm sure that many of you have made so many quilts that you really don't need or even want to keep them all, so Christmas is a wonderful time to start a new cycle, and it gives us an excuse to purchase more fabric in the new year and start all over. 

I have promised that I will try to be better about posting on my blog so I am attempting to do that and I want to go ahead and show you some more pictures of what I was up to the weeks before Christmas when I was running around here like a chicken with her head cut off!  So here are some more pics.

This quilt was comissioned by one of the physicians I work with.  She wanted blue and some yellow.  It had to be masculine, meaning to her that there could not be any fabric with a flower print.  Then she picked out this pattern and wanted it to be very scrappy.  Well believe me it was.  I dug through my stash and pulled out every piece of fabric I had that was any shade of blue all the way to teal!  I had well over 100 different fabrics in this quilt and none of them with a flower mofit!  Hard to believe huh.

Another specification was that she wanted it to have a little bling.  Well the bling was achieved by using Fairy Frost fabric in the yellow with the gold metalic print and the white with the silver metalic print and then I picked a grey fabric with just a hint of a shimmer.  The Fairy Frost and the gray were used as the background fabrics.

After the quilt was started then she said she really had wanted to do some purple in it but she had so much purple in the room she was afraid to do a purple quilt.  Hence the purple border and binding, which when all was said and done, she really, really liked and the backing is the same purple.

Rather than put a label on the quilt, she wanted me to do what I call quilt writing on the borders of the quilt.  This particular quilt I decided that I would only do a top and bottom border and no border on the sides.  I guess I could have decreased the time I spent on the quilt if I had done side borders rather than all that extra stripping, but then again I really like the finished project.  The top border has her husbands favorite scripture.  I just used contrasting thread in my quilting machine and it turned out quite well.

This is just a closer look at one of the stars so you can see the scrappiness of this quilt.  I made the strata and then cut out the pieces.  When I was laying the quilt out I really wished that I had kept my pieces together better because it became a huge headache to find the pieces that matched and it looked so much better when the entire star was made out of the same strata pieces.  Problem was that the strata was very different and I would not have enough of one kind to do the entire star.  If I ever do this pattern again I will have a much better ideal of how I want to do the strata and how much of each strata I need. 

 

I really love the scrappy quilts and there will be more.  I have some pieces left over from this project and I have plans for those "one of these days".  Oh me, another UFO!

 

I also finished up a batch of my Quilts for Kids and those have all been mailed now which made me feel really good!

 

Well I can hardly wait until my next post because I want to tell you what I am up to next!  Ya'll have a quilty month with lots of love and laughter!

 



2013, Yeah.

Okay folks, I am so very sorry, but I did this last week and I though I got it posted but apparently I had that old brain thingie and it did not get posted.  So here I am posting this weeks first and last weeks behind it.  Sorry.

Well this new year has started.  I have to say I finished out the last year in a blaze as I completed a lot of quilts between my semi-retirement on Nov. 1, 2012 and the end of Dec. 2012.  Many of those I did not get to make pictures of since my camera died and I had to get a new camera, which I got my husband for Christmas.  Now I'm back to taking pictures and really have been doing quite a bit of quilting.

I'm going to go ahead an post some of the many pictures that I have taken so you will get to see some of what I have been working on so you will know I really have been busy.  Many new projects going also, which I think will be fun.  Also I need to finish some of those older projects that I have started but not yet completed.  I have some that I have been working on for a couple of years and they just sort of get put back when I hit a snag or something to wait for a later date.  I'm sure none of you ever do that, start working on a project and something interrupts like life, or you hit a snag that you just don't really know where to go from here so you have to put it down for a while and wait for inspiration to dawn!  Sometimes it takes a long time for that dawn to come!

So here go my photos in review!

A young lady I know had a baby this year and I decided to make something for the newborn, precious little Olivia.  Now the colors in this are the colors her parents had chosen and I made a cute little round pad to lay her down on to change diapers, or for her to play on when out and about.  It being round, I had these pieces of fabric that had the holes in the center, so what to do.  Well I decided to make a patchwork and cut it to fit into the hole, so that is what I did here.  The top is finished, now just got to get her quilted.  This is a she!  Pretty in pink!

Now this is one of Kay's quilts that she brought me.  The border has this wonderful print that ran diagonially so I just decided to do some wavey lines up through the lines and I really think this turned out quite well.  Of course, I also had to add some leaves in the gold border.  I love doing leaves.

I wanted to do something a little different so I did just some close straight lines where the four corners came together and made the lines in different directions.  I liked the effect as did Kay.  Whew!

Another of Kay's Quilts that I completed for her.  We were going to Florida for a conference and we stopped by The Scarlet Thread down below Atlanta and picked out these fabrics for a pattern that Kay found that she really liked.  They turned out really well together.  Kay has a knack for how to arrange lights and darks.

This top was so pretty but it had some challenges in that each time they added another border the edges were longer than the center portion of the quilt.  The colors were beautiful, but........There wound up being about 4-6" extra fabric sewn into outside border.  I had to whip this one into shape!

As you can see I did a lot of whipping.  The outer border had the closest quilting and the amount of quilting decreased as I moved toward the center of the quilt, until the center was an all over mofit.  Loved the lace and tatting used in this top, but once again that can produce challenges to the longarm quilter.

Wanted you to see a picture of the whole quilt.

Wow, sorry folks but this internet is moving so very slow today, it has taken me more than 5 minutes each to add these photos so I'm going to stop for today.

 

I will be posting next week and putting up some more of what I have been doing.  Just a couple of hints that I will pass along.  On the quilt top I made the circle in a square quilt, that is flannel and boy does that stuff stretch.  You really have to be careful when piecing flannel and take care so you don't stretch the pieces completely out of shape.  I'm sure I will have lots of practice at fixing problems by the time I get through quilting that one.

 

Second hint is to be sure and measure your quilt before adding each border.  If the length of your outside edges and the measurement across the middle of the quilt are not the same you need to make some adjustments so your last border means all three measurements are the same.  If you bring the measurements closer to the center measurement with each added border you will not have wavey edges.  If your measurements are 74", 68", and 76" then you will have wavey borders with the one with the longest measurement being the waviest.  If the issue is not addressed early and consistently by the quilter you will have pleats in your borders which no one wants.  Even with very experienced longarm quilters it is very, very difficult to fix a border that is over 6" longer than it should be according to the rest of the quilt. 

 

My pledge is, I will do my best to make each quilt I quilt the best that I can make it.  I really try to do that but being an imperfect person, in an imperfect world sometimes the results are not perfect.  I hope you all have a wonderful day quilting and piecing.  Practice makes perfect!  I'm still practicing!



 





Circles Yeah!

Well I finished the top today!  Big sigh of relief.  I know I am getting old because I forget so many things.  I think "I've forgot more, than I'll ever know."  I know that I have a creative mind because I am forever thinking, "oh, I can do this, or this, or this"  and the more I look at something the more ideals I will come up with about things to change and make it better or different.  I love it when I'm on a role.

Well recently a friend of mine had a new baby and I wanted to make something for the baby.  Hum, so here I go on the internet looking for something that would be quick and easy.  I'm not in real close touch with her and I just found out two weeks before that she was expecting and then wham the baby was here.  I was still thinking about colors and patterns for a quilt and the baby was born!  Well that sort of moved it up on the old time table so I was hunting quick and easy.

Let me tell you if you have never visited Missouri Star Quilter Company you have been missing out.  They have wonderful tutorials that are so easy to follow.  I love listening to Jenny as she explains the easy way to do things!  I've already made more than one quilt from that site and they are always exactly what she bills them to be!  Well Jenny has a tutorial for a self binding receiving blanket that is so awesome.  Just 2 pieces of fabric, one 30" square and the other 40" square and you just sew them together and fold and sew the mitered corners, turn and then use a decorative stitch to sew the border/binding down and you are finished.  These are made with flannel fabric and they are soft and cuddlesome!  Easy to wash too for the new mom.  I went to the fabric store and picked up the fabric for one of the receiving blankets and I had also found a changing/play pad at another site, tipjunkie.com that was another quick and easy thing to make so I made both and I guess I spent about an hour total on making both items, and they were inexpensive.  The changing/play pad just took 3 pieces of flannel 1 yard each and turned out very well.  Gosh now I had scrapes of flannel fabric that was just too pretty to stick in the scrap basket.  Hummmm

The changing pad was made as a circle and I had cut the circle from the middle of the fabric so I had 3 pieces of fabric that had a big hole out of the center.  I also had the trimmings from the receiving blanket the 30" square and the 40" square.  (Now about this time I am really wishing I had taken some pictures of the receiving blanket and the scraps I had left so you could see.)  Well this old brain did start to churn and I decided that I would make another flannel quilt and I would take my scraps that I had cut off and sew them into a pattern and put that in the center hole of one of the fabric pieces from the changing pad and make a nice little quilt out of my scraps.  I have other things that I have made that I put circles in and it was really quick and easy but apparently I forgot how that works and cut the thing wrong to begin with and lucky for me I cut it too big and not too small so I had to take the circle out and trim it down and then put it back in and it turned out right.  You do have to be careful when sewing the flannel as it has a tendency to stretch...(read understatement here).... and you have to make allowances for the stretch.

Finally I remembered to take a few pictures.

This is a picture of how the edge of the quilt looks with the circle in the square.

 

Some day I may learn to take good pictures, but that time has not come yet.  Sorry about that but this is just a picture of what the pieced center of the quilt looks like.  Just a 9-patch and then one of the other colors where I had a width of material 1 1/2" wide to use for sashing and I used most of the colors in some of the sashing so it is very scrappy looking.

Another picture of the edge of the quilt.

 

What can I say, now I am anxious to put a batting and backing with it and get it finished!  I think I am going to have a take a tip from my friend Sandy over at FrogPond and get all of my unfinished projects together and just determine that I am going to finish one a month or something until I am caught up!

 

I have a quilt on my machine from Pat that is just wonderful.  She does such precise piecing and it is  always a joy to work on her quilts.  They all look like they were made for competition!  I have some from Peggy and several from Kay and another lady brought me 3 this week that are going to be so much fun.  One is a feedsack quilt.  I can hardly wait but got a few others I have to get finished before I can put the feedsack on the machine.  In addition to that I have another lady that has asked me to make her a quilt that I have to get started on quickly but it is make the entire quilt from start to finish.  I'm anxious to do that one too because we picked out an awesome pattern and she wants it to have some bling so I found some fairy frost fabric in the colors she is using to go with the other colors to give it some Beee---Ling.  This should be fun.

 

Life is just so much fun when you're quilting!  I get to retire in a few more days so I will have even more time to have fun!  I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful week of quilting!

Double Knit??

Boy isn't it a lovely day!  I can remember many years ago, now I'm going to tell my age here, when we first started seeing polyester double knit fabric.  Well we thought this was the best thing since zippers or maybe even the best thing since buttons.  You didn't have to iron it after it was washed and dried!  Oh my wasn't this a time saver and it gave us more time to do other things, like sew!  Everyone loved it!  Today the most amazing thing about this fabric is that it never wears out!!!  I mean never!  It is also very heavy! 

 

Well believe it or not I had a customer call me about quilting a top for her and I don't even remember where she said the top came from, but it was not something that she had made.  She wasn't even born I don't think, when they were making this stuff!  You guessed it the top was entirely double knit polyester! 

 

 

If you have never worked with this material, it is very stretch-------stretch-----------stretchie!  Extremely hard to quilt is the translation of that sentence!  But like Larry the Cable Guy, I "got 'er done".  I don't think Larry would have anything bad to say about the finished product either.  A lot of our older generation made quilts that were designed for a regular full size bed and the quilt was not the spread and they did not allow very much drop off of the sides of the mattress.  Many of the older quilts will just cover the top of the mattress with no drop down the sides at all!  This can make it difficult to use them as a regular part of the bed linen unless they are on a bed that is being slept in by one person only.  If more than one then you will hear the accussations of "cover hog" flying about frequently.  

 

At any rate I got this quilt and got it quilted.  Here it is!

You can tell in this picture that the person who made this handsewn quilt loved the 9 patch block because that is what it is!  All 9 patches sewn together without sashing or borders!

 Someone had a lot of scraps to get rid of and I don't know if they were all her's or not, but if they were all her scraps, she was a very prolific seamstress!

The person who brought me this quilt had picked out the backing and binding and I think she did a wonderful job.  All of the melon colors were just beautiful and the backing really brought out the color in the scraps.  As you can likely tell I just did a meandering quilting technique all over the top.  Sometimes that is just the best quilting pattern to keep it from looking too fussy or busy.

Now I love the binding and just wasn't able to get a good picture of it from the top.  Sorry I'm not better at photographing my projects.  The binding really made those colors pop out on the top!

 

 

I really enjoyed doing this very stretchy quilt!  It did turn out lovely.  I will give you a hint if you start to quilt a quilt top that has some stretchiness be sure to lay it out and quilt down the outside first!  This will help you manage all that in-between stuff and you can ease and stretch as you go to make things turn our properly!  They may never be perfect, but then neither am I.

 

Remember quilting is a very fun thing to do!  If it stresses you to the max then lets figure out why and see if we can turn this into something that is fun and relaxing.  I have found if something just really causes me to be anxious that I will do less and perhaps never even finish the project.  I need to stop and figure out why I am so very anxious and see if there is a way to de-stress it!!  Sometimes it's just one part that gives me trouble and if I can work through that the rest does fine.   Are you having a problem with a quilting project?  If the answer is yes, try to figure out which aspect is giving you the most problems and if you want my input just let me know.  I'm always happy to help a fellow quilter!

 

Ya'll have a great day.  Happy quilting.



Tis the season

Well it's Thanksgiving (Oops!!  I wrote this and then forgot to post it.)  and what better way to be thankful than to pick out someone that needs a little extra love and give it to them!  After all this is the season of giving so why not sew up a "charity" quilt or two to give to the local nursing home, or whatever other worthy cause you want to support.  Maybe you can donate a quilt to be auctioned to provide money for a charity you would like to support.

The local quilt guild got together and decided to sew up some lap quilts for the local nursing home and have them to give for Christmas.  Christmas fabric was donated and the fabric was cut to 3" strips the width of the fabric available.  Now some of the strips were the usual 44-45" and some were 12" and everything in between.  Next the strips were subcut to varying lenghts.  Anywhere from 6" to 18" and everywhere in between and then were sewn end to end to make a very long strip.  Next these long strips were cut into lengths of approximately 60" and then they were sewn together side by side.

The huge variety of prints really go together to make a beautiful
Christmasy throw!

For this particular project we sewed the strips together until they were about 41" in width making the top about 41" x 60".  No borders were added and the quilts were quilted using a simple meandering pattern which is fast and easy.  The binding is added and they are ready to go to their new home. 



It never fails to amaze me that it really doesn't matter what color
the fabric is if the theme is constant.

During this time of "Thanksgiving" stop and think about all the things you are thankful for and how blessed you are and then think about those you aren't as fortunate.  Even when time is short, this is a very quick and easy project and can be loads of fun when you get together with a few of your buddies and you all toss in some fabric scraps.  You can't imagine how much these throws mean to people in the nursing home who have no family nearby to visit during the holiday season.  Think about sharing your love during this season!
Love ya!

Scrap quilt?? or Kit???

A friend recently brought me a quilt to quilt for her that I think is just really a neat little quilt.  A very simple little quilt.  (In case you haven't guessed.....I love simple.)  This particular quilt was simply half-square triangles with a couple of borders.  What made it so neat was the  play of light and dark across the quilt.  The simple use of color made it a striking quilt.

As you can see the color is the highlight of this little gem.

Isn't this just a lovely little quilt!!  I really enjoy the way she used the light fabrics opposite from the darks and then in a few places there are the random pieces of medium thrown in for variation and it makes the light colors pop even more.  All this with simple half square triangles. 

Now the finished size of the square is 3" so the square had to be 3 1/2".  In order to make a half square triangle you can take two 3 7/8" squares, place them right sides together and cut them diagonally (corner to opposite corner) and sew along the diagonal cut and you will have a 3 1/2" square.  It's really a very simple trick that makes all your half square triangles the right size.  From the two original squares you will have 2 - 3 1/2" squares which will be 3" finished size in the quilt.



Just a little closer look at the individual blocks.

 Hummmm.  I just wonder if I have enough scraps to do one of these?   Of course, I know I do, but what about you?  If you are like most people you tend to lean towards a particular color scheme and you can pick out those colors from you scraps and wind up with a really great scrap quilt.  Just remember to use a variety of colors unless you want an all blue with the alternating lights or maybe you are into light blue and yellow, with alternating darks instead of the lights.  So many possiblities and what a wonderful way to use up some of those scraps.  Of course you could use any color combination, and you could use any size half square triangles to make up this neat quilt.

If you want to change the size of the half square triangles here is the easy way to do the math.  Just add 3/8" to the unfinished block square, or add 7/8" to the finished block size, either way works and while it may be just a tad aggrivating to cut on the 7/8" it is better than having off sized blocks.  Know how to do this little math step means you can add in half square triangles to any of your patterns and get them to fit properly with nice little corners.  So if I need a block that is 4" finished and I decide I want to toss in a half square triangle then I just add 7/8" to the 4" and cut my squares 4 7/8" for a perfect 4" finished block.

Now I know several people who routinely cut their left over fabric into strips and that is how they organize their stash.  I think they all cut different sizes too which makes it interesting.  If you are one of those people then you may have to trim your precut pieces to get a standard size.  If you cut your fabric in 2 1/2" strips then trim down the strip to 2 3/8" and cut those into squares.  It is really better to do the trim first and then cut your squares.  You will have a finished 1 1/2" half square triangle when you finish your quilt.  Whatever the size you have cut, remember to trim off that little 1/8" and then cut your squares and have fun sewing.

It can really be a headache to try to sew long strips of the half square triangles into rows and little errors in seam allowances can add up over the width/length of the quilt giving you something you really don't want to deal with, so the best way to do this quilt is sew the blocks into larger blocks and then piece those together.  For example, use the half square triangles to make a 9 patch block (3 blocks long, 3 blocks wide), or a 16 patch block (4 blocks long x 4 blocks wide) and then sew those squares into the larger sections.  This will help keep any errors in seam allowances spread throughout the quilt so you will have a quilt that is easier to square, and your machine quilter will like you a lot more!!

Speaking of machine quilting.....I really didn't know what I was going to do with this particular quilt because I didn't want to do an overall pattern that would detract from the lovely piecing.  What I finally decided was an outer border of "ocean waves" pattern, and an inner border with stars and then a special little pattern in the blocks.  I did a stitch in the ditch and then put a little design in the dark fabric.


One of these days I'm going to take a class in
photography!!.  You can see the ocean waves
pattern at the top and then the stars in the second border,
and finally the design in the dark triangles more clearly
on the backing.

I used a maroon thread both top and bobbin and the quilting really doesn't show up on the front of the quilt.

I think this is a better picture of the design on the dark triangles
and the freestyle stars on the inner border.


Quilting should enhance the quilt, not take away and this quilt really didn't need anything that would make it appear busier, so I felt the maroon thread was ideal for this little quilt that already has plenty going on with the play on the light and dark fabrics and the many pieces. 

I hope you all have fun reading this and it inspires you to try out this pattern.  If you do, please let me know and if possible send a picture.  I love seeing what others are doing.  Each quilt is a unique statement of our own taste, desires, and love of quilting. 

Take time this July 4th Holiday weekend to thank God for the independence we have in the United States and our wonderful men and women in the military who fight so we can keep those freedoms.  We have a wonderful country!!  If our leaders are not doing what you think they should, pray for them.  If they are doing what you think they should, pray for them.  Prayer works.  Have a great day!!

Just a Quickie

I am forever and always hunting new ways to use up scraps or pieces of material left over from other projects and found another way to use up these pieces of material the other day.  Kay came by with a couple of quilts she had made for her sisters for their upcoming girls get away to the beach.  She came in with two lap size quilts that were just strips of fabric sewn together.  The strips were the width of the fabric and the they were cut in 6 1/2", 10 1/2", 11 1/2" and 12 1/2" strips.  These strips were then sewn together, edges were trimmed and then quilted and bound.  The quilts were as cute as they could be and Kay had chosen fabrics that represented her sisters and their likes and interest.  I thought these were just the cutest things and popped them on the quilting machine and finished them up for her in no time.  I mean it took like 30 minutes or less to put each one on the machine and quilt and take it off.  Kay shared that it took more time for her to pick the fabrics than any other part of the process.

Okay, so it's getting close to Christmas and I have all this fabric and not a lot of extra cash.  Gosh I have an absolute ton of fabric and since I typically buy yardage and not always fat quarters there has to be something there.  Okay Sandra loves the fall type stuff and leaves and I have some browns and greens that go together well and there are some of those leftover pieces of fabric that will go with that.  Okay this piece is the width of the fabric but not 6 1/2" in length, it's only 5 inches.  So what, I'll add another 1 1/2" to one of the other pieces, because this just goes so well!!  Wow that was easy.  I used a total of 9 strips of fabric with width of fabric and it turned out great.  Now what can I do about Rose??  Okay I know what she likes, she like oriental prints, yeah I have a lot of those because I like them too and I have one that has gold that I know she will like.  Another one finished in no time, and Bruce needs a manly one and I have this print with southwestern pottery and one with wagon wheels (not the cartoon style), gee these just all go together so well, and then there was one for mother, French Country Market are her colors.  In no time I had 8 quilts all put together and the best part, I used things I already had and didn't have any out of pocket expense in getting all these tops done.

Okay, now is the time for the out of pocket.  I decided I wanted to put a flannel back on them because those are the most cuddlie quilts, especially after they have been washed a few times, and this size is perfect to use on the sofa when watching tv and eating popcorn.  Then I, being the frugal person that I am known to be, thought, as the light bulb appeared over my head, "if I use the same backing on all I bet I can get a whole bolt and get the discount for emptying the bolt and 25% off is nothing to laugh away in these economic times.  Each quilt is 5 feet long and add a couple of inches to start and stop each one so 5 feet, 3 inches each comes out to about 42 feet of fabric divided by 3 means 14 yards of fabric.  I actually found 2 different pieces of fabric on the sale rack which was really cheaper than purchasing all that was left on the bolt of fabric.  I got the backing for less than $5 per yard which made these quilts very affordable for gift giving.  Everyone loved their quilts and my nephews wife asked if I would do a quilt for her two little girls.  Well I did the same type quilt for them using some fabrics I felt they would like and finally got to give them to the girls the other day.  They really liked their quilts.

Abi gave me a big hug for this.



Kayleigh really liked her quilt.

 So if you get stuck in a bind (no pun intended), these are really quick quilts you can make up out of what you have on hand.  They are wonderful gifts and no one will ever know they were your scraps.  Have a great day and remember God loves you!

This past week has seen the destruction of many homes and businesses and the loss of many lives throughout the southeastern United States.  Our local quilt store was completely destroyed by the tornado that hit Ringgold.  We are so saddened by the loss of life and the massive distruction.  People have been stepping forward and donating and trying to help in the clean up.  Makes me very proud to be a Southerner and an American.  If you have extra quilts, the people who have lost homes and literally everything they owned are in need.  These are really quick quilts to make and would be great to donate.  If you are not in the Southeast or don't know how to donate to those people, please look around you, there are people everywhere that are hurting, lonely, homeless, cold and heart sick.  A lap quilt could change their whole life.  There is nothing so precious as love that is shared.  If you are concerned that your hard work will go to an undeserving person let me share what a very special person once shared with me:  We are given a duty by God to feed the hungry and cloth the poor.  If we from the goodness in our heart give to someone who has said they are in need, then we have done as God commanded us to do, and if they are not truthful they are the ones who will have to stand before God and answer for those things.  God bless.

Just a Quick Look

I am a lover of the scrappy quilt.  There is something about a scrap quilt that brings visions of a family, working, playing, living  and learning together that brings comfort to my soul.  Having told my friends time and again how much I love scrappy quilts and showing the scrap quilts I have made in the past, everyone is aware of my love of this part of the art of quilting.  A friend knowing this brought by a book that she had aquired for me to look at the different patterns.  While thumbing through the book I came across a pattern that was just a jumble of rectangular pieces of fabric that were sewn together in a particular pattern.  The picture shown was a very busy quilt, with no apparent pattern and was much too busy for my taste, but the more I looked at the pattern the more I thought that could be a beautiful quilt if.... and my mind started whirling.  Well the quilt isn't finished yet, but I have already made up 12 blocks of what promises to be a wonderful scrap quilt. 

What I decided to do really isn't that complicated.  This particular block begins with two center rectangles which form a square when sewn together.  Next you sew a row of rectangles around the center block, much in the fashion of a pineapple or courthouse steps pattern and continue around the block with a 3rd row and then a 4th row the end product being a 12 1/2" block.  This is a wonderful way to use up scrap fabric but as I said, too busy for my taste.  What do you do to decrease the busy appearance?  My ideal was to change rows 2 and 4 to one fabric instead of a row of the smaller rectangles, and in addition to that I decided that I wanted to stick with a specific color scheme for those two rows. 

When I looked at the option I was thinking about I realized that if each block ended in the same specific color that would not be good.  I decided to solve this problem by using a couple of colors and alternating them withing the block.  Maybe black and white.  What I finally decided was to use black and white but not a solid, instead using a black on white print, and a white on black print. 

Unlike some people I don't believe that every piece of fabric in a scrap quilt has to be scrap.  I believe you can purchase sashing, borders and even some fabric to put in the quilt and it remains a scrap if you are using more than one-third of the fabric from your scrap bag.  I look at it this way, I'm still using scraps and saving because I'm not purchasing the entire amount of fabric needed for the quilt.  I will have a beautiful quilt that is coordinated and looks good and really doesn't even look like a scrap quilt most of the time.

Now it was time to go to the store to purchase some fabric.  I had already been through my stash and collected my black and white prints and knew I needed some more white on black to make the quilt.  Well when I got to the fabric store I found some prints that were the same pattern reversed, white on black and black on white.  An ideal was born.  Use the same pattern with reverse colors, but not just one pattern but several.   Well I've completed several blocks on my project and am looking forward to completing the entire quilt.

When you pick up a book of patterns, instead of thinking of it as a book of patterns, think of it as a book of possibilities.  How would it look if?????

Hope you have enjoyed the post :)

Anna