Loose Ends: QSTs

 

I ironed and trimmed a few QSTs!!

I use a variety of things as leader/enders. I toss them in boxes for ironing and trimming but never seem to get a lot of ironing done. I figured since the theme in my sewing room this month is " loose ends" I would try to empty a couple of those boxes of leader/enders. 

Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs)-

 also called Hourglass

Most are around 2 inches. A lot of them are wonky. Some are from binding joins. Some are floppy corner cutoffs or waste triangles. I iron and twirl seams and cut off dog ears but don't trim them up to any size.

After ironing and trimming they go into a box with others. 

I have a medium flat rate priority box almost full of them. 

I have been making them since 2021. 

Competition Quilt. about 1895. hand pieced cotton, silk, linen; hand quilted; machine stitched backing. Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Guido Goldman. 2008.406.

(Picture from Denver Art Museum)

I just love love love to infinity this quilt and decided I would make something similar but use my wonky QSTs instead of HSTs. As I mentioned, I'm not squaring up my QSTs. I will just make "made fabric" out of them for the borders and not worry so much about points matching up. Then i will trim the  "made fabric" border. My version of the vintage quilt is definitely NOT going to be a competition quilt like the original. 

I have had the center block made for my quilt for quite awhile. 

And sew on...

Little Wonky Stars and PSP20

This week I had a few solid scraps of blue out so made some Wonky Stars with those solids and waste triangles. They finish at 4.5 inches.  I had the green solid squares cut last month when the RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) color was green but never got around to making the Wonky Stars last month so they carried over into this month. 

I also made a few PSP20 blocks (Postage Stamp Pandemic 2020) with a few blue solids. I see the PSP20 is mutating. I noticed the block in the lower right has 72 postage stamps instead of the usual 64. Ooops! Wonder how that happened. And now I know I didn't cut too few solid pieces or misplace them...I simply lost my mind for a bit while sewing pieces together. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

And So It Begins

Last month I was trying to decide on a background fabric for an eight pointed star I had made for the center of a medallion.  I finally decided upon a background fabric and it has been applied but not without a struggle.  

For a long time I've had a quilt called Blueberry Farm from the book Scrappy Fireworks Quilts by Edyta Sitar. That quilt consists of several different smaller Lone Star blocks. So I thought I would give one block a try for this center medallion. Arghhhh. It was no problem to make the actual star. The problem came when adding the background to the star pieces. Arghhhh. I tried and retried, tinkered and re-tinkered, read and reread, ripped and re-ripped, cussed and re-cussed but there was no way in heck (wherever that is) that I could get a setting triangle to work with this star. Then I went in search of errata. I searched and re-searched and finally found some corrections at the publisher's website.  Background corners were supposed to be 6 1/4 inch squares and not 6 inch squares and the triangles were supposed to be cut on the diagonals (X) from a 9 1/4 square and not an 8 3/4 square. Arghhh. I was glad that I had just enough of the orange background fabric after I finally made a background choice. 

I usually only buy books or patterns with quilts that inspire me but quilts with templates or more complex directions that I can't figure out for myself. So I expect that the quilts in the books have been tested for accuracy before publication. I really feel sorry for beginning quilters that encounter errors. I was shocked when I saw so many books with corrections on the publisher's page. Several of them dealt with "the basics".  And that was just one publisher. 

Ok. Well, off that rant and back to my Star which has finally been made to my satisfaction...

I was inspired by a vintage (c. 1895) quilt at the Denver Art Museum so decided to make my own version except instead of using HSTs (half square triangles) in the borders I will use QSTs (quarter square triangles). Well, actually, I will use Wonky QSTs made from waste triangles I have saved for years and years. 

For months now I've been sorting through boxes of waste triangles and so there are QSTs in various stages in my sewing room. Some are leader/enders. 

Some are ready for seam twisting and ironing. 

Some are ironed and need to have dog ears trimmed off. (And remember I said these were wonky so they won't be squared up. )

After trimming some are stored in bags...

 ...and some are stored in boxes that used to hold waste triangles. 

And so it goes. 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

I've Been Thinking...

Last year I decided to sort through years and years and years worth of waste triangles. Some I've been making into Shoofly blocks but most of them I sew into dinky little Hourglass blocks. When I get a cigar box full I trim them in the evening. When I say "trim" I mean I trim off the dog ears but I'm not squaring them up. 

I keep a little pencil box of waste triangles all sorted for the Hourglass blocks next to the sewing machine and use them as leader/enders. 

Now the trimmed little Wonky Hourglass blocks are mounting up...

...and almost every week I end up with a cigar box full that needs to be trimmed.  There seems to be no end in sight.  And there was no plan in sight until I saw....

 Competition Quilt. about 1895. hand pieced cotton, silk, linen; hand quilted; machine stitched backing. Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Guido Goldman. 2008.406.

(Picture from Denver Art Museum)

I originally saw a blog post about the quilt on day 5 of Mary Elizabeth Kinch's 12 Days of Christmas posts. 

I just love love love to infinity this quilt and decided I would make something similar but use my wonky hourglass blocks instead of HSTs. As I mentioned, I'm not squaring up my Hourglass blocks (because I don't like to square up) so I will just make "made fabric" out of them for the borders and not worry so much about points matching up. Mine is definitely NOT going to be a competition quilt like the original. 

On that note I decided I should make my center star and have it handy. I made all my Lone Star wedges but then ran into a snag because I couldn't decide what to use for the background. I'm still dithering. 

Gray background????

Blue background????

Pink background???

What say you???

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Little Wonky Stars Top II

Little Wonky Stars

It's a flimsy!

40.5 x 54

A few weeks ago I pulled out a package of Little Wonky Stars I had been making off and on for years using waste triangles for points. I divided the Stars into two piles - one with white/WOW backgrounds and "the rest".  I made a top with "the rest" a few weeks ago.  

I had to make more Little Wonky Stars with a white background to have enough for the quilt I had in mind for them. I scrounged up enough WOW (white on white) bits and pieces to make more Stars. And then I turned the Stars into Double 9 Patches.  The WOWS look like they have yellowed with age. They are actually pretty old fabrics and the last of most of them but they are really WOWs and not OYOOYs (old yellows on old yellows). 

I think that's a lot of white for a comfort quilt for where I usually donate little quilts so when finished it will probably go into the baby gift pile. 

 

Little Wonky Stars Top

Little Wonky Stars 

40.5 x 58.5

It's now a flimsy! 

I was going to quilt it but my sewing machine is at the repair shop (again. It was there in May). I do have a backup machine but it has a lot of tension problems along with thread breakage no matter what I do so I don't like to quilt on it. 

A few weeks ago I got out a little bag of Wonky Stars I had made with waste triangle points and 2 inch scraps. I separated the Wonky Stars into two piles...one with white backgrounds and one with the rest. With "the rest" I decided my November OMG (One Monthly Goal) would be to make a little donation quilt approximately 40 x 60. 

I didn't have enough of the 4.5 inch finished Stars to make an entire quilt so first I made four large Wonky Stars with Little Wonky Stars as the centers.  Then I added a little coping strip around to bring it up to the size I needed to add Wonky Stars to the sides. 

Then I added three rows of Little Wonky Stars to the top...

...and to the bottom.   I had a few Little Wonky Stars left over and will throw those in the orphan box (orphanage) or I may use them on the back since I know I have to piece the back. I may be able to use one for a label. The place I will donate this requires a label. 

Now I'm in the process of making an entirely different top using those Little Wonky Stars with the white backgrounds. 

OMG (One Monthly Goal) at Elm Street Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilt

 

Triangle Tuesday

I'm still sorting waste triangles every day and I've been making hourglasses every day. 

The waste triangles are wonky and so are the hourglasses. I'm leaving them wonky. I use an old 18 x 24 cutting mat with batting on it for a place to take photos. I probably have enough waste triangles now that would cover that area three times. I have lots more waste triangles to sort and sew so I'm thinking I may have enough of these little things when all is said and done for a quilt. 

I've also been making a few Wonky Stars with waste triangle points. These will be made into Double Nine Patches. 

I'm having fun with these. I'm glad I decided not to waste the waste triangles. 

And speaking of not wasting...

I took advantage of the nice weather to play in the leaves. I took a piece of old wire fencing and made a couple of little cages for leaves near my herb garden. I'm going to add more leaves to this and other cages of them and hope to have some nice leaf mold for the garden next year. This is separate from the compost piles which are at the edges of the veggie garden. 

I also kind of added leaves and small brush to paths I've been trying to mark out through a previously overgrown area I spent all summer  slowly clearing of wild black raspberries, small trees and shrubs and invasive weeds like Stinging Nettle and Pokeweed.  It doesn't look like much now but I'm hoping to turn it into a native wildflower area.  I'm kind of excited about it and so far I have planted Camassia (wild hyacinth) bulbs I hope to see in the spring.  A lot of the wildflower seeds I will winter sow in January or February. More on that later. 

 

Tuesday Triangles

Last Wednesday I posted about how I'm waist deep in waste triangles. I really want to use them but feel I need a little plan for how I'm going to use them. Now I kind of have some plans.  

As I've been sorting through the triangles each evening for a half hour or so I've pulled out sets of two matching triangles and paired them up with another two matching triangles and have been making little hourglass blocks. I don't really care if they are wonky or all the same size because I don't really like squaring up or trimming.  I don't know where I'm going after this but for now I'm making some little Hourglasses. 

I have two pencil cases of pairs stacked and ready to sew together for a few minutes each day in between projects. 

I keep an old cigar box for units that need trimming.  I just scissor trim off the dog ears each evening while in front of the TV. 

Then some of the triangles get sorted by color. I actually enjoy sorting because it is fun to look at all the different fabrics. 

Last week I started making Shoofly blocks using solids as a background. Now when I have solid scraps I know I can cut 8 two inch squares and have them ready to go to make these blocks. It doesn't take much time now that I have a lot of triangles sorted by color. 

For years I made Little Wonky Stars off and on as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. I sorted those last week and decided to pull out those with white backgrounds. Now I've decided to turn them into Double 9 Patches and I had enough for 3 blocks that finish at 13.5 inches. 

Like the Shoofly blocks I know I can now cut any white fabric scraps into 2 inch squares and grab some triangles to make Stars when the urge strikes.  I'm aiming for a twin sized quilt and have written down somewhere how many Stars and how many 5 inch squares I need so I can cut those from scraps. 

 And that brings me to the rest of the Little Wonky Stars I have on hand that finish at 4.5 inches. My November OMG (One Monthly Goal) is to turn these into a donation quilt top approximately 40 x 60.  There's not enough Wonky Stars to just use Wonky Stars in the quilt but I think I have a plan. 

One Monthly Goal (OMG) at Elm Street Quits. 

Waist Deep in Wonky Waste Triangles Wednesday

I've started making little Shoofly blocks that finish at 4.5 inches. I'm using little waste triangles for the corners, 2 inch scraps for the center and solid bits and pieces for the backgrounds. 

I've been working very hard to use up my bags, bins and boxes of scraps the last few years and next year will be the year of waste triangles for me. (I hope).   For me waste triangles are usually the result of trimming up "flippy corners" on blocks like Snowball or Indian Hatchet or they result from cutting binding joins.   In those cases I'm not a precisely-measure-and-trim-with -ruler kind of girl or a draw-a-line-and-sew-another-seam-on-the -corner-for-a-bonus-HST kind of girl.  I just whack off  with a scissors at what appears to me to be 1/4 inch. Voila! Wonky Waste Triangles!

The Little Shoofly blocks join the Little Basket blocks I started making a few weeks ago...

...with all those 30s reproduction waste triangles trimmed off Indian Hatchet blocks.  Those will eventually be combined with some little Hollow Nine Patches. 

Then there are all the Wonky Stars I have been working on (and off-mostly off) since 2016 using 2 inch scraps.  I need to decide a direction for these and decide if I want to continue to make them or just use these up. I sorted them into little piles and found I have around 65 of them that are different colors on colors. Maybe these would make a nice bunch of borders around some center Star or Stars???

I also had a little pile of about 25 colored Stars on a WOW or mostly white background. I thought maybe I could make Double Nine Patches with them and decide on some alternate block to go with them. Or just use Double Nine Patches in a quilt. But I don't have many WOWs so...

I also have a little pile of 15 Wonky Stars with white centers and various colors of scrappy backgrounds. Maybe I'll make more of those but make them into 25 patches. But, then that wouldn't use up more waste triangles...so...

Of course as I sort through years of waste triangles I'll find some will be larger and I will sew those into wonky HSTs or Hourglasses or Crumb blocks or.... And some waste triangles will be waaaay too small and will be thrown into the compost pile or onto a path in the flower garden. 

And just so you know I have actually used waste triangles and am not just a hoarder or waste triangles I have made two quilts using them that were gifted. 

Confetti Waves was finished October 2018 and I arranged the waste triangles like an Ocean Waves block. 

Blue Skies and Butterflies finished May 2019. 

Have you made something with waste triangles?  

'30s Thursday

Plodding along between other projects and making Economy Blocks from '30s reproduction scraps.  Not sure how many I will make yet. These originally started as a way to use some 3.5 inch scraps that are the centers. The two rounds on the sides (3 and 4 inch squares cut on diagonals) are cut from small chunks of '30s scraps. 

 Also in between other projects working on Little Baskets and Hollow Nine Patches. The waste triangles in the little baskets are cut from Indian Hatchet block corners and the Indian Hatchet blocks were made from leftovers from Churn Dashes.  So far the Hollow Nines 2 inch squares have come from the 2 inch scrap bin. I've been using muslin bits and pieces for the basket backgrounds and the "hollow".  These blocks finish at 4.5 inches. 

I've been in twin quilt mode for donation or gifts this year so these probably will end up that size. Time will tell.