I Built A Top Of Legos

Legos

52 x 78

It's a top!

I used Lynn's tutorial at Klein Meisje Quilts. 

When I pulled my project box out the other day I found 15 blocks, a little box with 1.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles and a few rows for a block.  

I wanted a quilt of 24 blocks so needed to make 9 more blocks. Each block takes 78 rectangles so I needed a total of 702 rectangles and that little box defintely did not hold enough rectangles. 

So, remember a few blog posts back when I mentioned I sorted two boxes of 1.5 inch width scraps into different categories?  Well, one of those "categories" was a baggie of 1.5 inch width scraps greater than a 1.5 inch square and less than a 5.5 inch width.  Well, that is what I cut into 1.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles as well as some 1.5 inch squares.  The baggie is now empty and I had enough pieces to make nine more Lego blocks. 

It looks like I started making blocks back in 2021. 

It was slow going because I was using 1.5 inch width scraps in several other quilts and was always running out of rectangles for Lego blocks. 

I like to give quilts with lots of small pieces and things to look at to folks in the hospital, hospice or extended care. It gives them something to look at and sometimes sparks conversations with visitors over what they see in the quilt. 

WITB (What's in the Box, Bin, Bag) is the theme in my sewing space for the month of March. I'm wondering how many boxes, bins and bags I can empty.  

With this quilt top I was able to empty a bag of 1.5 inch scraps and a box of Legos

I'm keeping score:

Boxes:

1- Coins

2 - Legos

Bags:

1 - Kaleidoscope

2  - solid 1.5 inch strips for 51 Waffles

3 - 1.5 inch strips for 9 Legos

I'll also be working with yellow scraps this month because that is the March Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color. 

And I don't always follow the challenges issued by the Scrapbuster group but this month the challenge is 1.5 inch scraps. I have some of those! 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

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REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

Yesterday I sowed some poppies and forget-me-nots, wild strawberries and tall thimbleweeds. They are mostly surface sown and like cooler temps for germination so it is okay to winter sow those seeds. I usually winter sow in pots, milk jugs or bags but poppies don't like transplanting and I don't think the other flowers do either.  And today it is snowing great big snowflakes so they will get watered in!  For labels/markers so I don't forget what I sow where I buy paint stirrer sticks and write on them and then to seal them spray them with blasting freeze hairspray for a lasting "spiky cement finish". 

Itty Bit by Itty Bit

Lego Blocks

made Lynn's (Klein Meisje Quilts) way.

Squares and Rectangles

is the July theme in my sewing room.

I tripped and fell a few days ago. My knee swelled up and I have lower back pain so it hurts to get up and down out of a chair and sit and sew for very long so I've been working on these easy Lego blocks for the last couple of days.  I have a little box of 1.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles (Legos) that are the result of scrap processing so decided to see how many blocks I could make. 

I was able to make 5 blocks and now am at the half way mark with 15 blocks toward my goal of 30 blocks. 

And now I'm out of  Legos again so have to wait for more scrap processing to occur.

This is a long term project waiting for scraps to happen. 

And sew on...

 

Playing With Legos

Last month when I finally cleared out my 1.5 inch width scrap bin I cut a bunch of Lego pieces (1.5 x 2.5). I keep the pieces in an old check register box and when the box gets full I make a block or two. Well, the box was overflowing so I made 5 blocks. 

I'm building my Lego blocks Lynn's (Klein Meisje Quilts) way. They are 13 inches finished. 

I'm thinking I want 30 blocks. That will make a nice throw or twin sized quilt 65 x 78. 

The blocks are a catalog of fabrics that have passed through here so full of memories and...

...make a fun I Spy game too. 

I now have 10 blocks. I'm 1/3 of the way home. 

And sew on...

 

The 1.5 Inch Scrap Bin Is Empty!!!!

My goal for a couple of years has been to empty a 16 quart bin of 1.5 inch scraps.  I've made several blocks and quilts over the years using scraps from this bin but now I'm trying to use scraps as they happen so want my bins of scraps sorted by scrap width empty. Now my scraps are stored by color. 

I've made a few 12 x 14 Soul Searching blocks  and will continue to make these until I have enough for a donation quilt. I'm thinking maybe a kiddo sized quilt. 

Windmills (4 inch finished)

18 patch (6 inch)

Coin strips made from pieces less than 1.5 inch square and greater than .5 inch. They do mount up.

Switch Plate blocks (3 x 5)

1.5 x 2.5 pieces for Lego blocks

1.5 inch squares for a postage stamp quilt WIP. The squares at top are sets of four and I put those in the Monkey Wrench work box. 

All of the above was completed before October 25. I made a draft post and meant to schedule it for when I was off with cataract surgery but forgot to do that.   Since then I have made more blocks and emptied my bin as follows.

4 inch Windmills

Switch Plate and Chinese Coin strips

Lego pieces

Postage Stamps

The bin. 

I put a bag of neutral 1.5 inch scraps with the rest of the neutral scraps and I put a bag of solid 1.5 inch scraps with the rest of the solid scraps. 

Mission accomplished! Goal completed! The bin is empty. Now what should I do with it? 

And sew on...

 

Scrap Processing: 1.5 Inch Scraps

Soul Searching 

with 1.5 inch scraps

12 x 14 inch finished blocks

I mentioned previously that I recently received a LARGE box of small scraps and I blogged about processing the 2.5 inch width pieces I found in that box and on my cutting matt.  Today I will tell you what I did with some of the 1.5 inch width pieces in that box and in my 1.5 inch scrap bin I've been trying to empty out for a couple of years. My bin doesn't have many long pieces in it and most of those are browns.    This week I only worked on the blues, greens and purples. 

Soul Searching with 1.5 inch scraps is a new start. I started making Soul Searching blocks with 2.5 inch rose print scraps and Wanda (Exuberant Color blog) commented that she had made several Soul Searching quilts and even made one with 1.5 inch strips. Oh, I liked that idea! So I set to work and made a few blocks before I forgot I liked that idea.   

Switch Plates

3 x 5 finished

I've been making Switch Plate blocks as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project for awhile. I make these when I have 1.5 or 3.5 inch scraps enough for four 1.5 x 3.5 inch pieces.  All have neutral centers. 

18 Patch

(I call them Small Change)

6 inch finished

I've also been making these blocks for awhile as an RSC project. They are made of dark and lights of the same color and 1.5 x 2.5 inch pieces. I cut pieces from 2.5 or 1.5 inch scraps. 

I started a couple more new RSC projects that use 1.5 x 2.5 inch pieces.

1. I've seen these called Potato Chip blocks. They finish at 6 inches.  

2. Windmill blocks that finish at 4 inches. 

Thirteen

13 inch blocks

Block instructions at Klein Meisje Quilts.

I've also been slowly making Thirteen (Lego inspired) blocks as I accumulate pieces. So after I made all of the above blocks any leftover 1.5 x 2.5 rectangles went into my Thirteen project box. 

Then I cut postage stamps (1.5 inch squares) for my latest Postage Stamp quilt. 

This one is inspired by a vintage quilt and will consist of several columns like the partial one above on the right.   Sometimes as a leader/ender I sew together stamps into rows to be added to my strip (on the left). My rows consist of 9 postage stamps. Then I add a solid on both ends. Then I add a muslin 1.5 inch HST (cut with Easy Angle ruler) to both ends. 

Then anything less than a 1.5 inch square but more than .5 inch gets sewn into strips for future Chinese Coin quilt. 

The plan is to empty my bin of 1.5 inch pieces as well as the recently acquired scrap pieces by year end. Then next year I will cut 1.5 inch strips off of any scrap chunks I have in the RSC color of the month to make blocks. 

And sew on...

 

This, That and The Other Thing and The Other Thing

I like to work on lots of different projects at one time. And that means that a lot of time sewn pieces and parts pile up behind the sewing machine and when blocks are completely finished they sometimes pile up at the end of the ironing board waiting for the final go under the iron. Yesterday I ironed. And this is the story of what I found to iron. 

The Kentucky Crossroads blocks were made in January. I made one back in November to see if I actually could make the block because it was inspired by a vintage quilt. The plan is to use civil war reproduction scraps. 

Postage Stamp Pandemic

I think I now have about 80 or 90 or so of these 8 inch blocks. 

Lynn's Legos

These are 13 inch Lego blocks made Lynn's (Klein Meisje Quilts) way from 1.5 x 2.5 pieces. I cut those pieces when I have scraps - kind of the end of the scrap fabric chain. My little collection box of pieces was full so I decided to see how many blocks were in there.  This is a pretty slow moving quilt for me and that's okay -- no hurry,, no worry.  (2023 or bust? It's just a load of scrap. 

Hearts

I belong to the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild ( a group of us who like to make and donate quilts). It has been a tradition to make six inch hearts to send to a member when a parent, spouse or child passes away.  Someone's father recently passed away and bright hearts were suggested. I used some butterfly scraps. Butterflies are symbols of metamorphosis.  I need to find an envelope and mail these now so they can wing their way to Bev. 

Speaking of hearts...I also made some four inch Hearts for me. I've been reading up on genetic cardiac disorders, sudden cardiac death (SCD) and sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) and that's what prompted me to make these.   I'm making them in reds and whites. I'll alternate light hearts on dark and dark hearts on light blocks. 

Hearts

The 2.5 inch flippy corners trimmed off of the Hearts were made into HSTs and then sewn into strips for my version of a vintage inspired quilt.  I just whack off those flippy corners with a scissors so they are not precisely trimmed so some HSTs might be wonky as well as the strips and I'm all right with that. 

I've been working on six inch Double Four Patch blocks in an effort to use up a lot of brown scraps. 

I have now finished all 120 blocks - 60 with dark chains and 60 with light chains. I'm going to put these blocks away for now into my "Some Assembly Required" (SAR) box because I just have too many tops piled up right now waiting to be quilted so don't want to keep adding to that pile right now.  And I've already fixed my two boo-boos that had to go under the ripper and needle. 

I also made Jacob's Ladder blocks (webbed together at the moment) with brown scraps so I have a lot of 3.5 inch and 2 inch brown and cream scraps - scraps of scraps- you know how those scraps breed faster than rabbits.  Well, anyway, I used up some of those brown 3.5 inch scraps and made some Four Patches I matched up mostly with yellow scraps since yellow scraps were out since it is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. 

Some of those brown 3.5 inch scraps were cut into four 2.5 x 3.5 pieces and matched up with some pieces from the Eight Patch project box. I have quite the accumulation of these blocks now. 

3.5 inch brown scraps less than a square were sewn into strips for future Chinese Coins quilts. Gosh I have quite a collection of these strips too. 

I used the brown and cream 2 inch scraps to make Little Bow Ties to add to my collection. I had to fix one little boo boo. 

I used the 3.5 inch and 2 inch cream scraps left over after making the Jacob's Ladder and Double Four Patch for the center and corners of Puss in the Corner blocks. The 2 x 3.5 inch sides were cut from homespun scraps left over after making a few quilt tops with homespuns and plaids.   These light cornered Puss in the Corner blocks will alternate with some dark cornered ones already made. 

A few miscellaneous blocks that got made when I came across scraps of a certain size. Horizon blocks are made from 5 x 9.5 scraps and the Bear Paws from 2.5 and 4.5 scraps. I have quite the collection of both of these blocks and at year end (if not before) will make them all into donation quilts. 

I also put some longer brown 2 inch scraps into the Trip Around The World (TATW) box. And there's a pile of brown 3.5 inch squares for the Squares Bin and a pile of two matching 3.5 inch squares for future Four Patches. There's a little pile of 2.5 inch squares for the Squares Bin and a few pieces for the box of Legos. 

And finally, I ironed some wonky QSTs and trimmed the dog ears. Someday they will all go into my version of a vintage inspired quilt. I have quite the accumulation of these and a center block made. Won't these be fun to put together!

And sew on...

 

Nine Patch November: Cleaning Up

I used scraps to make most of the Nine Patch tops and blocks this month. Those scraps generated more scraps.   Now most of those leftover scraps have been dealt with. 

I used 3.5 inch width pieces cut off scrap chunks to make Path and Stiles blocks as well as the Puss in the Corner blocks.  With the leftover scraps if the scrap was at least 10 inches long I cut four 2.5 x 3.5 pieces. Later I matched up pieces and made Eight Patch blocks.  This is one of the blocks I make when I have 2.5 or 3.5 inch width scraps left over from making quilt blocks.  In the old days I would have thrown all those left over 3.5 inch width pieces into a 3.5 inch width scrap bin and when bin got full I made blocks at that point. Now I try to make blocks with leftovers as I go.

If there was a 3.5 scrap at least 7 inches long then I cut two 3.5 inch squares and made Four Patches. Last year and earlier this year I made the Four Patches with a color and a neutral and I ended up with over 60 Four Patches so I turned those into a Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project. Next year I will make an alternate QST block to go with those Four Patches.   So now I am making Four Patches in two colors. I will let them accumulate for awhile and decide what to do with them later. 

If there's enough of that 3.5 inch scrap to cut a 3.5 inch square then that is what happens next.  I have a bin with squares in all sizes that I use now and then to make blocks.  After I cut the squares I sorted through the new squares and the ones from the bin and if there were four squares in the same color and value then I put them into a pile for X+ blocks which is one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Projects this year that will continue into next year. The pile on the right will be used in those X+ blocks. 

Anything left that was less than a 3.5 square but at least 1 x 3.5 inches was sewn together for a future Chinese Coins quilt. 

With the pastel scraps left over from making the Sister's Choice top went into Sawtooth Stars. When I turned the Nine Patches into the Sister's Choice blocks I used pastels from a little box of pastels I had set aside to make Sawtooth Stars for baby quilts. The Sister's Choice blocks left me with 2.5 inch width scraps in whites as well as pastels. If the pastel scraps were long enough to cut eight Flying Geese wings and if I had a 4.5 inch pastel square to match then I made Sawtooth Stars. I used the leftover white strips to cut Flying Geese bodies and block corners. These Sawtooth Stars finish at 8 inches. 

If there was enough scrap left for a 2.5 inch square for the Squares Bin then those were cut. If there was a 2.5 x 1.5 inch piece left it was cut for my box of pieces for...

...Lynn's Lego blocks.  When my little box of Legos builds up then I make a few blocks. This is a slow moving project but a great way to use little scraps. 

I had a few 2.5 inch width scraps left over from making the Framed Nine Patch top.  If there was enough of the scrap left to make four HSTs then I made the four HSTs and then used some 4.5 inch squares from the Squares Bin to make Bear Paw blocks. I have quite a few of them and later next year I will probably set them on point and make a few donation quilt tops. 

And if there was enough for a 2.5 inch square then I cut squares. If there was enough for a 1.5 x 2.5 inch Lego piece then I cut Legos. If there were four squares the same and they were bright I set those aside for my Indian Hatchet blocks - another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. 

I had a lot of "flippy" corners left over from making the Snowball Nine Patch top.  I turned them into strips of five for my HST quilt inspired by a vintage one. 

So, now you are probably wondering how many Nine Patches I have left. This is my14 quart  bin of 3 inch (finished) Nine Patches. I started sorting them by color. 

To be added to the bin the bag on the right that still needs to be sorted by color. The bag on the left has light corners so I will keep them separate and decide what to do with those later. 

This is another vintage quilt that has me inspired. Sorting through my nine patches I think I have quite a few little Nine Patches with black corners I can use to make my version now.  

I'm still making Framed Stars with little Nine Patches in the center so sorted out Nine Patches in two colors to make more of those blocks. 

This is my six inch (finished) 14 quart bin. I decided to sort them into possible quilt groupings to see if I should continue on to make these Nine Patches when I have scraps leftover from other projects. I have a little pile of blocks that look like Autumn colors so I think I will make enough for a Snowball Nine Patch and alternate with Snowballs in autumn colors with neutral corners. I have some in bright colors that I will make into an Irish Chain when I have enough of them. 

A few months ago I started turning the dark blue Nine Patches into these Churn Dash variation blocks that finish at 14 inches. I figure that 30 blocks will make a nice twin sized quilt at 70 x 84.  I have nine blocks so I need to remember that if I have dark blue 2.5 inch width scraps left over I should make Nine Patches. 

I copied off this pattern a long time ago (2013). I tracked it down and it can be found at Quilt Ladies. 

The brown scraps left from making Chocolate Box went back into the giant bag of brown scraps. There weren't many scraps left from making that quilt top. A few 3.5 inch width scraps did go into making some of those Four Patches I showed earlier.  I saw Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework making 2.5 x 8.5 inch Lozenge blocks from her blue scraps and I think I might just make those from my brown scraps. I can hardly lift my bag of brown scraps! 

And finally I have a little box of scraps I have not processed yet. When I use scrap chunks (less than FQ or less than 6.5 inch width strips) to make blocks I end up with a lot of odd sized pieces. I need to decide if they can be cut up for squares, legos, go into the strings box or into the crumbs box.