Orphan Block Top Yolanda

Orphan Block Top Yolanda

40 x 60

It was too windy this morning to take a pic outside. 

Someone sent me fourteen 12 inch finished red and white crumb blocks framed in black. (Actually, by my definition these are slab blocks and not crumb blocks. My crumb blocks are made of very small and usually irregular shaped pieces.)  Two blocks went back into the block orphanage. 

All I had to do to make this top was add some 2.5 inch strips between columns and add a top and add a six inch border at top and bottom.

And sew on...

***

CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

Dec. 19 - I received a beautiful handmade Christmas card from Linda.

 

It's A Finish! Heart of the Matter

Heart of the Matter

(sometimes I called it Heartfelt)

42 x 56

It's a finish!

These are what I call Slab Blocks. Some might call them Crumb Blocks. For me slab pieces are bigger than crumb pieces and slab pieces have mostly straight line sides whereas crumbs might take any shape.   

So I started making these blocks back in December 2021 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. I used red Heart Blocks as the center of the 14 inch Slab Blocks - the heart of the matter.   Earlier this year  when "Strings and Crumbs" was the theme in my sewing space I only needed 3 more blocks for a top so I made those and assembled the top. 

And now it is quilted - with swirls on my DSM - and it is bound with a striped print in a rainbow of colors and a few flowers. 

And the backing is a rainbow of color too.  And see the LOVE quilted in? 

And sew on...

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

The Heart of the Matter

Purple is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. Crumbs, Strings, Selvages and Orphans is my personal theme for the month. 

So I started my month with some purple crumbs and made a purple slab block with heart.  For me slabs are blocks made with mostly large crumbs with straight sides.  This is an old RSC project started back in 2021 and I only needed three more blocks for a small child's quilt.  Blocks are 12.5 inches unfinished. 

 After I made a purple one I made...

...a yellow one...

...and an orange one to complete my set of 12 blocks. 

Then I turned the 12.5 inch blocks into 14.5 inch blocks by adding 1.5 inch strips in the color of the block all around in Happy Block style.

Then I made a top.

Heartfelt

42.5 x 56.5 (unfinished)

I finished a similar comfort quilt back in 2019. 

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Pink Pieces and Parts

Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. So far this month I made a couple of twin sized tops and a baby one using up some small chunks of pink. This week I worked on using what was left of the small chunks after making those tops and a few other small bits and pieces of pink. 

Three x and + blocks that finish at 7.5 inches. 

Three Buckeye Beauty blocks that finish at 6 inches. 

Three Postage Stamp Pandemic blocks that finish at 8 inches. 

Six Puss in the Corner blocks with light corners that finish at 6 inches. 

Three Horizon blocks that finish at 4.5 x 9.5

Eight Bow Ties that finish at 3 inches. 

Two Wonky Log Cabin blocks with black background novelty centers that finish at 12 inches. 

Two Heartfelt slab blocks that finish at 12 inches. 

Two pink Hollow Nine Patches that finish at 7.5 inches.   Then I made a few in other colors because I had some 3 inch squares and some 3 inch width scraps laying around ready for these blocks. (Now I'm going to cut the rest of the 3 inch width scraps in half lengthwise for some 1.5 inch scraps because I have several RSC projects going that take 1.5 inch scraps). 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Yellow Scraps Part III

Previously seen on Sane, Crazy, Crumby: 

Yellow Scraps Part I and Yellow Scraps Part II

This week I worked mostly with the 3.5 inch width scraps I found in the yellow scrap bag. 

I think I started these  six inch Buckeye Beauty blocks last year and I'm aiming for 130 blocks. I've been mixing the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month with mostly old shirts. 

Then if there was enough of a 3.5 yellow scrap for four 2.5 x 3.5 pieces I made more Eight Patches.  I keep a little box of blocks and cut pieces I accumulate when cutting up scraps so I have cut pieces in other colors to mix and match in the blocks. 

If I had enough for two 3.5 squares then I combined with other colors of scraps from the squares bin and made some Four Patches that finish at six inches. 

Then I cut the 3.5 scrap into squares if I can. Some go into the Squares Bin for future use. Some get picked out for X+ Blocks. I also started making X+ blocks last year and let me tell you that since I'm making them in all one color it is rather a challenge to find scraps with enough contrast. But I think all will be okay. 

Then if I have four 3.5 x 2 pieces I'm going to make Puss in the Corner Blocks with light corners. I have a little pile of dark cornered Puss in the Corner blocks and so now will make some light cornered blocks to alternate with those. 

If I have less than a 3.5 square then I sew those pieces into strips for a future Chinese Coins quilt. 

That was the end of the 3.5 width scraps. Odd sized bits and pieces with straight edges were made into a 12 inch Slab Block with a heart in the center. I call these Heartfelt blocks. I made a Heartfelt quilt back in 2019 so time for another.  And finally I made a Postage Stamp Pandemic block with a little yellow solid piece found in the scrap bag which could arguably be called an orange solid. But it's all good. 

Now that I have only larger chunks left in the yellow scrap bag whatever shall I do for the rest of the month! Hmmm....

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Red Scraps Part III

I've had a bunch of Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) blocks laying on the end of my ironing board since mid January. I decided I might as well get them ironed and blog about them so I can put them away. 

I am making 12 inch Slabs With Heart for donation quilts.  

With strings I'm making Wonky Log Cabin blocks with 4 inch novelty centers on a black background. These are also 12 inches (finished) and are for donation quilts. 

I have the centers ready for the rest of the year. These were from several 4 inch square swaps I participated in over the years. 

I call these blocks Small Change. They finish at six inches and use 1.5 x 2.5 inch scraps. 

These are Rail Blocks that finish at 5 inches. I use 1.5 x 5.5 inch scraps to make them. Yep, for donation quilts.

I also sewed crumbs into a big long strip about 5 inches wide. I will cut and trim to 4.5 inch squares and make some flower blocks. I just have not gotten around to it yet. 

I also had started cutting red scraps into 1.5 x 2.5 pieces for Lynn's Lego blocks. I will just accumulate pieces until I get a big pile and then make a few more blocks. This is a slow going quilt. It sure takes a lot of time to cut up scraps. 

If I have 2.5 or 3.5 inch scraps that I can cut into at least four 2.5 x 3.5 inch pieces then that is what I cut. I also accumulate these pieces until I get enough contrasting pieces to make blocks like you see on the left. Guess these are Eight Patch blocks and for another donation quilt. 

If I have 2.5 inch scraps and I can get four 2.5 inch squares then I cut those and put that pile (on the right) aside to make into Indian Hatchet blocks. Otherwise I just cut 2.5 inch squares to put into my squares bin (those on the left). 

I was in the middle of cutting more red scraps but lost track of what I was doing when life was suddenly interrupted so I've put those red scraps away for now and will dig into the aqua bin when I get a chance. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday. 

 

Jots, Iotas, Smidgens and Whits

Jots, iotas, smidgens, whits, crumbs and orts...no matter what you call them they are itty bits of fabric. I want to concentrate on using them this year. I have some sorted by color; some sorted into cool and warm, black and white. Some are not sorted.   The ones that are sorted by color I hope to use in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month to make a few blocks. 

What I call crumbs are very small and usually irregular shaped scraps. I use those in some type of crumb block. The ones that are a little bigger and with straight edges are also crumbs but I use those in some sort of slab block. 

For crumb blocks I tried out some flower blocks that finish at 8 inches. I think I will continue with these next year. I used an old Block Lotto pattern called Violets to make the blocks. 

By the end of 2022 I hope to have a colorful garden of flowers. 

I'm thinking I make a couple more blocks with 4.5 inch crumb squares but have not finalized plans. More on that later. 

In 2020 I made a couple 12 inch Hourglass blocks from crumbs and a solid in a complementary color. I was going to make a lot more for a donation quilt but didn't have many solids so I could continue on. I think I may have a few solids or tone on tones to use now so hope to make more of these in 2022. And I hope I can find where I put these two. 

And I mentioned slabs earlier in this post. In 2019 I finished a slab quilt with heart I called Heartfelt. Now I think I will make another in 2022. 

In November I blogged about some of my other Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) plans for 2022.  Now I will add the above to the list. 

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Tales From The Scrap Yard: Farewell To Green

I received several bags of scraps back on March 24. I sorted them into various categories and then started with a grocery bag of green scraps. The goal was to see how many small donation quilts approximately 40 x 6o I could make from those scraps. 

This is top #5 that came out of that bag of green plus some pink 6.5 inch squares with frogs that were also included with all of the scraps. The blue squares came from my scraps. 

I've been blogging about all that I make from the March 24 gifted scraps (aka Candra scraps) in Tales of the Scrap Yard.

As seen previously on Tales from the Scrap Yard: 

• Backstory and Quilt Tops #1-#3 (from the green scraps)
• Quilt Top #4 from the green scraps

I was going to make Happy Blocks with the pink 6.5 inch squares in the center and bordered by 3 inch green pieces but none of the green pieces was long enough to use for two 11 inch sides that would be required. I always like to try to make the blocks for donation quilts around 10 inches if I can. So I decided to sew some of the 2 inch width scraps to the 3 inch scraps and then cut them to 6.5 inch lengths in order to border two sides of the pink centers. Well, then I needed some cornerstones and could not decide on a color. I finally thought...well, I have frogs, I have green land and so maybe I need to add water. And so I went to the scrap bin to find some water.  I had a blue that looked like water with stones in it and/or flower petals floating on top.  But of course I didn't have enough of that "water" so I had to piece a few cornerstones I kept near the edges with a different "water".

And so another top was made that will be donated when finished.  And that left me with just a few more scraps to deal with. 

I put the remaining pieces of pink fabric with frogs into my pink orphanage of pink parts, orphan blocks and odd bits of pink fabrics. I think there might be enough items in there to make a couple of quilt tops now. Well, not NOW...I mean later. 

Next I made a couple of 12 inch (finished) slab blocks. I first made a couple of 4 inch (finished) hearts from scraps to add to the blocks. I will make some of other colors to add to these blocks when I get the chance. They will all contain a red heart somewhere within the block. I made a "with heart" quilt like this in the past and really like how it turned out so why not make another? 

Then I had some 3.5 inch width pieces left over from making the Double Four Patch quilt so you know what I did with those...I made Four Patches for the Parts Department. That is almost always what I do now when I have at least two squares left over of 3.5 inch widths of fabric. I use low volume scraps for the alternate squares. 

I also make Four Patches with left over 2 inch scraps for the Parts Department. Everything else got cut into squares and if there was not enough for a square then it was sewn into a strip for a future Chinese Coins quilt.  Oh, I do also cut 3.5 x 2.5 rectangles and will continue until I reach 1600 which will be enough for two quilts I have in mind. ( I think I may be almost at the 1400 mark now). 

More squares in sizes I don't usually have --- 5, 5.5 and 7. 

I also added some strings to my box of all colors of the rainbow strings and...

 ...I added some crumbs to my crumb box.  I usually differentiate between crumbs and slab pieces. For me crumbs are usually irregular shapes and smaller than scrap pieces I use for slabs. 

Now that I've documented use of the green scraps I was gifted I'm ready to move on to the warm scraps- red/orange/yellow. So there will be more Tales from the Scrap Yard in the future.