Let’s add some more red!

Today we are going to continue working on the top for the “Down the scrap rabbit hole” quilt. When I posted last about it, I had added a narrow red border around the edges…..

You can read about it here…..

A Touch or Two of Red

Now it was time to add the final border and I had two ideas…..

First of all, it needed more red!

Secondly, I wanted to use up these left over 2.5-inch squares…..

My thought was to make 9-patch blocks with the center being red.

As I looked through my red squares, I found a stack of these….

….and decided to make the center the same in every block.

I did some math (I know, I am a dweeb), and realized that using 9-patches, it wasn’t going to fit the sides, BUT if I added one more row of three squares, it would be perfect.

So, I started piecing…..

…first the blue strips….

….and then the ones with the red center.

Somewhere in here, I came to the conclusion that I was going to run out of blue squares.

So, I rifled through my scrap basket…..

….grabbed my Accuquilt, and quickly had another group of dark turquoise squares ready to go…..

I am glad that I stopped to count before I had pieced all of the original scrap squares, because this way I could mix in the newcomers with the old……

It didn’t take long to have the borders laid out on the top…..

Can you see that there is an extra blue strip along every edge?

I LOVE that it isn’t noticeable!!

Come back tomorrow and we will get the borders sewn, applied and the top FINISHED.

Maybe I need to rethink??

Last week I wrote about my thoughts for using the scraps that I have been working on. My final choice was to make a Chandelier quilt from the blocks…..

It’s time to turn the scraps INTO something….

So, I started by turning one of my blocks into the chandelier design.

First step was to piece a bunch of pink 2-inch blocks.

On the first day, I pieced all of the pre-cut 1.5-inch squares into 2-patches…..

The next day they turned into 2-inch 4-patches……

Now it was time to start putting the block together.

I turned the 2-inch squares into strips and added them to the sides of the blue block…..

I added the other sides, along with two blue four-patches…..

Now for the moment of truth. Here it is hanging on the design wall…..

Yeah…..I am not that impressed!!

Let’s add one more “knob” to the chandelier…..

Okay…..why don’t I like this??

Probably because there isn’t enough value contrast between the interior blue square and the outside strips.

But what should I do??

Part of me wants to pull the pink off and start over with another idea and part wants to go ahead and keep the design, even if it isn’t as visually effective as I had hoped.

I know that I could add some contrast with the quilting but I am not sure that it will be enough.

What would you do??

It’s time to turn the scraps INTO something….

If you have been reading since January 1st, you know that I am spending 10-minutes each morning, happily sewing blue scraps together. At last count, I have about thirty 6-inch squares put together.

Now the question is “what am I going to do with them”?

My original thought was to do a color wash similar to the Terry Rowland quilts that are so popular right now…..

….and I apologize that I don’t know who made this beauty. If it is yours, please let me know so I can give credit!!

I think that my blocks would look great in this type of arrangement, but it is going to take a lot of thinking and, right now, I need my brain power in the office and not the studio.

I first thought about alternating the blocks between blue and some other colors (pink in this design)…..

That could be fun.

What if I add some sashing……

….or put it on point……

Then, I started things about non-symmetrical designs….

Finally, I started thinking of the 6-inch square as if it were ONE blue square (rather than a mixture of smaller ones). Now what type of quilt could I make??

This was my first thought…..

….and that reminded me of a “Chandelier Quilt”. so what about something like this…..

….or this……

OKAY…..Chandelier quilt it is!!

I did change the proportions a bit and am happy with this idea…..

So when I return to my 10-minute patchwork, I will be working on other colors of scraps, making pieces that are 2×6 and 2×8. These will surround the blue blocks

At least…that is the plan!!

Stay with me and let’s see if it stays as the plan!!

10 Minutes more!!

When I posted last week about the 4th week of 10-minute scrapping, I mentioned that I wasn’t motivated on Friday. I discovered the reason later in the day when I came down with a cold!! After lounging around on the weekend, I was ready to scrap again on Monday.

But, I didn’t want to think about it all so I started grabbing 1.5-inch squares……

and sewing them together…..

At the end of the 10-minutes I almost had a block finished…..

On Tuesday I quickly finished that block and started sewing “couplets” for the next block…..

Only one block was accomplished on Wednesday…..

…mainly because I had to stop and change the bobbin.

I knew that I could hear the bobbin rattling in the case and expected that it would run out soon. When I realized that I had “air-sewn” 4 blocks together, I wished that I had heeded my own warning and changed it earlier!!

Thursday saw two easy blocks finished……

….and the week ended with two super simple blocks…..

So, the total for the week…..

….and this is where it stands…..

I worked to make these blocks all blues, leaving out the other sparkle colors.

Later this week I will share some of my thoughts about where this is heading!!

How are your scraps doing??

10 Minute Scrap – Week 4

Last week I shared the update for my “10-minutes per day” scrap quilt…..

Taxing Scrap – Week 3

Today, let’s examine week four.

I started out on Monday using 1×2 strips that I had already sewn and put them together into one long strip, 12 inches long.

Next, I added some strips that I THOUGHT were 2.5 x 4.5, and that ended Monday…..

On Tuesday, I added another set of 2.5 x 4.5 strips to the other side…..

….but couldn’t figure out why it was only 5.5 inches wide????

The light dawned when I realized that the rectangles used were actually 2×3.5.

The first task for Wednesday was to add more 1-inch squares to the side so that it was now 6.5 x 12.5…..

….ie….the PROPER size.

Since that first block had been so painful, I quickly threw together 9 squares to make another before the time was up……

When Thursday dawned, I started with a handful of 2-inch cut squares….

….and finished this block, plus one additional 4-patch before the timer rang…..

When Friday rolled around, I simply wasn’t in the mood!!! I had woken up at 3:00 and been on the go for over 5-hours!! What I REALLY wanted was a 10-minute nap!!

BUT, I pulled myself into the studio and sewed one 9-patch using the 4-patches that I had started yesterday…..