Table Scraps and Orange

This month at The Joyful Quilter’s table scraps challenge, the color is orange.

That worked perfectly into my project to use up some leftover scraps/pieces.

I had some leftover half square triangles from this recliner quilt I made way back when.

And recently there was a slab of this piecing leftover.

They all came together for this scrappy orange placemat.  

I had begun a monthly block quilt-a-long before learning I don’t really enjoy making traditional sampler blocks.

So those would-have-been orphan blocks also were made into a placemat.

Then scraps from the Pink Stash Quilt also became a placemat.

The pink scraps did not lend themselves into much of an interesting design, so I made this section from a paper piece pattern called Diamond In Diamond by Sanjay Kilskinen that I found on Etsy.

Now I have three new placemats for dining...that are much more fun than what I had bought ready made.

It will be fun to add to this collection of placemats as I accumulate new scraps from new projects.

Pink Stash Quilt

During a moment of nothing to sew because every project was waiting for something to come in the mail or for me to drive to the quilt shop to get what was needed, I joined the Moda Fabric’s Blockheads 4, 28 week quilt along.  I intended to sew the blocks from my stash of pink fabrics.  I quickly added in some greens.  (Neither stash color is any less from this effort.)

Instructions were included for both 9” and 4.5” quilt blocks each week.  They also threw in some bonus blocks every couple of weeks or so.  I managed to keep up for several weeks before deciding that sewing traditional quilt blocks and cutting the menagerie of little pieces was really not my thing.

    

I had this many blocks by that time.

I decided it could be a baby quilt...until I thought it might make a baby crazy looking at that wild mess.  So maybe it would be a small lap quilt (for my old age).

I needed five more small blocks.  It was depressing to think about making them from the quilt along’s block designs.  So, in true Annie fashion, I went my own direction and made five paper pieced hexie flowers from a pattern by CenterStreetQuilts on Etsy.

I laid out the blocks, added a border, pin based the layers and made it a quilt.

Layout was a struggle and in the end, as I was trying to scatter the hexie flowers, I forgot about other appearances of block placements.  Other than that miner offense, I’m liking this wild mess of a little quilt.

I did that border/binding thing again that I found I liked in my previous quilt.  Now I’m finding it hard to get away from it in other items I’m working on.  I really like the way that looks.

This little gem measures 43” square.

This hexie flower was a bit too light for the quilt but was perfect for making a postcard with.



For me, a postcard is always a happy ending to a project.

Fall Raven

I’ve revisited making a denim raven art postcard.

I’ve stitched the raw edge applique a bit farther into the bird with hopes of getting a more feathered look for him.  I’m much happier with his look this time.  Of course some areas will not fray as much but that is to be expected with fabric.

I love those Fall leaves die cut from that Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements fabric.

Again I used Miracle Fabric for the correspondence side.  A rubber stamp and archival ink for the words.

The two postcards together.

Dies used:

Rachael Bright Sizzix Bigz die Birds

Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits dies Leaf Fragments

Abandoned2 Quilt

I could not resist this Tim Holtz, Eclectic Elements Abandoned2 fat quarter bundle.  As soon as it arrived I prewashed the fabrics and began cutting into it and sewing.

To really get the fabrics all mixed together I decided on the Economy Block for this quilt.  I staggered the blocks slightly.

Of course I needed some of the selvedge included in the quilt design.

The quilt measures 57” X 68”

I just love all the colors and the grunge.

The back and the binding are the same fabric.

I did not want a border, but I needed a border or I would loose all the points of the economy blocks around the edges when I added the binding.  I sewed a scrappy border of many of the prints.  I cut strips 1.25” wide.  After the quilting was finished, I trimmed the quilt so that the borders were 5/8”.  That left a thin 1/4” border before the 3/8” binding.  I really like the look of it.  I will definitely do this again and probably again and again....

It was somewhat frustrating and disappointing working with this bundle.  When there is text on a print, it seems to be a crap shoot whether they will be printed straight on the fabrics.  Most of these were wonky.  Some more so than others.  I could have trimmed the pieces to be straight but I would have lost a lot of useable fabric that I needed (and paid for).  All together they make a pretty busy quilt and are hopefully just not that noticeable.

My July 2022 calendar journal.