Sunday, August 28, 2011

A Tale of Three Quilts, Part Three: X Marks The Spot?

So after two quilts, I still had lots of 4 inch pieces. But I had already used them as strip pieces twice, and what else do you really do with them?

I had to get creative. But I had never made any sort of my own pattern for anything. So it was scary.

Not that scary, but at least somewhat of a seemingly daunting task to design my own block.

Here's what I did (and what you can do too!)

With my four inch strips sewn into strips, I cut square right triangles (as in, the corners are 90 degrees, 45 degrees, and 45 degrees). This was really easy, and basically cut a zig-zag up the strips. Sometimes the strip would end up being a little bit wonky, so I would trim up the sides to be 4 inches and straighten things out by re-cutting the 45 degree angle across the strip as well.

These triangles are (if you lay them long side on the bottom): 8 inches along the long side and then 4 inches tall.

So then you have a pile of strippy triangles. And then what?

To piece them together, I cut two inch strips of a tan floral fabric that I had left over from another project (coming soon -- cheery Christmas quilt). So I sewed the triangles to the strips, two at a time, so that the triangles were sewn like mirror images to one another. Then, after trimming off excess from the tan strip, sewed two of these new tirangles together with a piece of tan stripping between. And tada!


So I kept on making blocks until I ran out of tan sashing.


Yesterday, I finished sewing the last block because I ran out of tan sashing.  I ended up with a total of 31 blocks.

I still need to find a coordinating fabric to use to sew the blocks together. Not sure what to choose... let me know what your ideas are! I'm thinking soome sort of floral tone on tone, similar to the tan, but in a different color. Maybe a light purple? I'm open to suggestions!

But to answer the question I'm sure is on all of your minds (or not if this is your first time reading Little Bunny Quilts): No. This didn't end up using all of the scraps. I could have used another quarter yard of the tan, but alas, too little, too late.

Whatever is left is going to be used as a border on this quilt when it gets finished. Which will happen once I make a run to the fabric store and find the sashing. It might end up being a border on just the top and bottom, but it all depends on how much scrap I really have left.

Even though this is the third quilt that I've made with this fabric, I am still really excited for this quilt! Mostly because its the first one where I "designed" the block myself which is a pretty cool accomplishment. More pictures to come once the top is all put together, of course, which is hopefully soon! This quilt may or may not end up being a gift (depending on if I can get the whole thing done before Christmas!)

I haven't worked on the blue and white stars this week like I promised (boo!) in order to finish up all my X blocks. But it is always better to finish projects, or at least get one stage of the project done, in this case. But, in the course of the weekend, I decided to start another (!) project--a baby quilt in primary colors and brown. I am planning to use the "Disappearing Nine Patch" pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew, using 6 inch blocks rather than 5. Pictures of progress soon! I cut all my 6 inch squares this afternoon and am going to start sewing nine patches tonight. What are your current projects? Sewing and otherwise, please!

Happy Sunday, and good luck on the rest of your week!

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