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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

STUDIO JULY CHALLENGE...NOTHING BUT BLOCKS FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH....USING SCRAPS AND 5" SQUARES

THE IDEA WAS TO BAG THE SCRAPS AND SELL OR GIVE THEM AWAY...WHICH IS WHAT I DID.  BUT I still have some left over and now what do I do with all of it?  For some time I have wanted to make a BOX of scrap squares and so the entire month of July is going to be nothing but piles of scraps and see what happens.  There will be postings showing how things are going and what happens with this idea.  :) 
 
1.  Dump a tub out on the table and bag the pieces. 
2.  This was sorted...Christmas prints/solids vs prints/solids. (ok, the tubs were already set to go)
3.  I was going to iron each piece first...but that would take tooooo long so now I will iron the pieces I need in making the blocks.
4.  Using a collection of patterns from various sources...like books...pot holder patterns...tools to make certain type blocks that have scrap potential.  (more later)
5.  Marking tools...I use chalk pencils, pencils and sharp scissors.
6.  THE BOX is ready and waiting for all those squares which will be different in size...did I mention that?  (6", 8", 12", 16", 24")  There will be Christmas blocks and print blocks done at the same time.

QUILTS/QUILTS/QUILTS more pending...



The template starter....I was looking at the square types that I have made up and this was the kicker for how many blocks can I make in  the July challenge!  In 3 days time = 50+ blocks are made!  It takes less time than you would think.  The below picture is the tub I am filling up.  I am using Christmas and regular print fabrics...just switching off.   It looks like all Christmas fabrics right now...but not what I am really doing...both are happening.  I will post more photos later.
 

WILL I FILL THE BUCKET BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH??? 
 
 
200 + SAMPLER BLOCKS AND COUNTING!  There will be more photos of all the blocks once the rain stops and I can do things outside on the grass.   This is turning out to be fun!  All sorts of ideas are coming together about what to do with the blocks...my vision is sampler quilts with no sashing and using different size blocks.  This is the perfect time to use up the squares from other projects and quilt themes are emerging as I go along like farm theme, rmb box fabrics, windmills the regular way and with the X block and that surprise block.
 

This block has huge potential for both types of fabrics being used! I will make a few of these.  This is another bonus for doing all the blocks....you get to try out ones that really say....make me into a quilt!!  The photo below shows the layout by machine and piled blocks to be sewn.  This works well...there are 12 pinwheels in the pile. 




 The picture below is another I like and looking at what 4 blocks of this will look like.  The last picture is the sorting of stash area...the scrap pieces really help with deciding what to do with it all.  It is sorted by size, shape and hues.  My cutting has many almost complete triangle shapes left as a scrap...so I am sewing the angles together...then cut to the size I want.  It is good to have squares cut and ready to go...5", 4", 3" are my current favorite.  Sorry I am not able to add captions under the pictures...the blog has some quirks with adding to existing pages. 


 
 



The star using RMB fabrics... From the July challenge...a nice find and one that will be used for a full size quilt later on.