Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Mini Quilt Start

One of the problems with being a creative person is overstimulation. I get too many ideas to work on in this lifetime. When I'm working on a quilt I am often distracted by the pieces that get trimmed off (that normal people would put into the garbage).
I start getting ideas of what I could do with those scraps and before you know it, I'm designing another quilt in my mind while I'm still trying to focus on finishing the one I'm actually supposed to be sewing. 
This happened with the Square Dance mystery. In trimming the Allemande Left blocks there were several cute little bits cut off.
Here they are. So cute!
They can't possibly be tossed in the garbage. 


And so, two new quilts were started from the scraps!

The larger pieces on the bottom of the above photo were put into a scrap box and you'll see what they become next month. But the top tiny bits became a mini quilt this week.
They were sewn together and then background fabrics were auditioned. The neutrals were too boring and the raspberry was pretty but a bit too dark. The pinks seemed to be best, and I went with the patterned pink on the left which wasn't as "flat" as the solid pink.


I strip pieced the pink background to the sides of the units on my Lucy my 1953 Singer 301. Even though she is 65 years old, she still sews like a dream and I love how her "long bed" has an indentation for your wine glass (well what else would it be for?) These units looked like little tents and I had lots of ideas for layouts with that shape, but decided to go ahead with the diamond shape. 


Because they were cut off scraps, all the units were slightly different sizes and a lot of trimming went on. The diamonds were 2" by 4" unfinished.
Drop by tomorrow to see the finished quilt!

PS If you've missed having the blog comments sent to your email, Carol posted a possible fix (click here) that I am trying. It seems to be working today! Thanks Carol!

12 comments:

Carole @ From My Carolina Home said...

Great idea for the scraps left over! I have been working on my scrap leftovers this week too. Scrap Dancing Improv.

Julierose said...

All machines should have an indentation for a wine glass--;)))
I cannot throw out cut off pieces either (see my ga-zillion 2" --sorta anyway
--square-ish pieces). they are now sorta 3.5" four patches--thinking centers to log cabins perhaps--I like how your triangle-ish pieces are coming together--You should call it Merlot (groan) hugs, Julierose

Deanna W said...

So that is what that indent is for ...who knew!?!?!

Louise said...

Your tiny diamonds are great! I saved all those same scraps from my Square Dance, too. And my thought process was similar to yours...ooo, such interesting little shapes, I must make something from them soon! (I admit that I like the scraps more than my finished quilt, though. I hope you like yours better.)

The wine glass comment and photo made me laugh out loud, which brought my husband over to look, and he laughed, too :)

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

I wouldn't want to see my piecing if I was drinking wine while piecing. Not sure anything would lay flat ;)

Needled Mom said...

Great use of the leftovers!

MissPat said...

I had to laugh at the references in these last two posts to imbibing wine while quilting because I just returned from a weekend quilt retreat at a facility where alcohol was not permitted. Not that I advocate drinking while quilting, but it nice to relax at the end of a long day of quilting with a glass of vino or a cold mug of beer. Sigh. Love your leftover scrap project. I tend to put them away with every intention of doing something with them, but never do. In fact, I remember some little HST that were going to become pinwheel blocks. Hmmm, I wonder where they are?
Pat

Robin said...

Too cute for words. You are so creative!

Turid said...

I love this blog post. And that's because you're just like me. When I have both the original and the mini in boxes, and can't finish neither of them, I make a pincushion.

Sarah said...

This post really made me smile! Love what you are doing with your scraps and as for the wine glass indent, it should come as standard!

Kate said...

I love the pink background choice. Sometimes you just have to play with your scraps.

Cynthia@wabi-sabi-quilts said...

I totally know what you mean about overstimulation! Your mini is great and gotta love that indentation ha ha!