Saturday, September 21, 2019

Scrappy Saturday Shoo Fly Shoo

When I was visiting my friend Deanna, she brought out something guaranteed to bring gasps and squeals from every scrap quilter - a scrap basket full of strings! 
Playing in Deanna's scrap basket
It would not be possible for any quilter to resist the urge to immediately start digging in this basket! Then you start saying things like... "oh I have this fabric in a different colour, "ohhh I love this fabric", "I have some of this in my stash", and "this piece is perfect for a Shoo Fly Shoo block"! You can see that I have pulled out some strips and started to trim and organize some pieces I intended to steal. Deanna was very generous and said we could help ourselves to anything we liked... and so I did! You can see in the bottom left of the photo that I was cutting triangles using the Easy Angle ruler for Shoo Fly blocks.
And then this leader-ender project kicked itself to the top of the main projects list because the blocks are so darn cute and I couldn't stop working on them! They are addictive like chips... you can't just have one and feel satisfied with that... 
** m u s t   h a v e  m o r e **
Shoo Fly Shoo
Here is the block  collection.
It is fun to vary the values to make some of the blocks look a little different.
But I don't want them to be as different as those two renegade Shoo Flies? 
What the heck?!?!
Why didn't I see that when I was making the blocks?!? I'll fix those two and keep cutting more.


Purple Shoo Fly blocks
I've sewn a couple more purple Shoo Fly blocks to add to the collection. See how I like to play with the value:  a muddled low contrast block on the top right, a crisp high contrast on the bottom right, the light/medium rectangles on the top left give the block a circular feel, and the bottom left is just a regular looking medium value block with my favourite Kaffe Fassett Paperweight fabric in the centre.


And while I was playing with purple scraps, I cut up some purple scraps to sew into Wishing Rings this week.


Go visit the RSC link up and pop by Sarah's to see what other scrappy adventures are going on!

17 comments:

scraphappy said...

What could be more fun than new scraps? Looks like you found lots of great bits to work into your adorable blocks.

Kate said...

You use your scraps so effectively. Love all your purple beauties. I need to plan a project that uses up just scraps for next year. My bins are overflowing.

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Your renegade blocks made me giggle. I didn't notice them until you pointed them out. I think you should leave them in.

Jan said...

Scraps are such fun, especially other people's scraps. I love sifting through mine, sorting and sharing. I love seeing what you are doing with scraps...quilt on!

Louise said...

Thanks for showing the different value blocks right next to each other. That kind of variation always makes me think :)

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Those blocks are so much fun! I love how they change with different kinds of contrast. It's always funny how we don't see a mistake until we've taken a picture of it and then look at the photo!

Deanna W said...

Love that you found things to use in my scrap basket. Maybe those two renegade blocks were caused by lack of sleep or too much wine at Piranha Weekend!?!

MissPat said...

How are you pressing your churn dash blocks? When I made a churn dash I Spy quilt last year I pressed all the HST to the darker fabric as tradition states, but then the seams didn't nest when sewing the blocks together. I've avoiding doing more because it was a pain sewing the blocks together.
Pat

Deb A said...

How fun - playing in someone else's scrap pile! Love it. Your blocks are pretty.... don't you love when that leader and ender project just takes over?

Gretchen Weaver said...

That's how I was with my shoofly blocks, I wanted to get them sewn, not drag it out for a year, more fun this way. Happy Stitching!

diamondc said...

Kathy: It is going to be lovely, how lucky she let you have the strips.

Catherine

Anonymous said...

I love the little shoo fly blocks! I can see how they could quickly become addictive. What fun!

Carla A Few Of My Favorite Things said...

Oh my a bushel basket of fun for sure! What a great idea to share with friends since it is almost impossible to empty a basket like that full of scraps! They seem to multiply over night! I love your little churn dash blocks in rainbow colors.

Sarah said...

A bucket of scraps, what fun you had!

Lisa in Port Hope said...

Your blocks look great! I've managed to turn a couple of triangles around too, but it's a quick fix!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Nice collection of Shoo Fly blocks!!

Susie H said...

Definition of a really good friend -- sharing scraps with no limitations! Lucky you! Your shoo-fly blocks are adorable and will surely make a pretty quilt one day!