Overlapping Octagons is finished.

Following Sujata's challenge in January to replicate one of the quilts in the book "Unconventional and Unexpected, American quilts under the radar", by Roderick Kiracofe, I made the Overlapping Octagons.

Instead of continuing with hourglass blocks at the intersections of the octagons as I did for the first few blocks, I took the fabric of the "sashing" further to form the point. The hour glass blocks gave very bulky seams at the corners of the red pieces but now there is less bulk but more Y-seams!

The original quilt was pieced by hand and I think that if I had done that I may have been finished sooner. Slow going as it was I'm glad I persevered; I'm quite comfortable with Y-seams now!

I quilted the red squares with various FMQ designs, and varying degrees of success! In the "sashing" I followed the seam lines to avoid losing the shape of the octagons. In my view that has worked well and they stand out nicely.

fabrics: scraps from stash
measurements: 38" x 44"
pieced with Aurifil 50 wt light grey
quilted with Aurifil 40 wt dark blue, dark red and bright red.

Now I'm going to look into the book again and see which quilt I would like to make next! 

Happy sewing

Marly.

Overlapping Octagon - how to draft your own pattern

Last night I decided it was finally time to give this quilt a go. There are other things happening simultaneously in the dining room so I may not be as fast as some of you are working. More I saw the images on instagram and your posts on here, I wanted toss whatever is required off to the side and dip my feet in as well.

I really want that scrappy, unplanned look, where octagon corners are mysteriously do appearing and disappearing act. So original quilt was pieced was the way to go. Yes, with Y seams.

This is all I have made so far. One block - not even! I am not sure if the colors are my favorite but it was good to try a sample of the block.

Here is how to draft your own paper pattern. Sorry for the poor quality of this picture.

• Draw a rectangle 2" X 4" with 2" X 2" squares on either end. 
• Draw diagonal lines from corner to corner withing both squares.
• The shape with darker line is the pattern needed for the octagon. 

I also cut 4" X 11" paper from the phone book. Basically split the pages vertically in halves.

Use these as paper foundation piece for your scraps and string. You want to start laying first piece of scrap right side up. Then place the next piece right side down. sew the seam. Press open the second piece. Continue with third and fourth.

 Place the template to see if you have enough length to trim the shape..

I cleaned up the edges before trimming the shape.

Using this template, add 1/4" seam allowance when rimming the string pieced



Here is the example of adding 1/4" seam allowance. 

I chose to make my blocks larger as I really want to make many quilts from this book.

Here is the difference in size of the templates between 8" and 12" finished block.

I think I made the smart decision. Too many Y seams at short distance to consider before choosing the final size of the block.

I hope this helps.

Happy Quilting!

Repurpose - Recycle

Find those forgotten scraps..

Bring them to life..

Turn something ordinary into extra ordinary this weekend.

Have a great one!
Sujata

Mini Quilt Challenge

Last fall Kathie of Inspired by Antique Quilts had sent me this block. Four little baskets were beautifully appliqued with scraps on scraps. Back then I was getting ready for my surgery and the block stayed patiently in the drawer until this afternoon.  (It was so long ago, I thought I had lost it in my sewing room)

I guess today was it's turn to be turned into a quilt. There must be something in the air because I have never stayed so focused on finishing pending projects.

Well, I am happy that these baskets got the attention they deserved.

Kathie had meticulously hand appliqued them. At one point I was even thinking of hand quilting this quilt but the excitement of finishing the quilt took over after I pieced around the block.

Most of the scraps I used came from a pile Nifty had sent me few months back.  I used the left over binding from other projects.. of course!

Kathie's Challenge

Thanks, Kathie for your gorgeous baskets.
LeeAnn, I still have a lot and a projects in works form all your fabrics. Thank you for sending the goodies!

A Scrap Challenge

Anyone?

I have been working on my scraps and think it is time to have our very first challenge..

Are you interested?

Here are the rules!

Must have scraps

A quilt no larger than 24" X 24"( So we have something to post at the end of the month)

And since it is February.. How about a quilt that has a message of "Love"

It can be as simple color red.. But more importantly something you LOVE..

Leave a comment.

Are you in?

Here is the progress on my cleaning.

I found lots of strings in my scrap bins.

Some I had been saving on purpose for other quilt and some that I was not aware I had! 

It was time to put them in a quilt top. 

I cut them on a slant and into Approximately nine inches long.

Made blocks that were Nine inches square. 

Approximately of course!

Divided them in half square triangles. 

I am getting good at eye balling the sizes.

And sewed them back again in to squares!

If you make this quilt, make sure the diagonal cut is reversed for half of the nine inch squares.

If you post it on your blog, please link it back to here!

As you can see, I have not squared them off. 

My brain is still whispering.. 

So I will wait until I hear it clearly!

 And here is the progress on my other Scrap quilt.

Hope you are having some fun with your basket of scraps.

Scrappy Play

I am definitely in the mood for cleaning. Today I decided to clean up more of my scraps. 

This is what I came up with.

Lots of little pieces sewed up in long strips with sparks of half square triangles and sticks laying here and there. It is going to be my Bee Block for 15 Minutes Bee.

Although, it is hardly a block you can sew up in 15 minutes, I learned a lot in the process. Can you imagine making an entire quilt using only bits and pieces? The larges size of a square or a rectangle is 3" long. The longest strip is 4" X 1.5". That would take forever to make a bed size quilt. 

Anna Williams and Rosie Lee Tompkins have done that. 

With my 15 minutes bee players, I will have one of these.. A bed size quilt!!! I am so excited!

 Maker unknown

From the book, Accidentally on Purpose by Eli Leon

I wish I had a better picture of this quilt. It is really difficult to take a picture of a glossy page of a book.

But, you get the picture!

Update on the weekend cleaning!

If my mama was here and I was 10 she would ask, "Is this what you call cleaning?"
I have made more mess in the room. But isn't it what happens every time you clean?
This is how my cleaning goes...
First, I loose something..
I decide to find that something..
While I am looking, I find some things I had forgotten..
I get very excited!
I loose track of what I was looking for because I thought of something new!
I think, I am on to something!

So, the cleaning can wait.. There are better things to do.. I call it Summer Dreams.. Hot and exciting, fun and fabulous! My super scrappy fun in some what organized way!

Did I say....

I could not focus?

That is exactly right!

I am still cleaning my sewing room.. 

Well....

Sort of...

For those of you who know my quilt Ferris Wheel ,
know how it all began..

You can check it out here

The new quilt is following it's path. 

The only difference, I am using the scraps from the Ferris Wheel to make this new quilt. 

The process began with the same intention.... 

Trying to CLEAN my sewing room. 

It is easy to get distracted or inspired! How ever you look at it. 

My sewing room is still a mess but a new quilt is evolving.

I had  leftovers from the wheel quilt and decided to sew them up first. 

I think I have a pretty good idea on what is coming next..

You must stay tuned. 

I am so excited!!!

This bag began with someone's

leftover needlepoint/embroidery project.

I bought it.....

Thought about it.......

Took some more scraps and started sewing!

Now I have a little project bag for my friend!!

Red and Green on the Housetop!

Okay... With all of you working on the Christmas projects, I had to pull out my red and green scraps. 

All scraps. Large and small went in these blocks. 

Is it going to be ready before Christmas? 

NO.. 

How big? 

I don't know just yet.

All I know is that I will hand quilt this one too!

Because, I like hand quilting and finishing with curved edges.

It will be a present ... 

to me ...

May be next year around this time ...

Or 

the following year.

No rush!

Work in Progress

Here is what happened to the leftovers from the back of the basket quilt.

I decided to make it into a little wall art for myself .

The little house I started is no longer lonely. It is part of a neighborhood and it is growing.

While there is too much to do between now and Thanksgiving day, this is just the right size of project for me.

And, a little bit of hand quilting works well too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

lonely berries.

I'm hoping those little berries will not have to wait

too, too long for some flowery company!!

They need it.

Poor little things!

Maybe they'd even like a few leaves.

Probably so.

four

Well.

I now have four baskets, but they're awfully drab.

I need to fill them up!

What should I fill them with?

What colors should I use?

Hmmm........
Then I'll have to figure out how to border them!!....

Are we having fun yet?

yes.

No idea!

I am unsure if I want light or dark fabric for the background but can't stop experimenting with different shapes!

Basket #1

The beginning of a happy quilt.

Maybe I'll even put something IN the basket....

who knows???

Something to DREAM about.

Do you dream about quilts??

They're usually Happy dreams.....

Here are my supplies:

A drawer FULL of black and brown.

As you can see....I have plenty to work with here.

No need to buy anything. ;)

And a basket shaped piece of paper.

Simple supplies.

Fun sewing.

Happy dreams.

Welcome!

 

20" X 32"

Like a lot of you, I love working with verity of projects. I enjoy making traditional quilts and constantly improvise on techniques, color choices and different textures.  

Whenever I am in between projects, I start making fabric from scraps and put them aside. You never know when they might come handy! These baskets started out in an effort to clean up my sewing room. I had always wanted to make a scrap basket quilt. As I kept making the patches, they became larger and turned into baskets.  I made a number of them.

Soon, I realized how much fun they were. So the next thing was to invite all of you to join in the fun!

You can make crazy patch or out of strings, use orphan blocks and make them small or big..
One or ten or twenty... sky is the limit!

The possibilities are endless! Knowing how much you all like working on an impulse, I have no doubt that this is going to be a cheerful and fun place to visit and get inspired!

I know I am going to make many..
I want a place for us to gather while we gather our baskets.

Only one Catch! ( I said.... No rules) I lied!
May I ask politely to use scraps?
How can you not? They look so bright and cheerful!

There are no deadlines to finish a quilt. This is a place to post pictures of your love for scraps.
I will post references on making a basket block soon. Meanwhile, start having fun making those crazy patches!
I am hoping for a great show!