A Finish, At Last

I completed this mock barjello this weekend. Choosing how to quilt this design was a challenge for me, as I don't follow markings at all well, but stitching just the columns of piecing just was not enough. I decided to so some diagonal stitching to emphasize the design, which got the quilting close enough together to wear well and it didn't have to be marked. It is about 32 x 44" in size.

This little quilt was made of a strip of a pre-print and some blue print, both donated to our quilt group. I had 8 squares, so made the last one by sewing two end strips together. I had a lot of distortion in my top, so did some fre-motion quilting after outlining the central shapes, and then bound it in the matching print. This quilt finished at slightly under 30-inches, just right for the NICU where it will be donated. With a dot print flannel back it will be soft and cozy.

I was the recipient of a box of carefully hand cut 3-inch squares and some strip sets started by an 90-year plus dear woman who was dedicated to humanitarian service. Her sister gave me the pieces, and I tried to complete a project that was worthy of all her careful cutting, piecing and pressing. I completed this quilt top by piecing a few more strip sets to complete the design. The top is now ready for basting and the future machine quilting.

In our area we once had several clothing factories and their cutaway fabric was sold in outlet stores. I believe these pieces came from JoLene Co., or Mini World. They are mostly light-weight poly blends, so require careful handeling.

As is almost always the case, there were pieces left over, so in Cookies and Milk style, I created two more 30-inch square baby quilt tops. I'm starting to get frightened now, because at the end there was only 1 piece of the red dotted print left! This is the 3rd time in 3 months this has happened. But I didn't let it go to my head. I started a 4th quilt with the leftovers, ran short of 2 pieces, so far, but used a close substitute, and need to go to my stash now for another two reds to complete this top. I found some red dot factory scrap from JoLene Co. in the quilt room today, so need just a few squares of red to finish up. I'n sure I will find something without leaving too many leftovers that will require a 5th quilt!

From a distance the quilt looks like a checkerboard, but close up you can see diagonal rows of prints in the piecing. I will use the red dot from the quilt room for binding as it is in 45" strips and the same weight as fabric used in the quilt, even if it is not an exact match. Now, even though I have completed two projects, I have worked myself into four more--and that does not count the rail fence variations which I will post about another day. I'm told"It will all come out in the quilting."

Try Again

A friend suggested that my description of how I prepared my freezer bags for the sorting and short-term storage of squares as I cut my scrap fabric was not very clear. I'll try to give better illustrations this time.


When I stitch two bags together, the top edge of the front bag is placed directly below the zipper seal of the back bag, and then I stitch the two together. This staggers the bags slightly, and leaves the zipper area of both bags clear so they can be sealed shut if necessary.

Here several bags are joined together, each in the same manner. I only do a few together, 4-5 at the most, doing several sets to accommodate the number of sizes of squares and values I sort When the bags are staggered this way the lanels on the top of the bag are easily read and it is simple to insert the correct size and value into the bag. Several sets of bags can be placed in my shoe box and because of the way they are sewn I can place them under each other in a row so all the labels can be seen when the box is opened.

I've had to spend a couple of weeks as caretaker preparing for and following surgery of a family member. I've been in withdrawal not being able to cut and sew for such a long time. I started work on another rail fence top, #4. amd it is truly a "Grandma" quilt, using mostly calico style prints. Here's a start. Gotta cut more setting fabric before I can go farther. Again I am using 2 x 5-inch rectangles which gives a 4-1/2-inch finished block.

Cutting Fabric Again

I am on my 3rd rail fence variation now, and as I discovered a box of scrap falling out of the garage (through the broken door which won't go up or down which needs repair immediately) which needed to be rescued, I ended up with more "stuff" to cut up. Scraps from someone's dressmaking project gave me enough pieces for the center of a set of rail fence blocks, so this will lead to a whole new variation.

I thought I would share my cutting table area storage and sorting system for scraps which allows me to quickly put away the random squares that are cut from leftovers from shape cutting.

I have sewn with a 3-step zig-zag stitch a few zip-top freezer bags. The top edge of the first is sewn to the area right below the zip seal on the second bag, the third bag is sewn the same way. This way the tops are staggered, and the labels on the top of each bag are easily seen. I only do a few in each segment so the row of bags does not get too long. The freezer bags are more heavy duty and last much longer. and the tops can be closed if needed. The rows of bags are placed in a plastic shoe box with a sturdy snap-on lid which keeps everything from spilling all over if it gets turned over.

As I am cutting fabric into shapes I cut the remainder of the scraps into usable squares so that it is all cut up. I put the cut squares into my marked bags in the shoe box, sorting the dark from light of my smaller squares because they are harder to pick up and value sort later. When the bag/s get too full for the lid on the box to fit tightly, I remove the cut squares to larger shoe boxxes that hold only one size square, or to a pull-out drawer which also contains only one size square. Then my bags are ready to be refilled again, and only the shoebox with the plastic bags needs to be in the area where I do my cutting.

The other box shows the 2 x 5-inch rectangles I have been cutting for the rail fence quilts that I have been stitching. The scrapbook paper storage boxes have good snap-on attatched lids and stack well, so have een invaluable in helping me store cut shapes for specific designs. The blue print pieces I cut for the next rail fence variation are shown in the front of the box.

Quilt Room Scrap Barjello

I was asked an interesting question this week. The group was working on another variation of a mock barjello quilt, and I was asked if the design couldn't be created with strips. This was good thinking and deserves an honest reply. The strip segments that were sewn together in the first picture shows the sequence of pieces that were sewn. A floral print, a green print and then a pink stripe were sewn together, then four of these segments sewn together , and we pieced to the top and bottom what was needed to complete the strip segment in the sequence of fabrics required to maintain the design.

Although a little difficult to see, the first strip is constructed with 15 full rectangles which were cut 2-1/2-inches x 4-1/2-inches. The second strip is constructed with 14 full rectangles, and begins and ends with a square cut 2-1/2-inches . The odd-number strips are all 15- rectangles long, and the even-number strips are 14-rectangles long with a square starting and ending the strip to even out the length. The sequence of colors in each strip is determined by the movement of the color in the design. Yes, it would be simple to cut a 4-1/2-inch strip of the three colors and seam them, then cut them into 2-1/2-inch segments and the three-color sequence would be more easily constructed. Therefore, the answer to strip-piecing is easy. Now to our quilt....

The floral pieces came from some pre-cut 5-inch squares that someone years ago had packaged and sold as quilt pieces. They were probably die-cut from some factory scrap by some industrious person. They were donated to the quilt room years ago and through the years they have been used for a variety of quilt designs. There was little waste of them for the mock barjello as the squares only needed to be cut in half and 1/-2 inch cut off the top. The stripe I selected I cut in 2-1/2-inch strips and cut the lengths so the stripes went across the piece instead of up and down. The position of the stripe is not as noticable with this direction as it would be running the other direction when the seams of two stripes meet. The gren print was from yardage, and could be cut in either 4-1/2-inch or 2-12-inch strips and cut to the required length. This quilt could not possibly have been strip-pieced in the traditional method simply because of the "scrap" fabrics that were being used to construct it.

Since the beginning of the year I have created several variations of this design. I have kept the size of the pieces consistent (not so hard to remember the size I am using when cutting a lot of scraps into different sizes for different quilts) but I have varied the ways I have used prints and background fabrics. There are no rules for the sequence in which to move the colors "up" or "down" or how many colors to use. I just decided that 15 rectangles down and 21 across made a nice size lap quilt for a child, and by making it this size I did not have to piece backing fabric.

I made a baby-size quilt of the leftovers which was 10 rectangles long and 17 rectangles wide. I made the design sequence different by dropping the color rows one more rectangle which gave more variety to the design. Would you believe it--I only had one stripe rectangle left after the piecing. However, with more packages of the floral print available, more quilts will be created using different colorways and designs to add variety to the mix. More quilts coming!

Fabric Cutting

This week I have been cutting fabric from my stash. I had a stack of light cream pieces that were factory leftovers that were a quilt room donation. I cut some squares from it for applique (another post on that project later), but there were skinny pieces left, so I cut them into 2 x 5-inch strips. I had seen a photo of a rail fence design like this once, so thought these newly cut pieces would be perfect for this variation. Again, leftovers from one project inspired another! I cut some fabrics that were leftovers from other things into the same size pieces, and stitched them into blocks, a print, muslin and then print. I love the on-point set of this design. One top later, and I have pieces left, of course. With a solid blue used for the setting triangles and a border, the lap quilt is very colorful and cheery.

I spent 13 hours one day pressing scraps and cutting them into the shapes. I've had a sore arm for a few days as a result. I don't usually do that much at one time, but wanted to get the mess taken care of at one time. I do have one rule about cutting scrap that I have found very useful, and that is that a fabric gets cut up all lthe way while it is on the cutting mat unless it is yardage or I have a specific plan for it. That means that I may be cutting a specific size or shape right now, but if it is scrap, the rest of it gets cut into usuable shapes now and these shapes are put into storage for future projects rather than getting folded up and then have to be pressed and re-cut at a later time. My focus this week was 2 x 5-inch strips, but ends of strips were cut into squares or 1-1/2-inch strips. All of the scrap I cut is taken care of, either the shapes I need now or squares and strips for a future project.

A friend donated some great new books on scrap quilting to the quilt room this week, and I brought a few home to browse through. I got a great new idea from each book! I have recently learned how to use my scanner so I have been scanning project ideas and saving them as computer files, and I am getting quite paperless! Ain't technology great? I don't have many skills (as friends comment they need to start charging me by the hour for consultation) but I love to be able to learn new things, especially when they help me save more space for fabric.

Today I was going through a binder of quilt designs that I had created for scrap quilts several years ago. It had to be a LONG time ago, as they were printed on my dot-matrix printer. Anyway, I discovered a 4-patch variation I had created and forgotten about. It is an interesting design, and thinking about all those squares I cut from the leftovers this week...

Good Week

This week I basted and quilted two baby Trip Around the World quilts, and bound four of them, completing the ten of them pieced this year by our quilt group. As soon as labels are on them they will be ready for donation.

In a fabric donation from a group member I came across a strip of the cute pre-print fabric that had a nice sawtooth border around the blocks. However, it was cut from the two ends of the strip, and there were only 8 motifs. I hated to lose that border, but with trimming and seaming two scrap pieces together I was able to get enough for this small baby quilt. I will bind it with the blue print, as there is just enough left of it for the binding. The top is ready for basting now.

I machine quilt my quilts using monofilament on the top. I recently acquired some lovely Superior Thread trilobal varigated which I have been using for bobbin thread and I love using it. My vision is not great, and by using the monofilament on the top my mistakes are not too obvious, and makes a secure quilt which will launder well. I quilt on a Juki industrial which is quick and gives me a wonderful stitch.

I have been working on four other scrap quilts this week as well. With the purchase of a new camera I will be sharing more photos soon.

Fabric Bonanza

After spending 12 hours stitching on quilts at the Sr. Citizen's Center, I discovered a huge donation of fabric on my doorstep. The spouse of a fabric sales representative had spent countless hours pulling sample fabrics from their cardboard backing and had packaged them up and delivered them to me. I was so excited to receive them. Hundreds of pieces of new fabric! It was better than a shopping spree. The pieces are not large, for the most part, but my hands were itching to start cutting and sewing at that late hour.

The next day was spent in sorting the fabric to get it ready to use. How to sort scraps is always a dilemma as each assortment of scrap donations is different. Each quilter has individual taste, so things differ from person to person. My first storting is usually by size of the pieces. I try to sort according to the designs that I most commonly make or have need of pieces for. Narrower strips go into my "string" collection, which is one of my favorite uses of scraps. Using sew and flip technique I can be quite thoughtless about the fabrics that go into a block, and since the base fabric or paper to which I stitch determines the shape of the design, I can stitch for a long time without great convern about what I use. I have a goal to make 100 string quilts, and am at 27 or 28 right now. Why 100? Why not? String strips go into a large plastic tub under the sewing machine which can be pulled out when sewing, and pushed back when not in use. If there are a large number of strips in one color family I may put them in a ziplock bag and then into the tub.

Four-patch and Nine-patch units use squares, usually 2 or 2-1/2-inches in size. Squares and strips go into plastic storage drawers which I can pull out when working on a design using those pieces, and slipped back into place when not needed, awaiting new additions to the collection.

When I have larger pieces that will have to be cut before they can be used I use different methods to sort them. Most often I sort them by style unless there are a large number of piecies in one color. I recently sorted some scrap from a woman who was moving and gave me a box of scraps. There were quite a number of blue and of red scraps, so I put them together with the idea of using them together in a future project. In the case of my new fabrics, the categories of sort were:
tone on tone prints
bright contemporary prints
dark reproduction style prints
plaids, checks and stripes
light background prints and toiles
flannels
theme and holiday prints
wall paper prints (what I might see on my grandparent's walls)
florals
Kiddie theme prints for I Spy quilts

I recently discovered the paper storage boxes of clear plastic that are sold in scrapbook stores for the storage of scrapbook paper. Sizes 8 x 11 and 12 x 12, they have attached lids that close securely, and they stack very well. Shops in our area are packaging their quilt kits in them, and tied up with a nice ribbon they are very presentable. I put all of my nicely sorted scraps in them and sadly, put them away until the next quilt project comes along--which won't be long! I'll report later on about how useful the boxes are for storage of my scraps as well as in-progress projects.

This past week I completed a quilt top from a raw edge applique string project where I used the nice florals I had just received. Alas, my camera has died and has to be replaced so I can capture some pictures of it to post. However I am most pleased with it, and a second one is on the way. When cutting the background squares for it (another donation), I had leftovers, so cut 2 x 5-inch pieces of it. I cut scrap prints to go with it and have sewn the blocks for a rail-fence quilt. I just need to select some setting and border fabric, cut some triangles from it, and then the on-point set of that quilt will be under-way. I also cut the red and blue fabrics for another quilt, and it is ready for the block constructions--also all of donated fabric. I hope to soon have pictures of these projects posted.