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Saturday, August 2, 2014

All Squared Away!

Lately, in my sewing room, I kept bumping into a little basket of leftover 1 1/2" squares. I think they were trying to tell me something. So I took the basket and a few small design boards to my sewing machine to piece some simple little one-patch quilts. This is what happened.
Most all of these are from a basket of squares and a few strips from my scrap baskets. Five of them are quilted and the binding is sewn on and pinned to the other side. The sixth one is still a flimsy.

I started with this little piece--just randomly alternating light and dark squares, blurring the lines now and then with some medium values. I am always happy making scrappy quilts. What I struggle to make are two-color quilts. I'm always throwing in another color or two (or more).

So after making this, I sorted the remaining squares into piles, by color. Then I paired off the piles of colors and challenged myself to make some little two-color pieces.
Recently I had seen a red and brown quilt on another blog and it has stayed on my mind ever since. So it was my first two-color experiment.
So far, so good. No extra colors crept in. So I moved on.
Red had been the largest pile, so there were still plenty leftover to pair with the pile of greens.

Blue and gold are a classic combo, to me. Like sunlight glinting on water, it is a soothing pairing.


I really should have dead-headed the little African Violet plant, or chosen one with no dead blooms, before taking this photo, but I didn't even notice until the photo was on the screen.
(Okay, I have a confession to make. To get truer colors in photos I take indoors at night, I take them in a dark room with a flash. I often don't really see what the photo looks like until I upload it.)
I am not a big fan of pink, but I love the classic combo of CW pinks and browns.

This quilt is where I got off track. Not only did I add a third color, but I also deviated from the one-patch format, and I had to leave the scrap baskets to find that lovely Jo Morton gold fabric the four-patch blocks seemed to be asking for.

Since Gidget was warmed up quilting these little pieces, I put her to work on something I should have had quilted long ago.

This is the baby quilt I made from the block swap I did with Maureen last summer. I did a rope pattern in the red border and put a large stipple on the rest of the quilt. It is a baby quilt, after all, and will see lots of wear and tear.




I finally settled on a soft green for the sashing in my Garden Maze setting, after auditioning all suggested options. I think it is a nice variation from the simple sashing and cornerstones.
I can promise you there won't be this much to share next time. I was making up for 3 weeks of not quilting at all!

BTW, the winner of my drawing was Kathy, who blogs at Empty Nest But Full Heart. Congrats, Kathy. 

Until next time, Janet O.

47 comments:

  1. You did warm your Gidget up! Cute little Minis. Way to use your scraps to try some different color combos.

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  2. Very pretty quilts. I love the churn dash quilt. You used very pretty rich looking fabrics.

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  3. Love the little quilts, especially the one with the lights and darks. The baby quilt looks great too! :0)

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  4. Yippee! Wonderful sewing time for you... I am so happy! Your minis are as cute as they can be and your churn dash is amazing! Love it!❤️

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  5. wow janet a mini quilt marathon! they are all so very lovely but the fabric is gorgeous of course. and i love your little scrappy baby quilt, will be loved no doubt. hope you come on board with the SAL...

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  6. Love all those little minis! Perfect choice, IMHO, on the sashing for,the Garden Maze! And excellent finish on that baby quilt!

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  7. Love those little quilts Janet! You are so good to USE your little squares you find sitting around! Mine sit and sit! Haha! Love your last quilt pictured too...those stars are so beautiful and the setting you chose is perfect! Love it!

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  8. What a lot of progress you made....from 0 to 60 on race day! Variety you found in the leftover squares is amazing....and you pushed the boundaries with color combos to just see what worked. Good job. The Garden Maze is looking so good and really like your color choice there for the sashing design. Great work!

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  9. wow - you sure did make up for lost time! Such cute little minis - aren't they fun to play with? LOVE the baby quilt - glad you got it quilted. And your sashing choice is a good one - such a cheery quilt.

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  10. Congrats to Kathy! I do love the soft green in the sashing, it plays up the block colors beautifully. You quilting looks just great, Janet, you and Gidget are a great team; that churn dash quilt is so warm and comfy looking, well done! You rose to your own self-imposed challenge and succeeded with flying colors!!

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  11. Good morning!! I am so glad you have had a few moments to sew, and I hope that means that your mom and dad are doing better. Such pretty quilts!! I am drooling over that churn dash!

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  12. All of your projects are lovely. You are churning those out like a machine! :) You mentioned medium value fabrics, I was thinking about those the other day. It seems like I have several of those in my leftover stash and most of the time I am at a loss on how to use them. Lights and darks are so much easier for me to use. Maybe I need to experiment with the mediums...

    Praying that your precious mom and dad are doing well.
    Kristie

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  13. Great post. Your little projects are too cute and you KNOW I'm a sucker for a good Churn Dash! Bravo!

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  14. Awesome use of scraps! I just finished up a border on a current project that called for 1-1/2" squares... and thought about how fun it would be to make a full sized quilt with a bunch of little squares! lol! So, Thanks for reaffirming my sanity by making quilts with them too! ;-) Love the baby quilt! Perfect amount of quilting too!

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  15. Hooray for baby quilts that are not pastel ducklings!!! This is one that the child will always treasure, good job!
    Your whole slew of little squares are so pretty and the random lights darks with the blurred lines is my favorite.

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  16. ...it's a good feeling to get those little squares of fabric turned into quilts.... and I agree... "pastel ducklings" doesn't read "baby quilt" to me. Love churn dash blocks/quilts!

    Good on you for getting so much accomplished!

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  17. Wow! Love the mini fest! What a fun treat!
    And I am intrigued by the border rope design. Can you give us some tips???

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  18. Your brown flower matches the brown in the quilt. Both still look good. I have a whole box full of 1.5" squares and keep cutting them when cutting my scraps.

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  19. I love the pink and brown mini. I'm currently working on a sampler in those colors, and I may have enough scraps to make one of my own.

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  20. Wow Mom!
    Way to go :)
    My faves are the baby quilt, the blue and gold and the purple and gold.
    They are all lovely.

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  21. Hi Janet, your baby quilt is just beautiful, the colors are great together. All those minis, I feel ashamed of myself, I throw away pieces even larger than what you use. Praying that you mom is doing better and her recovery will be fast.

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  22. Darling minis! You are getting lots done. I always enjoy your sharing! Congrats to Kathy!

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  23. You have been one busy girl. They all look terrific. Will the new minis rotate out with other ones your already have hanging? It seems like the quilting bloggers I read are so productive and I am not. But I get soooooo excited when I accomplish anything that I post about it instantly. Maybe I should save up a week or more at a time. No--then I'd forget half of what I did.

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  24. Love all your quilts! The baby quilt is wonderful with perfect quilting motifs! I LOVE all those minis!!! Such a great idea!!! Each looked different and unique...endless possibilities!

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  25. Very sweet experiment in discipline, Janet😇!
    I'm building a little pile of 2.5" finished 4patches from a current project--love you Jo Morton gold with yours! Beautiful baby quilt, glad Gidget is in use again! Your sashing choice will be lovely.

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  26. So many beautiful quilts in this post, large and small! I love your minis! The Churn Dash is just beautiful! How do you mark your quilt tops?m perfect choice for the sashing in the Garden Maze, green for a garden! I am hoping that since you are back in your sewing room it means your Mom is doing much better.

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  27. Great little quilts! Your comment on the photos made me laugh...spent forever trying to explain how to turn off flashes as the last quilt show for a quilter who kept complaining about "color issues."

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  28. That's amazing what you pulled out of your scrap basket. All of those quilts were just sitting in there waiting for you to discover them! Great job.

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  29. Wow, Janet you have really out done yourself this time. Great little quilts and I am going to try your trick of taking photos in the dark.

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  30. Sweet little quilts!!! Your wall will fill up fast at the rate you are going now! Glad you are getting some machine time.

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  31. Such gorgeous quilts! Love each and every one!

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  32. all your little quilts are soo sooo cute!
    Your swap block quilt is wonderful. How fun to have a quilt made with a friend.
    garden maze looks great

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  33. I couldn't pick a favorite from all of those little quilts. Each one is cuter than the one before it. The swap quilt is great, too!

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  34. Love your littles. The bubblegum pink flimsy is my favorite :D

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  35. Each and everyone is stinking cute! I love little quilts and yours delights my senses! Garden Maze is also another beauty from your hands! Always so fun to see your post and quilts! Have a great day!

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  36. Sweet little quilts, and I love the churn-dash baby quilt! Have not tried machine quilting a rope pattern but it looks so lovely, will need to try that soon.

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  37. cute little quilts, love the different color combos you used , now admit wasn't that just so much fun! the churn dash baby quilt is so nice.
    Kathie

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  38. Wonderful little quilts, Janet!! Your little baby quilt is darling but the very best is the Garden Maze!! That sashing is just perfect!! And congratulations on your win, Kathy!! :-))

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  39. You have been a busy little sewist with all your tiny quilts...darling...sorry to hear your mom has been sick...hope she is doing much better! I have been getting a couple vintage machines and learning how to recondition them to beauty...sewing on them has been fun too. Here's to fun for the rest of the summer!!
    Mary

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  40. I really like what you have done with your scraps Janet, and the thought processes that went with them - a good feeling to challenge oneself - and pull it off! Well done on getting the churn dash quilted too, it really is a lovely quilt. Love that rope in the border. Good choice with the garden maze border :-)

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  41. The four patch was the first one that caught my eye in the group photo. Love it. The churn dash will be such a treasured gift.

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  42. Cute little quilts. Love the baby size churn dash, with your special swap blocks.
    Enjoy the quilting!!

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  43. Wow! What a fun post with fun little quilts! I really like the churn dash. Swapping with friends makes special quilts.

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  44. Such cute little quilts! and I love the baby quilt! Looking forward to seeing a photo of it with the baby!
    Garden Maze is lovely! Perfect choices for the sashing and cornerstones.
    Congrats to Kathy!

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  45. I thought of you on my trip and all your little quilts as I saw some yard sticks in an antique shop. No fabric related ones though.

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  46. Love the green you chose for your Garden Maze Janet! It's perfect and sets it off almost with a soft glow :) And what can I say about your creativity with those little squares? Pure fun!!!! That basket would have still be sitting around my house, begging for some attention. How impressive that you separated them by color and came up with such CUTE quilts!!!

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