My Reign Continues

These last few months I feel as though I have been crowned Queen of the Flip-and-Stitch Corner and, with my latest Quilts for Survivors flimsy, that reign continues. 

Those corners just seem to be prevalent in every project that I work on lately. First there were Scrappy Stars, then all of those delicate Snowballs, followed by Friendship Stars. Now I've started a quilt called Arkansas Crossroads. At least that's what I think its called. I've seen a version made with smaller blocks so I'm going with that.

The secondary pattern created by the white crosshatch blocks is really what captured my attention. Years ago I noticed a brightly coloured version of this pattern on the Missouri Star website and chalked it up to a 'some day' project; I guess 'some day' is now.

Mine is made using mostly delicate calicos that I'm very keen to try and move along to a good home - I've been looking at them for too long. Happily, my persistence is paying off as I'm getting to the end of a few pieces.

Just to keep things interesting, I've tossed in a bit of dark turquoise and deeper mauve, but the overall feel is still quite soft.

These are 16" blocks so I only need to make 12 of them to get me to a 48" x 64" flimsy and I'm half way there, but at times I get impatient with those grey corners. My kingdom for a batch of quick, straight seams! Just need to slow down and enjoy the process a little more....M

Simple Summer Stitching

I've been searching for an easy summer hand stitching project and finally decided to try and tame my supply of 2.5" squares and make scrappy Nine-Patch blocks.

Easy peasy, if you pay attention. Somehow I managed to fold this square back onto itself and stitch it down 😉.

Guess I was distracted by the view.

The squares seem to be multiplying in their storage container but surprisingly it's not always easy to find either four or five of the same print.

So I'm good with staying in the same colour family so that I don't end up cutting more squares. The idea is to use up as much of what's already cut. Works just fine....M

Friendship Stars and a Tiny Rabbit Hole

The opportunity to donate orphan blocks in addition to the larger 16" blocks, flimsies and quilts that we will send to Quilts for Survivors this year is proving to be a bit of a distraction, but a fun one. Enter my Friendship Stars.

Of course 'orphan' blocks' tend to be those leftovers from projects started and abandoned but after I culled my bags and boxes to see what I could find I've been using it as an excuse to try out blocks on my 'some day' list. And lately, my 2.5" scrappy squares have been my accomplice. 

It's been fun to dig and see if I can find enough squares of the same print to make a block.

Sometimes making the centre square different helps me squeak one, like this...

Or this.

Just love the bees and this chartreuse together.

When that fails, I settle for monochromatic. It's interesting to see their distinct personalities.

Because the HSTs are being made with two 2.5" squares using the stitch-and-flip method I'm ending up with a batch of even smaller HSTs from the trimming that I can't seem to ditch. You know where this is going, right?

Of course you do. Even tinier stars! The original is a 6" block and the smaller version will be just under 4". Borderline crazy making, as so many rabbit holes are, but oh so cute!...M

Delicate Snowballs

I've got another pinkish quilt top to share with you today - Snowballs and Nine Patches is now a flimsy, and a very delicate looking one at that.

This is another Quilts for Survivors project and started with me on a mission to use up several peach and pink remnants from Jan and one or two of my own that I'd like to see the end of. Adding the large pink floral and a bit of mauve makes it just a little more interesting. Like many of my squirrel projects, it started on a whim, but I didn't expect it to turn out quite so pretty!

I'd love to have one like this on one of my beds, albeit a larger version.

The snowballs and nine patches are 6" blocks and work really nicely together. I tried desperately to ensure that the same print didn't touch itself but inevitably there were a couple of spots where that happened. Such is the life of a scrappy quilter.

And I'm still loving that wonderfully scrappy & pink Flying Geese border.

We don't quilt all of the flimsies that we make to send north but I am going to suggest that we quilt this one, just so I can spend more time with it. I'm thinking a cross hatch that runs through the snowballs and on the diagonal through the nine patches would work nicely....M