Oh my stars!

 Lots of star blocks this week. 

Firstly some Wonky Stars:

Then a few more Twinkler blocks:

I counted my Twinkler blocks and I now have 72. Need a lot more brown and purple ones to even up the colours.

I finished ofF the 24 padded heart Christmas decorations my Granddaughter and I made:

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog for the 2022 RSC Project.

RSC roundup of the Yellows

 Had a busy week with yellow scraps, adding 2 more Sawtooth Blocks to the ones I finished last week.

4 Twinkler blocks

L

12 String blocks 

18 Little Wonky Stars

And 2 little Ticky Tacky houses

 Now ready for the new colour for April.

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog.

Finishing the reds

 Last week to use red scraps for RSC blocks. Here’s my haul for this week:

                                                         4 Twinkler Blocks

I made a Wonky Shoo fly trial block which wasn’t entirely successful because the top left corner is too small. I was using a few red bonus triangles I had. I will make more in other colours but won’t have such a busy background and will make sure the triangles are bigger.

The Ticky Tacky houses and little 4 patches were made as Leaders and Enders throughout the week.

                            Discovered these little houses after I had taken the previous photo! 

                                

     And 6 of my favourite String blocks. Don’t they look good in red?

I must have been tuning into Angela because during the past two days I’ve been putting together a little baby quilt to donate to the local hospital - and all the fabrics are shades of aqua.

Linking with Angela’s So Scrappy blog.

Yellow blocks for February RSC

 I normally don’t have many yellow scraps ( I probably write the same comment every year!) because when I buy yellow fabrics for a project  I’m never left with many leftovers. However I stocked up on yellow a while ago and have been using them in projects and also for my February blocks which I’ve been making all month, dovetailing them with quilt making.

So my total for February:

 13 Ticky Tacky houses

11 Wonky Stars

5 Twinkler Blocks and 2 Roman Stripes 

Love all these blocks and all, except the Wonky Stars, are ongoing RSC 21 blocks, carried on from previous years. And all were ideas I gleaned from Cathy’s blog, Sane, Crazy Crumby Quilting. I wonder what colour will be chosen for March - Green?

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy blog

Teal Twinklers

I love making these Twinkler blocks - Cathy’s name for the blocks but I guess they are Friendship Stars. But I love the name Twinklers, because they do twinkle don’t they?
I was tidying up my 2.5” teal squares and thought I could manage to make two blocks, squeezing them in before the end of March.

Here they are:

More Orange blocks for RSC 2020

Rain and cold winds still continuing so, as I had a completely free day yesterday I sewed and sewed.
I had made some orange Twinkler Blocks earlier in the week and yesterday made one 49 Patch block using already cut 1.5” orange squares from the stash I have in a tin. I sewed the small orange squares together Leader and Ender style in between working on some Red blocks for the Sunshine Guild. As both orange and red are always in short supply I have really turned over my stash thoroughly looking for scraps.

Here’s my orange total from yesterday:

I started making Twinkler Blocks last year and I now have 36 Twinkler Blocks, my 4 orange blocks bringing my orange total to 7.
The only orange scraps I have left are a few 1.5” strings, all fairly short length and a few 1.5” squares. I may make another orange 49 Patch block.

Linking with Angela’s So Scrappy RSC post.

Finished ! A Rainbow of Twinkling Stars

Just before the end of the year I have finished the scrap quilt made using Cathy's Twinkler Star blocks idea and that I made over around nine months as part of the RSC on Angela's So Scrappy Blog.

 

I have renamed it A Rainbow of Twinkling Stars

 

The quilt is machine quilted with a double row of Perle hand quilting around each star.

It measure 53" squares and is completely made from scraps and pieces of fabric from my stash.

 

I had thought this would be  a Donation Quilt but I'm afraid I can't part with it, I love it!

I have two other flimsies that will be donated and they will be finished in the New Year.

 

I am joining up with RSC 2017, this is the first Rainbow Scraps Challenge quilt I have ever done.

 

Happy Christmas and all good wishes for 2018.

RSC 2017 Handquilting Twinkler Stars

Linking up with Angela's So Scrappy RSC 2017 to show the progress of my Twinkler Stars Quilt.

 

I am hand quilting a double row of fairly small Perle stitches around each star shape.
Pleased with the effect. I had already machine quilted either side of all the block joins so the quilt top is well anchored.  No rush to finish this quilt so I am enjoying stitching whilst watching television or at my Quilt Group meetings.

I have now been gifted 2 lots of wedge shaped scraps. The wedges come in pairs, a solid and a tone on tone pattern for each colour.  My friend Candy made yards and yards of pennant shaped bunting to decorate the reception area for her granddaughter's wedding last year.  She and her daughter are now turning the bunting into a quilt for Olivia.  So I have been given the scraps which are around 6" long, the wedge is approx. 3" (they differ slightly!) at the widest point of the wedge.  I don't want to leave them like this in a bag because I know they will just stay there forever.  I had wondered if I could arrange them into Dresden-style circles, but haven't tried playing yet. I would normally cut scraps into usable sized squares (1.5", 2", 2.5" ) but I would waste more than I would be using.
Any ideas on how best to use them? Suggestions would be very welcome!

 

Trial layout

I finally had a little time for sewing this afternoon but decided to see how many blocks I had for a Twinkler Quilt.  I intend to make this a donation quilt for Siblings Together. The minimum size they require is 50" square so I worked out if I set my Twinklers 9 blocks by 9 that should finish at 54" square. I don't really enjoy making larger quilts, quite hard to sandwich together without getting lots of wrinkles so this size is good for me.

So a quick layout looked like this:

Adding this picture to Busy Hands, Finished or Not Friday.

All the blocks need trimming - horrid job so I'll tackle the blocks a few at a time. I probably should have trimmed them as I went along!

I even have 30 blocks left over, useful for swapping if I feel some of the blocks in this current Trial Layout are too similar.

I also counted up how many 5" String blocks I have made - 105.

I have made a note of how many of each colour I need to make to be able to sort them into sets of 4 for each block. Not too many.

It's amazing how these Projects using scrap blocks mount up.

RSC Orange and others

I have been making a few blocks whenever I found a few minutes during the past few days.

First of all, so I can link to So Scrappy RSC Orange challenge
with these Orange blocks:

And other assorted blocks:

 

 And earlier in the week I made another Sailboat block for our Patchwork Group joint quilt :

I am enjoying making a few blocks for various different quilts and building up blocks to make  some quilt tops.

Inspiration from the Internet

One of my favourite pastimes is trawling the Internet for quilting ideas. I follow a lot of blogs where I get loads of ideas and they lead me to other blogs where I find lots of inspiration.  A while ago I found Angie's blog, Quilting on the Crescent, through the So Scrappy Rainbow Challenge blog.

Angie used 1.5" squares, all the same colour to create a 49 patch block, every square was a different fabric.  I squirrelled that idea away and then saw Cathy's Roman Stripe blocks ( based on a vintage quilt she spied on Etsy)  Those were turned into a fabulous quilt entitled Checkered Past.  I loved the idea of alternating 5 x 1.5" squares with calico strips.

That triggered a frenzy of cutting scraps, in some cases from a tiny scrap, to make a tin full of 1.5" squares.

So for the past two days I have snatched bits of spare time to churn out one blue 49 patch block, each fabric is different which was more difficult than I thought as although I thought I had lots of different squares cut I was surprised how many 49 actually is!  However, I have completed one Blue Block:

 

I also have a Green Block all laid out ready to sew.

 

Then I had a go at some Roman Stripe blocks, some I made Leader and Ender style between webbing the 49 patch block. Some blue, some green and one turquoise block.

 

 

A while ago I kitted out lots of Twinkler Blocks, again a super idea I learned on Cathy's Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting blog.  I had to cut some more small squares for the star points but have made all these, 18 blocks in all. Tomorrow I need to put all my Twinker Blocks together and see how many I actually have................... perhaps enough for a quilt?

 

Today's blocks:

 

I love using up scraps.  Thank you Angie and Cathy for your ideas!

 

Weekend windows of opportunity

This weekend is a Bank Holiday in the UK but when you are retired (as we are) it doesn't have the same significance.

We have never chosen to travel anywhere during Bank Holidays as we had no desire to be stuck in traffic jams. This weekend has been no exception!  For once the Bank Holiday has been blessed with beautiful sunny weather - they are normally a wash out! We have enjoyed the garden, eating some meals outside ( very few this summer) and I have done a bit of gardening.

On the sewing front I decided to sew for a little while early on Saturday morning and complete a few more Twinkler blocks which were kitted up ready to go.  I am linking these with So Scrappy RSC blog as they have neutral centres and star points. That counts, doesn't it?
I finished 8 before I ran out of 1.5" squares for the star points so  need to cut a few more as I still have lots of 8 x 2.5" squares pinned together ready to turn into blocks.

Baby Georgie made an appearance on Thursday evening so I have been busy embroidering the label for this quilt I made last year:

This is the label:

 

Ready to sew onto the quilt whilst I'm watching TV.

 

 

I also managed to pop over to see baby India and deliver my collection of hand made gifts. gorgeous baby, lovely family and today I received a beautiful photo of baby India lying on her Happy Cats quilt. That's why I make quilts!

 

 

Irish Blessing

I was ironing some tea towels I had brought back from church to wash.

This was one of them:

 

 

It looks like cross stitch - which I have never done - but I thought the words we appropriate for quilters too.

 

My hands have been sewing up some more stash blocks:

4 one colour 5" string blocks, 4 Spool blocks and 5 more Twinkler blocks.

I have sets kitted out ready to sew and I make a few when I feel like doing so. Sometimes I make the Spool blocks in Leader and Ender style but the other blocks I make as a proper project. Really because I like to lay out the Twinkler blocks in pairs and make two at a time (Bonnie Hunter style, chasing each other) so I can web each block. Of course this helps to line up the seams when sewing the rows together.

When I am making the String blocks I make my stitch length much smaller so taking off the paper foundation is not a problem. Not suitable for making Leader and Ender style or I would be forever altering the length of my stitch!

 

Here they are:

 

 

Must have a count up and see how many of each type of block I have.

 

Orphans no more!

I have had a busy week on the sewing front, including 2 Patchwork group meetings ( one with each of the groups I belong to here in NZ).

I put into practice my idea to use the 5 "mistake" orphan string blocks, trimmed them down to 4.5" and turned them into QAYG star blocks, finishing at 12.5".

These are for Adrienne's Block Drive ( On the windy side blog), so she can make Children's Quilts which will be sent to Kaikoura for children affected by the November earthquake.

Not a great photo, doesn't really show up the colours and the Perle stitching.

My favourite block is this one:

 

I was also pleased with how the yellow string square showed up in the star block.  It hadn't worked as I had intended - hence being relegated to "Orphan block" status.

But as the centre of a star I think it works well.

Thanks to Jo's contribution of extra 2.5" squares I was able to make another 16 Twinkler blocks:

That takes my total of Twinklers to 61.  These will go home to the UK with me and then I'll probably need to sew more of them so I can eventually make a quilt for the Siblings Together charity.
Haven't worked out the maths yet as the quilt size requested is a minimum of 50" square.

I have also made a Premature baby quilt for our NZ local hospital but that will be in another post when I have finished hand sewing the binding,

So I feel I have had a productive week and enjoyed the company of fellow quilters too.

Busy with scraps

Still having fun sewing up scraps. Had a great day at my Quilting Group on Saturday and managed to sew another 16 Twinkler blocks.

I now have a total of 45 blocks, a good start for the basis of a Scrap Quilt. But I have run out of enough 2.5" squares to have enough variety to make more so I have started to use the 5 orphan String blocks to make large Wonky Stars.

 

Here's the first one:

 

Four more to go.

 

Loving making Twinklers!

I had another Patchwork Group sewing day on Saturday, then a couple of hours on Sunday morning when I was able to work through my plastic bag of Twinkler block sets to make a LOT of Twinklers.

Blue ones:

 

Yellow ones:

 

Purple ones:

Green ones:

Pink ones:

 

Red ones:

 

30 Twinkler blocks in total!

I still have more sets of coloured squares cut out but I ran out of calico 1.5" squares.

I have now cut out enough to use up all my coloured 2.5" squares so next Patchwork Group day or the next time I have the opportunity at home to sew, they will be completed.

 

I love these blocks, so pretty and a great use of scraps.

 

Thank you, Cathy of Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting for giving me this idea.

Twinkler blocks

I really enjoy following Cathy and her posts on her blog called Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting.

Cathy does all the things I like to do - use up scraps! She follows the RSC each month and then some! She makes loads of different blocks each month and then when she has enough of one design of block she makes a quilt from them.

One of her recent quilt finishes was using blocks she called Twinkler blocks. 
I had never heard of these blocks before and trawled back through her posts to find a pattern for them.  Now, of course I can't remember where I found that but whilst I was cutting up my NZ scraps I made a pack for Twinkler blocks: 2.5" squares of all the different coloured fabrics I had and 2.5" & 1.5" cream calico squares cut from various bits and pieces of calico. 

Yesterday I sewed some of these blocks together, 9 so far and I love them.

 

As you can see there are even some Christmas fabric scraps in the blocks but I think that just adds interest ( I did leave out the squares of red fabric with 'Merry Christmas" written all over them in gold!).  I am also an avid Bonnie Hunter fan and I know she would add Christmas fabrics so, if it's good enough for her, it's good enough for little old me.

 

Lots more scraps left so I can happily sew some more at my Patchwork meeting on Wednesday. I bought an orange dot Fat Quarter at the Show on Thursday so I'll cut up a few squares from that to add to my orange mix.

 

Joining up with Nicky's Scraptastic Tuesday on mrs sew and sow blog