No doubt about it, scraps get overwhelming at times. And other times the scraps are so inspiring and excited. This time it is the latter.
When I was working on A Month of Sundays all my scraps ended up together in one large messy pile. Then that pile moved to a bag. And that bag moved around and was shoved in different corners. I'm not sure why I felt the need to keep these all together, but I'm glad I did.
Ever so slowly I've been sewing together slabs from the scraps. It is like both my books are colliding into a beautiful mess. I'm in love! I didn't, however, want to just make slabs. I wanted to be a bit more creative, experiment a little.
At some point I read Denyse Schmidt's Modern Quilts Traditional Inspirations. Her interpretation of Shoeman's Puzzle struck me the most of all the quilts. Without a moment's hesitation I started turning my slabs into Shorman's Puzzle blocks. She uses templates, as she usually does. Because of the slabs and the proliferation of bias edges I chose a different route. My blocks are paper pieced. Each block has three seams, about one of the easiest paper pieced options ever. It was a smart choice as it is keeping the blocks in check.
Now, to find the time to make more. I've got more slabs sitting there waiting. When I teach a slab class this is the demo fabric I use. I just need a bit more time and some freezer paper patterns. I made the blocks 10'' square which means I can't print them. So freeze paper it is.
Aren't they fun?
6 comments:
Oh what fun is right!
these are really fun!
Have you seen this? http://www.houseonhillroad.com/my_weblog/2013/02/snow-oyster.html Not to distract from your process, but Denyse uses templates to communicate patterns when she's putting them in books, but she has an improv workshop for this block that takes it and flips it into something more loose and opens up the options for it.
There is something about scraps and these two groupings should make for a smashing quilt. But I think I'm going to work on my stash and to heck with the scraps. I'll never make it to an empty cupboard otherwise! ;)
I spy some Lotta, and some Rashida, and some Pezzy prints... and so much loveliness! Swoon!
I need to get my scraps into a location where I can use them and make some scrap quilts. Making things accessible often seems to be my issue. Your blocks are lovely.
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