Blossom Time blocks have become my Leader/Ender project lately. Over the weekend I made 8 more of the individual tulips. And now I've assembled "quad" numbers 8 and 9.
These are only 13.5" square right now, so I'll just keep making them until I have enough for a good sized quilt. I've been using up a variety of background scraps - white, beige, small prints. Whatever is handy in the scrap bin ends up in the tulip blocks and in the narrow 1" sashing strips.
One pink Twinkle Star block joins the collection this month. This makes 15 of these blocks total so far, including the ones I made in 2020.
In the most recent Quiltmaker magazine Bonnie Hunter's column featured this scrap block. She calls it Around the Corner, which is appropriate, as the side sections are sewn on by going "around" the center. The first seam is actually done as a partial seam. The finished size is 6". I only made 1 of these just to try it out. BH had the center square the same as those corner background triangles, but there was this cute little black and white elephant square on top of the pile, so I used it instead of white. It's pretty cute, but I'm not sure yet if I'll make more. It's hanging on the edge of my design wall for now.
As I've worked on scrappy blocks a lot this month you would think that my scrap bins would be diminished. But you would be wrong. I swear they are fuller than when I started. My pink/red/orange bin is definitely worse, but maybe the scraps are just "fluffier" because I've been digging for the pinks. While driving on Monday I got to thinking that maybe I need to sort those 3 colors and separate them.
On the organizing front there are no pictures of success to show but I haven't been idle this week. I've gone through my "GIFT" basket that was overflowing with patterns I've torn from magazines or printed from the Internet and saved as ideas for "Some Day". GIFT is a new acronym I saw recently - Great Ideas For Tomorrow!! Another hilarious acronym and it reminds me that I need a better system for keeping those ideas all together.
I sorted out lots of patterns I'm sure I'll never make and added them to my donation box. And I pitched about 5 pounds of paper printouts that also would never likely become projects.
That basket is no longer overflowing because I only kept the things I really felt I might actually make. Yay!! It sure felt good to go through that messy pile and get rid of LOTS of the paper that had accumulated. My "word" for 2021 is SIMPLIFY, and getting rid of excess patterns is another small step toward that goal.
10 comments:
love the GIFT project....i have one loose-leaf binder that i periodically cull...time marches on and need to whittle down the someday ideas every so often....lovely blocks too!
GIFT is a fun acronym: it’s a new one to me. A month ago, I went through the pattern binders I keep for knitting and quilting. I pulled a laundry basket full of printed patterns that I’ll never make. They went into the recycling bin. I still have too many patterns, but baby steps are better than no steps.
I went through my patterns...now I need to go through recipes I have printed out. One project at a time! Those tulip blocks are so cute!
The tulip blocks are a great scrap buster. Twinkle Stars is one of my favorite blocks, though one takes a lot longer to make then one would think. I did the get rid of patterns last year. It was nice to be able to fit the notebooks on the bookcase and not have any piles of patterns that needed to be filed.
SIMPLIFY is a wonderful Word of the Year, Sara. Congrats on the progress made on your GIFT patterns! You made some pretty PINK blocks for the RSC, too. The elephant print in the center of that new one is SEW adorable!
I love your Twinkle Star block - it’s definitely among my all-time favorites. That Around the Corner looks like a Wishing Ring, so I know I’d just rather do the standard piecing because I’m lazy like that. But your elephant in the center is So.Dang.Cute!!
I love the twinkle stars! And the elephants are darling. Going through my patterns ans whatnot sounds like its own kind of great idea for tomorrow!
Your twinkle star is so pretty; I must not look too closely because I'll want to make one. I had to chuckle about your scrap bins. I'm having the same issue in my sewing room. ;)
Around the Corner and Twinkle Star are beautiful blocks. Your Tulip blocks always make me smile, thinking Spring! Gotta love a GIFT!
Twinkle and Blossom are beautiful! I like that around the corner... the side seam wasn't too hard? Love the little elephant in the center - too cute!
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