Sunday, February 22, 2015
My New Obsession: Trash to Treasure Blocks
Earlier this month, I found out my block had been accepted into the May issue of Quiltmaker 100 Blocks. I'm so excited! This time I wanted to try to make something up to send in for the gallery, using my block. So I made four of the blocks and turned them into a small quilt.. ..and wound up with lots of scraps in the floor under my machine. (along with the ones that were already there.) :)
I hate to throw any of them away so I thought I'd try to make a block.
The Trash to Treasure Block was born.
I cut a 6" square of white, and just started sewing the scrap pieces to the outer edges of it. If the pieces were too small, I sewed them together with other smaller pieces until I had a piece big enough to apply. When I had enough of a scrap edge, I trimmed it down to an 8-ish inch square (no matter the size, just make sure it's square). But if your trimmed block ends up being smaller than that, just make up for it in the border. Just put a wide enough border on to trim it to 9.5" square in the end. So all the blocks will end up about 9" finished.
But before putting on the border, I sliced it into quarters, turned the outside corners to the inside and sewed it back together. To form a sort of wonky improv 8-ish inch cross.
Apply the border, and trim to 9.5" .. It was so much fun I made two. :) I ran out of yellow dots so I used some yellow gingham. Even the borders will end up scrappy.
You can see that the second one wasn't exactly the same size. The cross section was smaller. But the border makes up for it. I like that kind of irregular look since the crosses are improv-y. One of my goals this year is to make one of these blocks every time I clean enough scraps from the floor until I have a whole Trash to Treasure quilt. An entire quilt made from little pieces destined for the trash bin.
I had fun using the leftover scraps from my small quilt (that may or may not return to me with a great big rejection notice-ha!) Most of the scraps were fabrics I had used in the blocks or border, and some from the binding. But some of the others had just been languishing in the floor for an embarrassing amount of time. Woops. I am MESSY. :)
If you try a Trash to Treasure block, tag me, I'd love to see!
Happy Weekend! Have a great week!
xoxo
linking up: Let's Bee Social, WIP Wednesday, WOW-WIP on Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday, whip it up wednesday, Needle&Thread Thursday
I hate to throw any of them away so I thought I'd try to make a block.
The Trash to Treasure Block was born.
I cut a 6" square of white, and just started sewing the scrap pieces to the outer edges of it. If the pieces were too small, I sewed them together with other smaller pieces until I had a piece big enough to apply. When I had enough of a scrap edge, I trimmed it down to an 8-ish inch square (no matter the size, just make sure it's square). But if your trimmed block ends up being smaller than that, just make up for it in the border. Just put a wide enough border on to trim it to 9.5" square in the end. So all the blocks will end up about 9" finished.
But before putting on the border, I sliced it into quarters, turned the outside corners to the inside and sewed it back together. To form a sort of wonky improv 8-ish inch cross.
Apply the border, and trim to 9.5" .. It was so much fun I made two. :) I ran out of yellow dots so I used some yellow gingham. Even the borders will end up scrappy.
I had fun using the leftover scraps from my small quilt (that may or may not return to me with a great big rejection notice-ha!) Most of the scraps were fabrics I had used in the blocks or border, and some from the binding. But some of the others had just been languishing in the floor for an embarrassing amount of time. Woops. I am MESSY. :)
If you try a Trash to Treasure block, tag me, I'd love to see!
Happy Weekend! Have a great week!
xoxo
linking up: Let's Bee Social, WIP Wednesday, WOW-WIP on Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday, whip it up wednesday, Needle&Thread Thursday
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14 comments...:
Thanks for sharing that. I saw too on a local PBS station a quilter who will take quilt tops, that may not turn out like she wants, and cut them up to use as fabric in double wedding ring quilts. She and you have inspired me to start using up those old ufos I have and put them to use in new creations. :)
I really like the way these blocks look. It is a great way to use those small pieces that are way too pretty to throw away. Thanks for sharing. I love new ideas for using up my scraps.
Cute blocks. Looking forward to seeing your block when the magazine comes out. Let us know, so I'll know when to look for it. I don't usually buy them (I only have 2 issues)
Dearest Kelli.......you are singing my song with these scrappy blocks! Congrats on all of your quilty works and accolades!
Very cool. I love this idea.
Cute! I will look for that issue
Such a clever idea! You sure have some pretty scraps. Love your bright, fun blocks!
The vibrant colors of these blocks are great!
Love this! Working on some Improv with scraps too!
Carol
Hi Kelli! This looks fantastic! Your blocks are beautiful! Thank you for a Super idea! x Teje
Wow I love your improv cross block, thanks for the info on it. By any chance can you post some pic's of how you started it? I think I understand but a pic is worth a thousand words for me, LOL
What a wonderfully neat block. Congrats and thanks for sharing. I haven't gotten into improv piecing yet but I like the idea of doing it block-by-block; improving a whole quilt makes me anxious!
So very cute! I've got a lot of small triangle scraps. Would they work for something like this, do you think?
I've done an improv block with scraps before which means I made a new "fabric." I like your idea of continuity amongst the blocks by creating the cross, or whatever shape or element one chooses so that upon joining, they "play" well together. Starting with a base fabric (white in your case) also adds continuity. I've also taken the "brave" step of cutting up blocks I'd made but didn't like, thus creating new ones :) Happy wonky improv!