Saturday, January 28, 2017

Purple Chunks, Strings and 4.5 Edition


15 inch Burgoyne Surrounded
From purple scrap chunks (and a little turquoise) 

Improv Circles 
Also from purple chunks (plus a constant of red/brown that will be used in all monthly blocks)


2 10 inch String Blocks
1 - 4.5 inch wide strip

A lot of the time I use a muslin foundation with my strings, a constant center string and sew on the diagonal ala Heartstrings but I didn't want to use a foundation for my strings this time.  Instead I decided to cut the long strings into 10.5 inch pieces. I decided on a 10 inch block because these will be used in donation quilts and most of the time the child sized quilts are 40 x 60.   That means I only need 24 blocks (2 a month) and I'll have a donation quilt (and a lot less strings).   I'm still using a "constant" in each string block which is the black polka dot fabric.  I cut the rest of the strings into 4.5 inch pieces and sewed a strip.  No plan for this strip right now other than using up string scraps. 

Flying Geese
From the 4.5 inch scraps I made a few Flying Geese.  These are continuing on from last year.  If the RSC color of the month is a secondary color I use primary colors for the sides and vice versa.  I guess I should count these up but I'm not even sure of a layout or quilt size at this point. 

8 inch Broken Dishes
I didn't make these HSTs.  I already have a small box of miscellaneous 4.5 HSTs leftover from other projects and swaps.  I decided to clear these out so if I found matching sets for some Broken Dishes blocks I made those otherwise I ...

...just sewed them together into a couple of 12 inch HST blocks. 

And that's about it now for the purple scraps! 

Got scraps? 

25 comments:

Deb from frugal little bungalow said...

Wow these are all great : Love that Burgoyne!

Ariane said...

You are on a roll! Love all these purple blocks!!

Gretchen Weaver said...

Nice blocks. I've always wanted to make a Burgoyne, someday. villacrestfarm@gmail.com

scraphappy said...

So many great purple blocks. Those strings are always great to get into blocks. Sounds like you have the perfect plan to put them to use.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Excellent plan for the strings - working without a foundation keeps the finished quilt from being so heavy (and the seams are a lot less bulky).

Mari said...

I love Burgoyne Surrounded! Nice collection of scrappy blocks, too.

Chantal said...

I love the Surrounded Burgoyne block and almost didn't recognize it with the different values. It looks great and I really love it. Wow! You must have been buried alive in purple to produce so many purplelicious blocks? Great job! ;^)

Sally Trude said...

Uh oh! My spreadsheet keeping track of your patterns and blocks just ran out of rows...

Jeanne said...

I especially like your Improv Circles.

Cathy said...

CATHY!!! Thanks for the link to those patterns.... you know, the ones with the teeny tiny pieces that take a microscope and and engineer to piece. I found your Burgoyne block - the hardest-looking one. You are MAD. Talented and ambitious too, but certifiably mad. xoxoxo, the other cathy...... ps - I think you are working on 426 quilts at the present time, is that correct?

Katie Z. said...

You have such a great collection of blocks underway!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I love the improv circles, and everytime I see them I want to make some! I've been intimidated by curved piecing, but you make it look easy. Thanks for the link back to where you wrote more about them. I'm going to read that again!

claudia said...

Your 15 inch Burgoyne Surrounded, is so pretty!
Looks like you got a lot of great purple blocks. I did the strip blocks and will continue with them throughout the year, 1, because they are fun and 2, because they are an easy sew for me. I'm doing mine as a QAYG block on the diagonal.
I like your idea too!

The Joyful Quilter said...

You certainly used up a plethora of PURPLE scraps in all those blocks you made!! Nice work.

Linda said...

Another productive Saturday. Your piles of finished blocks must be growing.

em's scrapbag said...

Lot's of great scrappiness here. I like that you are using one fabric to tie things together.

PaulaB quilts said...

So many fine projects in purple! I love the plaid in the Burgoyne, a daring choice that really makes it come alive.

gayle said...

Holy cow, that Burgoyne!!! So inspiring!
You've always got a bunch of interesting stuff going on, but this year you're really raising the bar for interesting! (And my list of quilts-I-wanna-drop-everything-and-make-right-now keeps getting longer every time I come here...)


Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

I like them all - but that surrounded block is amazing!

Angie said...

I'm always in awe at the depth of your stash! The colors and fabrics in Burgoyne Surrounded look terrific!

Unknown said...

I love the little purple plaid fabric in the top block. Wonderful

Nell's Quilts said...

What great projects. The improv circles look like they would be fun to make.

Kaja said...

I love the purple plaid - gives the whole block a really lively feel. As for the rest, my head just hurts trying to imagine keeping track of it all, but I know you will manage. :-)

Pamela Arbour said...

You have got some fantastic purples! Great job.

Nann said...

Wonderful, colorful, scrappy blocks!
I had left over improv circles from Block Lotto and tried them in my spare parts quilt. They didn't work. I think that such an irregular block needs to be made in quantity (as yours are) to look like not-sloppy-piecing.
I have bags of selvedges waiting for inspiration....