Bits, Pieces, Strips and Squares

I’ve mentioned before about not wanting to waste any pieces of fabric.

When I started quilting, I took all the little left over pieces (and some not so little) and put them into a big bag.  Later I sorted them by color, but I really didn’t do much with them. 

One time, while shopping at a discount Mill End fabric store, I found some muslin “templates” for blocks (this was VERY early in my quilting career) and I made this quilt:

It’s a simple New York Beauty pattern.  I didn’t know the name, but it was pretty easy putting the pieces onto a flexible muslin background.

Then, a couple of years ago, a friend signed me up for a “Scrap Tamers” monthly program at a local quilt shop.  I learned one very important thing: everything goes in quilting.  You can put different blocks, different colors, different sized pieces and everything else into a quilt!  I also learned that blocks do NOT have to be very complicated.

In a previous post, I mentioned my favorite block – the tossed nine patch (aka disappearing nine patch).  Well, now I want to talk about my most favored block.  People really, really like quilts that I make with this block.  When I’ve given representatives from a charity their choice of one of my quilts for a donation, more than half of them have chosen quilts with this block.  I’m not sure of it’s name. 

Block Construction

1.       Cut a square of fabric.  Any size.  Yes, really, any size

2.       Now, cut strips of any width.  You will need enough to surround the square.

a.       The length of strips 1 and 2 need to measure the size of the square

b.      The length of strips 3 and 4 need to be that, plus two times the width of the strips.

Yes, that’s clear as mud.  For example:

Size of square	Width of strips	Strips 1 and 2	Strips 3 and 4	Block size (with seam allowances
2 inches	1 ½ inches	1 ½ inches x 2 inches	1 ½ inches x 4 inches	4 inches square
4 inches	2 inches	2 inches x 4 inches	2 inches x 7 inches	7 inches square
4 inches	2 ½ inches	2 ½ inches x 4 inches	2 ½ inches x 8 inches	8 inches square
5 inches	2 inches	2 inches x 5 inches	2 inches x 8 inches	8 inches square
5 inches	2 ½ inches	2 ½ inches x 5 inches	2 ½ inches x 9 inches	9 inches square
6 inches	2 inches	2 inches x 6 inches	2 inches x 9 inches	9 inches square
6 inches	2 ½ inches	2 ½ inches x 6 inches	2 ½ inches x 10 inches	10 inches square
8 inches	1 ½ inches	1 ½ inches x 8 inches	1 ½ inches x 10 inches	10 inches square

And so forth…..

3.       Sew strips 1 and 2 to each side of the center square

4.       Press the seams outwards.

5.       Sew strips 3 and 4 to the ends

6.       Press the seams outwards again.

What Fabric to Use

I don’t select fabric for these blocks; I don’t use stash, I don’t buy new.  These blocks “select” their own fabric.  When I am done with piecing a quilt, I cut all the smaller pieces left over into squares.  If there is yardage left over, but I don’t think it’s enough to fold and put back into stash, I cut it into strips.  I start with 2 ½ inches wide, but I also cut 2 inch, 1 ½ inch, and sometimes even 1 inch if it’s nice fabric.  I then make as many blocks like these as I can from the squares and strips.  The remaining squares and/or strips get stored for further use.

·         I have storage boxes where I keep cut squares organized according to size and color family.

·         I roll strips into mini jelly rolls according to size and color family.

When I finish quilting a quilt, I trim all the sides and also cut those scraps into strips and squares.  I do make other types of blocks with these leftovers, but this block is an immensely popular block and I try to make several blocks of this sort each time I finish piecing or quilting a quilt.  I then store the blocks according to size and color family.  When the stack of one color family gets large enough, I put together a quilt from the blocks. 

You do NOT need to use all the same sized blocks in a quilt.  Nothing in the quilting rules states this necessity.  I make quilts solely of one size of this block, and others with 3, 4 or more different sizes of block.  I also recently made a quilt where I used rectangular blocks of this same design.  When I completed a block, I put additional strips on the long sides to square it off.  I did not take a picture, so here is my drawn rendition of it.  The lime green is the blocks and the dark green is the half sashing pieces.

Gallery

Now for a couple of pictures of quilts with this block:

1.       This quilt was donated to the MN Diaper Drive.  It is rectangular, and a twin/single size. It combines two block styles – the block I’ve been writing about and sashing of half square triangles (also from scraps). 

2.       This quilt has the block, but they have been set on point, rather than squared off.  This particular quilt was donated to a local private religious school for their “diamond” anniversary – fitting based on the diamond shaped blocks.  The blocks are all 4 inch purple centers, surrounded by 2 inch strips of green. 

3.       The last quilt also had a fraternal twin.  I had a large pile of purple into 4 inch squares and a large stack of green into strips.  When I was done making blocks, I had more than enough for a quilt – in fact, it was enough for two very large quilts – both are about Queen, almost King, sized.  With this one, I added a bit of organization to the block; same backgrounds are grouped together, etc.  Thor and Snowball (the black cat), showed their appreciation for it.

The Demise of “Minnesota Fabrics”

This blog is supposed to be about my quilting – not me directly; but I have to give a tiny bit of background.  I now know that I have Asperger’s and it guides a lot of who I am: 

·         I’m artistic and creative, but I’m rigid.  I do not do free hand, but I do very methodical things with a flair to them

·         I misread social cues

·         I MUST be doing something, anything, artistic each day, or I get a little unsettled

·         Many more things…..

When I was in High School, I was very unhappy.  I was unpopular, in Foster Care and didn’t understand my life.  I felt very lost and unwanted.  When I transferred out of a private school and into a public school, I was put into a sewing class.  I had always done needlework, but fabric opened up my life and probably kept me sane for those tumultuous years.

Minnesota Fabrics was a store that I could get to on a bus.  Every so often, I had a little bit of money and I went there.  I bought patterns, and fabric, trims and buttons, and put things together.  I bought embroidery transfers and did the most elaborate designs on shirts for my boyfriend (aka my Square Dance partner).

The store was my lifeline.  It kept me sane.  With a few dollars, I could buy a piece of fabric and disappear into a world where I was successful.  The thread did not mock me, buttons did not hurt my feelings and pattern pieces showed me a path way to positive self esteem.  Home Ec was my only solid A because it was the only class that gave anything back to me.  Besides the Pythagorean Theorem (which I use for calculations in quilts), lessons learned in that class are the only vivid memories I have from a very bad two years.  I jonesed over Vogue patterns, not drugs and had fantasies of elaborate gowns with high priced silks.

Sometime between High School and 2002 (when I made my first real quilt), Minnesota Fabrics changed their name to Hancock Fabrics.  (Note:  Hancock’s of Paducah is a separate store).  In the 2001 – 2002 time frame, my oldest daughter Ana decided she wanted to start quilting.  I was already sewing a lot, and had traded my Viking from 1984 in on a nicer Viking, but hadn’t yet gotten the quilting bug myself.  We bought her a few things and signed her up for a class.  Then, one day, when we were in the same Hancock (nee Minnesota Fabrics) store that I visited in High School, we saw a sign up for a beautiful “Block of the Month” quilt class.  We both signed up and attended. 

I have searched for photos online of the original design of the block of the month but cannot find it.  If I do find it, I will add it in.  Meanwhile, let me tell you a little about it.  The pattern was twelve months of stars - a different star design for each month.  It used two different greens, a coral/pink and a tan in each block (some months omitted one or two fabrics, but that was the basic scheme).  Then, it was supposed to have a floral border that accentuated those colors.  The below picture shows three of the twelve blocks (the lower left is not one of them).

I changed a few things in mine.  I did not like the coral, I rearranged the blocks/setting and I didn't use the border fabric (although I do still have it in my stash.  Here is a picture of my finished quilt.

Execution of the Class (aka How it Helped Me)

I could go into many stories of the next twelve months at this point  - those all may become separate blog posts – but for now, I’ll simply tell you that that monthly class began my prolific quilt production and connected me with a group of women that are now my regular quilt group.  Once again, the store was a lifeline to me.  Due largely to the personality traits that stem from Asperger’s, I have a hard time making friends.  Because we shared a common hobby, I was accepted into a group of women and have spent a lot of time over the years with them.

Quilting has seen me through some hard times by giving me a self satisfaction in creating beautiful items.  I have won some contests, taught some classes, and best of all – been asked for my advice and regarded as a source of knowledge.  It’s not perfect; there are ups and downs in the group, but it has been a great comfort over the years.  There have been a couple of times that I’ve walked out of a sewing session with some of the women I met there and felt as if I’d just been in a successful, all day therapy session!

Going Downhill

Alas, things were not meant to last.  The woman running the class had a parting of the ways with the store and we all went with her and took the group elsewhere.  Ana also worked in the store for a short time and there were many issues that contributed to a poor situation.  When the group left the store, it was obvious that it had a very negative impact on the stores sales.  60-70 women on a Saturday morning, pumped up from a quilting class and a demonstration of new items can really add up to a lot of purchases!

Over the last 6-7 years, I have visited that store randomly.  My main impetus for visits over the years has been their collection of novelty and specialty fabrics.  It’s always seemed that they carry things other stores do not.  In the past, their fabric collections felt like quality goods.  Additionally, my quilt group meets a few blocks from the store for “mini-retreats” and “sewing Saturdays”; running over there for the missing item usually equated to $20-50 worth of other things.

Today was one of those days.  I was at the sewing mini-retreat and decided that I needed some backing fabric. 

I was very disappointed…..

The quilting section was less than half the size it was on my last visit (maybe six months ago) and there were very few fabrics that I enjoyed touching.  (Yep, I have the Aspie need to feel things!).  They had a value priced cotton broadcloth that I compare to tissue paper and a poly/cotton broadcloth blend that already appeared to be pilling like cheap sheets.

Customer service and equipment

I selected a couple of fabrics that were acceptable and went to the cutting counter…. And waited…  Then, a clerk without an ounce of personality cut my fabric with a utility scissors.  Now, I don’t expect rotary tools or a gingher’s for $3 and $4 a yard fabrics, but the scissors looked more like the one I use in my kitchen.  She could not get the Telzon (sp?) to work and had to grudgingly hand write a slip for me. 

Next stop – register.  Again, no one in sight.  Finally, the woman who had been talking to the clerk cutting my fabric came from the counter to the register.  Play this out:  there are two of you manning the store.  A customer gets her fabric cut and leaves the cutting counter.  Where do you think she’s going?  To pay maybe?  So why wouldn’t you leave your conversation at the cutting counter and go to the register if you are the one of two staff in the store and the other staff is cutting someone else’s fabric?  Boggles the mind….

Moving on.  I have a preferred customer card.  I was holding it out in my hand, the clerk looks right at me and says “do you have a preferred customer card?”.  They were also having troubles with that computer and she can’t get the register to find my card… which fails to deliver “points” or whatever else the card gets for me.  I’m not too worried though – I don’t think I’ll have a chance to earn enough points or anything before the store closes.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

I think it is only a matter of months before the store closes.  It’s pretty bad.  There used to be projects on the floor, samples and panels and other things on the walls, and it was always nicely decorated.  That went away shortly after my group broke off.  Now, it’s a fabric/craft stock room with bad floors and blank walls.  In past years, I’ve always appreciated that there’s a bathroom there.  As someone who’s been there while pregnant, with small children, etc., the bathroom has been appreciated.  Also in past years, I remember it being clean, with some wall decorations and on a par with my own at home.  Now, it’s basically the same as a gas station bathroom.

The bathroom may seem a small point, but quilters (and other types of fabric-aholics) – shop preferred places largely on ambiance.  If I walk in, and you greet me and ask about my projects, I WILL spend more.  Extra points to knowing my name or remembering something I came in the previous week/month for.  Faye, if you read this – add 108” quilt backs and a line of decent quality/price solids and I’ll be in more.  I’ve never much cared for batiks but I have started doing things with them because you and your employees greet me by name….

Conclusion

Where will I go for my next life crisis?  Or have I grown enough to stand all on my own?  My self esteem and social life have centered loosely around that store for over 30 years now.  Despite only visiting it sporadically for many of those years – it’s always been there for me.  I exclusively buy Gingher’s scissors and that’s where they were introduced to me.  I’d never heard of ultra suede before that store.  Fabric and lace for my wedding dress came from there.  I could go on and on, but the simple point is that that store gave me purpose several times in my life and I will miss what it’s stood for in my life.

Favorite Quilt Block

I have a favorite block.  It’s very simple – which actually surprises most people that know me; they think I always like to make very complicated things.

Besides the art, creativity, color, etc, that I like about quilting – there are two things that are important to me when making quilts.

1.       I don’t like to waste anything

2.       I like to give away my quilts to worthy causes

Point 1 – Not Wasting

Nancy W. from QQ, if you read this – be aware that I blame you for this part of my quilting personality.  Not 100%, but a fair bit.  I’ve always been one to recycle things.  Over the years, office supplies that my company were tossing got rescued and brought to Boys’ and Girls’ club, the oddest bits become art supplies, and I’ve always been one to gather up stuff that other people didn’t want and find homes for it.  However, for the first few years I was quilting, I would select a pattern, select the fabric and make the quilt.  The bits and pieces left over got tossed aside.

Then, Nancy, and my friend Luci also, signed me up for a monthly quilt group at Glad Creations Quilt Shop called “Scrap Tamers.”  That started it.  Now, I’m so obsessive that when I finish a quilt, anything below fat quarter size/width gets trimmed to strips or squares and properly binned.  It’s sorted by size and color as well…  Yeah, a little OCD there.

Point 2 – Donating

To me, quilting is therapy and expression of my creativity.  I come home from a long day at work (12 hours seems to be the average lately) and make a couple blocks.  That simple action unwinds me and satisfies me at the same time. 

Two other little pieces of background:  1.  I’m ADHD so everything I do is done rather quickly, and 2.  My whole family has always been very active in community service.

So, I make probably 6-10 “quilts” a month.  I put it in quotes to illustrate that sizes and shapes vary.  If I had to estimate, I’d say I made at least 25 bed (from youth to king) sized quilts last calendar year, and easily double that of crib sized, table runners, lap sized, table toppers, wall hangings, etc., pieces.  Every bed in my house has two or more quilts on it, and everyone I know has received something!

End result – combining prolific production with love of donations = a never ending supply to donate.

While I like to donate, I hesitate a little in giving away pieces that I put a great deal of time into to people I do not know.  I like to keep things a little simpler, but I don’t want to sacrifice looks in any way.  Ugly quilts are just that – I don’t make ugly quilts…. I make things that I as well as others can appreciate.  Additionally, I take this as an opportunity to use up all those pieces from other projects – a “free” quilt if you will. 

Back to the Block (got a little off subject there…. J )

My favorite block is the disappearing nine patch.  It has a couple other names, but they aren’t coming to mind right now.  I love it because you can really play with color.  Only one size square is cut originally, but you can pick what size that square is.  I’ve made it with everything from 3 inch to 9 inch squares.  You can also organize the colors, or go completely random with them (I mostly do complete random!)

Although you start with one sized square, the process of arranging them, cutting, and re-cutting, and then rearranging, creates different sized pieces in each block.  This makes everything look more complicated – a creative illusion!

When I finish other projects, I cut my scraps into standard sized squares.  Other times, when I’m feeling the need to play with fabrics and colors, I traipse to my basement, enter a Zen mode with my stash and just grab armloads of different fabrics.  When I’m done feeling them, and rearranging them in piles to admire them, I cut a strip (9 times out of 10, it’s a 6 inch strip) from each, cut to squares and make one of these quilts.

How To:

Planning:  Determine what size quilt you want.  I highly suggest using six inch squares.  That size cuts nicely from both yardage and fat quarters.  Now, start multiplying.  You will make nine patches – out of six inch blocks, those nine patches will be approximately 17 inches, then you will lose another inch when you re-cut, so figure that each 16 inches you want the quilt to be is nine squares.

Here’s my little chart I use for when I make a disappearing nine patch.

Size	Inches long	Inches Wide	6 inch Squares	9 patches
King	108	90	270	30
Queen/Dbl	72	90	180	20
Single/youth	54	72	108	12

Step One:  Make your nine patches.  For total randomness, I cut all the squares, and then throw them in the dryer.  I run the dryer on no heat for about ten minutes.  It works better than shaking in a paper bag.

1.        Sew strips of three squares together.

 

2.       Press the seams ALL the same direction.

3.       Mi x up the strip sets again for better randomness.

4.       Sew the strip sets together into nine patches, matching the seams.  Keep an eye out that you don’t put two or more fabrics together.  It doesn’t actually matter; you can if you want, but I usually try to avoid it.

5.       Now, CUT each nine patch in half, through the center, both ways.

6.       You now have a bunch of squares that look more complicated than what you started with!  Arranged them and sew them back together anyway you want.  You can organize them, or be totally random in direction and placement.

A Finished Product

Here is just one of my many Disappearing Nine Patch quilts.  Forgive the quality of the picture.  I decided to take it last minute, and I left my camera on after posting last night, so I had to use my iPhone camera.

Also, this quilt needs a home.  I finished it almost nine months ago, and it’s been folded up in the corner ever since.  It’s larger than a King size.  I don’t like silent auctions, but if you know a faith, family or animal based charity who is willing to do a raffle, they can have it.  I will even ship!  I just want an in-kind donation slip for my tax guy.