Little Asides

Okay, so I know I have all these plans that I should be concentrating on this month, but I have some 'little asides' to show you.

These are 5" crumb blocks made from the odd teeny scraps that find their way into my scrap box.  Following my crazy scrappy block fest at the weekend I was about to ditch some of the little offcuts when I had a mini lightbulb moment.  Some of the little scraps that had already been stitched together and I thought that if I had a few more of them they could be combined randomly into small blocks, turning teeny pieces into usable blocks. So I stitched together a few more and 15 mins later I had a block - easy peasy!

I decided that I wanted to keep my piecing squared, but of course, these could be pieced with all kinds of angles, and wonks if you wanted.  Would it be right to call mine improv without wonkiness?  Or is it all still too ordered for that?

Anyway, alongside my plans to periodically reduce my scraps by making the larger crazy scrappy blocks I think I will throw in a few of these 'little asides' as I go along too.  Of course, it'll take tons of them to make anything from, but there's no rush.

At a Slower Pace

I have been trying to make the most of the free evening space available to me while the normal routine has relaxed a little for the summer months.

The Not So Gross Quilt

Yellow Brick Road Pattern in Swoon fabric.

Hence the greater than usual number of quilts, quilt tops and other projects that have been showing up here in the last 3 weeks.

Wiggly Bags

Brit Quilt Swap 3 Mini-Quilt

Pencil Case extra for BQS 3

Bee Blessed block - Very Square Like Me

Bee Blessed Block - Antique Tile

It's a much quicker pace of making than I normally have time, energy or indeed fabric to indulge in and there are still a couple more quilt commitments that need to be taken care of in the next month or two.

Greys Quilt for Brother and SIL

Ladder Strip Quilt - gift for aunt

While it has seemed decadent and been thoroughly pleasurable to be so creative, it won't be a sustainable pace so I'd like to start something that's a little more long term, less pressured but ticking over in the background; something I can dip in and out of amid other projects, without losing too much momentum in the project itself.

I think I may have found just the thing.

I have been collecting this pile of shirts (mine, my son's and my hubby's) to make a scrappy quilt for my son one day. I'll need a few more but as this will be a slower project that gives us time to wear out/outgrow a couple more each.

A few weeks ago, when I saw the  Squares and Strips Bed Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew I knew that this was exactly the pattern I'd like for this quilt and so now I have my project and my challenge:

• It'll be scrappy and I don't really have great confidence with scrappy (especially when it's a bit limited and clashing like some of this pile of shirts).
• I'm aiming for a single bed size quilt which will be the biggest quilt I've ever made.  The piecing doesn't make me nervous, but the quilting does.  Thankfully the pattern should lend itself to nice straight line quilting which I'll be very happy to achieve on something of this size.

So that's my plan.  Oh, and I hope to have it finished before next summer when it will be lovely and warm and very necessary to change the duvet on DS's bed to a lighter summer quilt! (Who am I kidding?)

Now to start cutting off those sleeves and buttons!