More Playing with (Small) Scraps

I have been making more made fabric squares ... mostly because I don't have a lot of scraps large enough to do something useful for the Rainbow Scraps Challenge.

These two squares are approximately 7 1/2 inches square: purple to finish up the January color for the Rainbow Scraps Challenge and Teal for the new month.




I used the 4-at-once no-waste method to make flying geese from each square and made a 12-inch version of this month's block for the Block Lotto, Dutchman's Puzzle.

My Dutchman's Puzzle quilt block pattern includes my tips for making flying geese units three ways, including my favorite (used here).

I also included measurements for making the block in sizes from 4 inches (finished size) to 16 inches.

There's also a coloring sheet to trying your own color combinations.






On the Block Lotto this month we are playing with combinations with Pantone's Color of the Year, Greenery.

This choice made me happy, but then again, I've never met a green I didn't like ...

You can find my pattern on Payhip–clicking the pattern cover image will take you there.

Making Fabric

These are width-of-fabric strips in various sizes, ready to be sewn into striped yardage.

The fabrics have been set aside for a while and today, it felt like the time was right to get started on this ... and so it is officially in-progress. At the end of the day I had made 3 1/2 yards of these citrus-y stripes.

I'm joining the lists for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Esther's Blog.

An Appliqué Adventure

Here's the result of my Sunday night (and Monday night) slow stitching.

It is #50 of my 365-project and will likely become a cover for a throw pillow.

The large size of the appliqué and the many seams in the crumb-pieced black and white made fabric, gave me the idea of using a new-to-me technique for securing/marking the appliqué: back-basting.


The leaf silhouette is the same I used to produce the tiny pink feather pincushion which was my first project in the series of 365 feather-related efforts.  I enlarged it to 8-by-16 inches and then used it as a reference when putting together the small scraps from my black and white scrap bin.


Earlier this year, a friend explained back-basting to me in a way that I finally got it ... but didn't actually try it until this week. Although the feather shape was lightly marked with a chalk pencil on the front and not the back, I used the back basting technique to stitch along the marked line to secure the two pieces of fabric together (with red thread).

Rather than attempt to turn under the edges of the black and white crumb-pieced fabric, with all those seams and the extra fabric in those seams, I used reverse appliqué and needle-turned the teal batik background and stitched it down to the black and white fabric underneath.


I removed the basting and cut away the background fabric a few inches at a time, revealing the black and white fabric underneath, a little at a time. after all the applique was done, I turned the piece over and cut away the excess black and white fabric from the corners.

I loved how the back-basting technique held the fabrics in place–especially that skinny little feather spine–and, although it added to the time to prepare the piece for appliqué, I know I'll be using it again ... and I'll be using more made fabric in appliqué, too.  As an experiment in trying something new, this project was a win-win for me.

I'm linking this post to the lists for Esther's WOW (on Tuesday in the US) and Angie's Appliqué Tuesday ...  on Wednesday and WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.

(I confess that one of the reasons I think that appliqué appeals to me right now, is that I'm brushing off my skills and finding the courage to begin Esther's fabulous Love Enwined BOM).