A Little Finish with a Long Story

I call this little doll quilt, Upcycled Shoo Flies, because it was begun when I was cleaning up some small red and pink and white scraps (from making free-pieced loving words for the Block Lotto) on my work table and instead of tossing them, I made a dozen 4-inch liberated shoo fly blocks. The finished little quilt measures 19 by 24 inches.

If you like the wonky shoo fly blocks and think you'd like to make some of your own, check out my tutorial, Three Ways to Wonkify a Traditional Quilt Block.

After I put them together into this top, I wasn't quite happy with it.  When I won a strip of a vintage sheet, I  remade it with some of the floral strips.

When I came back to this quilt early this year, I thought it would be fun to try quilting from the back in the plain border. I didn't have enough of the floral sheet for a back, so I pieced the back and used it fo borders on the back. First, I quilted the center of the quilt–feathers winding around the white background, outlining, then echoing the print in the floral strips. Then I flipped the quilt over, used painters' tape to mark the inside edge of the border and quilted the borders by outlining, then echoing the flowers in the print.

I felt like Murphy's law started working overtime as soon as I decided to finish up this long-ago pieced quilt.  I mentioned earlier this week how I started quilting it shortly after my Bernina came back from a trip to the dealer for a routine maintenance.  Actually it was exactly 2 weeks after ... and the machine stopped working (again) soon after I started quilting the feathers in the white background.

When I resumed the quilting earlier this week, I managed to get to the borders before I ran out of thread. Usually, I celebrate when I finish off a coneof thread ... but not this time. I didn't have any more of the Lace White thread, but I was feeling so motivated to finish this silly little lark of a project, so I decided to use another "white" of the same type of thread.

A couple nights ago, I was determined to keep going until it was done ... my cat, Grace Hopper, had other ideas and late Wednesday night, insisted I stop quilting and go upstairs to bed now.

I was able to finish yesterday evening ... and Grace was happy to keep me company while I stitched down the binding late last night. I had pulled out the last of the vintage sheet with a plan to use it for a hanging sleeve, but decided I liked it for the binding.  The tiny pink piping was added using Susan Cleveland's Piping Hot Binding technique.

Here are a few more detail photos of the finished quilt.



This sweet little girly doll quilt makes me smile because it's truly a silk purse made from a sow's ear: a recycled sheet and small scraps that were on their way to the trash. Even though crazy things kept going wrong and a bossy cat got in the way, it's finally done.

Now I just have to decide where to hang it and appreciate it for a while.

I'm celebrating this finish by joining the linky parties on:
Can I get a Whoop Whoop?
Finish It Up Friday
Link a Finish Friday

And because Grace helped so much with this quilt:
Feline Friday

Three Ways to Wonkify a Traditional Quilt Block

Liberated-style wonky blocks are carefree and charming. They are fun to make and result in a fresh twist on a traditional favorite.

Here are three approaches for making an 8-inch wonky version of a Shoo Fly block. The same techniques could be applied to your go-to traditional block for a new take on that old favorite.

The first is Gwen Marston's technique, as presented in her book, Liberated Quiltmaking.  (I'll just be sharing an overview and the measurements to start for an 8 inch finish.) Number two is a block created by drawing the wonky block with your rotary cutter and is a similar technique to the Tic-tac-toe block I posted at the end of last year. Last is a stack and slash technique in which you also draw with your rotary cutter to create two matching blocks with the fabric placements reversed.

Technique 1 - Gwen's Liberated Shoo Fly

I think three things characterize the Liberated Quiltmaking approach to this block:

1. You begin with 9 same-sized squares, as if you were making the traditional block. 
2. You introduce wonky-ness into the block by replacing the triangle-squares in the corner with triangles added to the background squares in different sizes and at random angles.
3. You may square up and trim the block at an angle after it's assembled.
   

To make an 8 inch shoo-fly block, begin with nine 3 1/4 inch squares. After you add the wonky triangles to the corners, be sure to trim the background fabric away and square up the units to 3-1/4 inches.  Once the block is assembled, you will need to square up your block, trimming slightly to make them 8-1/2 inches after they are sewn.

If you want to go off the grid for a wonkier block or try a different technique . . .

Technique 2 - Drawing with Your Rotary Cutter This technique will be familiar to anyone who has made the Tic-Tac-Toe blocks posted here at the end of last year. This version of a wonky Shoo Fly block is based on a 9-patch grid that is drawn with proportions and angles chosen by you.

1. To begin, start with a 10 inch square of your BACKGROUND fabric. You will also need a small amount of shoo-fly fabrics (Krista was able to make hers usinga 10" square for the background plus a 5" charm squares of floral fabrics)
2. Using a rotary ruler (as a straight edge, not to measure), cut the square into a 9-Patch.
   
   

3. Remove the center of your 9-patch and use it as a template to cut a new center from the shoo-fly fabric. Be sure that both your "template" and your new fabric are right-side up, because the shapes you create may not be symmetric in any way or reversible.
   
   

4. Add triangles of the shoo-fly fabric to the corner units.  Because these corners may not be square, be sure that the triangles you add will completely cover after they are sewn and pressed. 
   
   
   
   
5. After they are sewn and pressed, first trim them from the back, using the original corner as your guide to re-create the original "drawn"-by-you shape. Then, trim away the background fabric from behind the triangle.
   
   
   
   Because the units of this block are all different shapes, I decided to remove one corner from my layout at a time and replace it after the triangle was added and trimmed, so everything went back where it belonged.
6. Once the triangles have been added and trimmed, the block can be assembled in 9-patch fashion, frist sewing the units into rows and then sewing the rows together.
   
   
   
   Trim the block to 8-1/2 inches square (for an 8 inch finished size block).
   

Technique 3 - Stack-and-Slash a Pair of Wonky Blocks This last approach is a variation of Drawing with Your Rotary Cutter in which you start with two squares of fabric and create a pair of  matching blocks in which the shoo-fly and background fabrics are reversed.

1. For an 8 inch Shoo-Fly block, begin with two 11 inch squares of fabric.  Stack them with edges matching, right sides up.
2. Using a ruler to ensure you cut straight lines, cutting through the stack of 2 fabrics, cut a wonky 9-patch.   Then, cut across each of the corners to create the "outline" of a wonky shoo fly.
   
   
3. Switch the top and bottom fabrics as shown.  Your two blocks are now cut, laid out and ready to sew.
   
   
   
   
4. Sew the "triangles" in the corners together. Don't worry that everything doesn't match after it's sewn.  Press and trim off the excess, maintaining the "lines" you created when you "drew" the block.
   
   
   
   
5. After the corners are sewn, the corner units will be shorter than the "middles."  Don't worry.  Match the edges closest to the center and let the outside become ragged.  You'll be trimming it.  Your block may now look something like this, a crooked 9-patch whose units don't exactly match up.
   
   
   
   
6. Sew the block together, like a 9-patch, first sewing the units to form three rows, then sewing the rows together. The outside edges of your assembled block will likely be VERY uneven. 
   
   
   
   Square up and trim to your blocks to 8-1/2 inch square (for an 8 inch finished block).
   
   
   

Some Wonky Examples

Here are 60 of the blocks already created by Block Lotto sneek peakers, Ginny, June, Kathie, Krista, Louise, Michelle, Pat, Terri and me. (Click any of the small photos for a better look.)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

      

     

       

Will you make some wonky fly blocks or wonkify another traditional block?  I'd love to see the results.  For more about these blocks (and more) and to see what the winners will do with them, check out the Block Lotto blog, in April.