Wednesday, May 31, 2017

I've got to wear shades...

I was working/procrastinating on the Hands2Help quilt a couple weeks ago when I got sidetracked by a baggie full of something good.  Not that kind of baggie full, something totally legal in all 50 states.  Quite possibly as capable of inducing a chill state of mind, but without the paranoia.  Not even of the quilt police.

My friend and fellow quilter Marei and I swapped boxes of scrap fabric a while ago, but to call what she sent me a box of scrap fabric is an understatement.  It was a treasure chest!

Among the rolls of strips all neatly cut to usable sizes were a couple of baggies with notes inside, to the effect of "Have fun!" and "Maybe you can create something with these."

Happily, I did!  I made THIS wall hanging from one bag of bitty-bits.

Recently I rediscovered the other bagful—two-inch "bonus" half-square triangles: the corners you cut off some other project and, if you're like Marei and me, and maybe you, you set aside to use some other time. 
I started pulling the pieces out and arranging them in groups of 16.  They were so cute and colorful!  So I sewed those groups of 16 together into 6.5-inch blocks, as many as I could make.

Now what? 

Well, I could sash them or border them, I thought.  What might I have in the stash for that?  Here's a pretty bundle of fat quarters I won in last year's Hands2Help giveaway.  Let's just open these up a bit and see if any of them might do, color-wise.  

Yes, all of them!  Okay, maybe not the ivory one, but all the rest.
Hm, what if I stagger or offset them?  Then I would only need to border three sides instead of four, and isn't that interesting?

Let's make the two side borders a bit narrower and the longer border wider.  If I cut the side borders 6.5 x 3 and the longer border 11.5 x 3.5, that will make the block finish at 9 x 11 inches.  Seems like a workable size rectangle to make a baby quilt or wall hanging.

And that is the story of how friendship, farting around, and flimsies come together.
It is bright, and I like that.  In real life, it's not quite as eye-searingly bright.  I tried to correct somewhat for the dim light of the basement with so-so results.

Now I'm in the process of making a scrappy back.

How have you used your small bonus half-square triangles?  Do you have some lying around, waiting for inspiration?  Do you toss them or give them away? 

10 comments:

Darlene said...

Great idea. Other quilters have convinced me to keep these bonus triangles but what do you do with them? Thanks for the example.

em's scrapbag said...

I am also playing with bonus hst. Your play has inspired me. Love what you did.

Quiltdivajulie said...

I created a scrappy border for a brights on black quilt using nothing but the bonus triangles - two sides were zig zags and the other two were just rows of wonky corners lined up like teeth. It was wonderful!

Nicole said...

This looks fantastic! I don't save tiny hst triangles but I do save so-tiny-its-stupid scraps.

The Joyful Quilter said...

Great story for a GREAT quilt!! No sunglasses required (in my book.) LOVE it!!

Elizabeth V Kelbaugh said...

I love the offset of the triangle squares. Very Modern! Thanks for inspiring.

ES said...

Cute quilt:)

audrey said...

The bright sashing makes it glow! Great job!

Kaja said...

Oh yes! I like that you only bordered 3 sides - very effective and clever. Your scrap swap sounds like a great idea too.

Barb Neiwert said...

If I'm in the mood, I'll save those tiny triangles and then later make pincushions out of them. Very creative looking, and it looks like you've spent a lot of time cutting up all those tiny pieces - a win/win! What a fun quilt you've created out of those scraps!