Monday, February 13, 2017

More Spare Parts

I've made some Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks, 
I've almost finished my One Monthly Goal,
and it's only the second full week of February!

However, I doubt much sewing will happen this week -- the car needs to go to the shop AGAIN (tire pressure sensor malfunction still not fixed), some Spring cleaning needs to be done, and meals need to be planned and prepped because the following week is the Nuts and Bolts Retreat in Kentucky!

In between loads of laundry on Sunday, I managed to sew twosie rows of these bricks.

Bricks
The bricks are 2-1/2" x 4-1/2", cut from old scraps several years ago. Time to get them out of the box and into something useful. 

With the bricks off the wall, I threw up some of my "warm" collection of spare parts. 

Warm Spare Parts
I see a lot of them are variations of a maple leaf; maybe there's a theme there. The top three are hand-pieced, dating back to my earliest quilting adventures circa 2001-2. The two gold ones in the center are a block I designed based on a ceiling in a cruise ship lounge.  The bottom left leaf is the top corner of Third Week in October," one that will never get finished!

What has me flummoxed, though, are the blocks on the right -- the ones with the big white square on point surrounded by HSTs.  I have absolutely NO recollection of making these, yet I recognize the fabrics.  The white squares look out of place with the warm tones so I figure I'll be taking these blocks apart.  I'm open to suggestions for what to do with a large collection of medium value HSTs (this is only part of them).

Sew, that's my design wall this week.  Linking with Patchwork Times.

11 comments:

  1. Would it help if you changed the layout of the HST blocks? I can't quite tell what the block is.

    I love scrappy quilts and your bricks are so bright and happy. Simple but very effective.

    Helen

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  2. For many years I've made sample blocks in R,W, & B. So a couple of weeks ago when I was at my friend's house we got them into a quilt. She said she didn't have any orphan blocks in that color. But she found lots once we started working. I'll be doing a blog on it soon including process pictures. I'm waiting for backing so I can quilt it.

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  3. Have you considered tea dying the white blocks surrounded with HSTs? Or maybe putting a simple applique in the center - maybe a leaf? It is going to make a great autumn quilt.
    Marlene
    marlene@coveredinstitches.com

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  4. Your bricks are bright and cheerful! I can imagine smaller maple leaves in place of the white squares. I recognize Third Week In October as one of those designs that really intrigued me, once upon a time. (Since then many, many designs have intrigued me. I cannot make them all.)

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  5. I commend you for working with the spare parts... it requires more thinking than I can manage now days... I do like this bunch a lot...all those warm colors are my happy colors... hope you get lots accomplished this week so you can play next week!

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  6. I love the palette of this Spare Parts project. I agree with the suggestions to replace the white centers with something else - maybe more camels, russets, and dark olives to continue the autumnal palette. Or use the HST units as spacers and fillers. I like that blue in the lower left, too. Does the light green block in the upper left look more spring-like than everything else?

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  7. I am with some of the others - raw edge applique some leaves in those with spaces. You can balance out the white in some filler blocks around the quilt top. I like what I see. You are definitely on the way to a great quilt!

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  8. You have the best spare parts blocks! Perfect colors for a leaf themed quilt. I like Cynthia's idea for the leaf applique in the white blocks.

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  9. It's like opening the box of a brand new jigsaw puzzle, isn't it? And with the added challenge of the box's cover being a blank canvas...
    I would disassemble the HST blocks and use them as spacers/fillers, but the applique suggestions you're getting are also a good idea.
    Have fun with your spare parts!

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  10. You are being really productive. Keep up the good work!

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  11. Love the colorful bricks. Hmm, lots of options for your warm blocks. Looking forward to seeing what direction you take there.

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