It might not officially be Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, but we’re close. Last week saw high temperatures in both the 40’s, and the 70’s in central Illinois. The warmer weather had me itching to finish this quilt, which I started last spring.
When we first moved into our house last spring, most of my quilting supplies & fabric were still in storage in TN, but I was really longing to sew. My husband knew I was going crazy, so he helped me make a temporary space in our formal dining room. I had picked up a set of rainbow hand-dyed fat quarters from Darn Good Yarn, on a whim over the holidays, and decided I could use it to make a few of the Blocks of the Month in the Quiltalong. I did have my cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter, and sewing machine, but I needed to buy thread, because I only had 1 nearly empty spool of black!
I started with the Double Aster block, and fell in love with the muted solids. From there I skipped around with a few of the month’s I had missed, to play catch up.
Double Aster - February 2023 BOM (made late, in May)
Snail Trail - May 2023 BOM
Entwined Star - March 2023 BOM (made late, in May)
Quarter or Half Log Cabin Variation - April 2023 BOM (made late, in May)
Wonky Star - January 2023 BOM (made late, in May)
After I had caught up on the BOM’s, I decided to try playing around with a few random blocks that caught my interest. Whenever I had leftover HST’s (half square triangles), I tried to find patterns that I could use them up with. I made a Star Puzzle with pieces leftover from the Fancy Star, and an improvised framed Blazing Star, with leftovers from the Woven Star.
Fancy Star, (made for fun)
Star Puzzle (made for fun, with offcuts leftover from Fancy Star above
Woven Star (made for fun)
Improvised Blazing Star (made from offcuts leftover from Woven Star above)
By this point, I had made a good dent in my fat quarters, and decided to see what I could make from scraps that had already been cut. I had leftover small squares from making the Snail Trail, so I turned those into a smaller 9" Woven Heart, then added side triangles to set it on point. I also had a few rainbow blocks, and decided to make a few more. I used most of the colors to improvise a rainbow Flying Geese block.
Woven Heart (made the 9" block from offcuts of Snail Trail Block above, then set On Point)
Improvised Rainbow Flying Geese Block (no pattern to link to)
I now had 11 blocks, and I wanted to decide how I was going to lay them out, and what I should use as my ‘final’ block pattern. But when I laid them out, I wasn’t happy with the distribution of types of blocks. I had 7 Star blocks, 1 object block (Heart); 6 that read as Traditional, 4 that read as Modern, and 1 that skirted the line; 3 rainbow blocks, and only one 2-color block. So I decided to make at least one more object, and at least one more 2-color, one more rainbow, and at least one more Modern.
For both Modern and 2-color, I picked the House Divided. For another object block, I chose the classic Buttercup. Then I used a fat quarter I hadn’t touched to make the House block, which gave me another object, as well as more yellow in the quilt. I decided to do a Dutchman’s Puzzle, which is a traditional block, but in a more fun, modern, rainbow color palette. And finally, after laying them all out, I decided I needed one more block with a light green background, and to use up some of the yellow and orange scraps, so I created the Aztec Jewel, to help even out the overall color palette.
House Divided (made to have another 2-color block)
Buttercup Block (made to create another object block)
House Block (made to have another object block & use smaller scraps)
Dutchman’s Puzzle (made to have another rainbow block)
Aztec Jewel (made to fill in the last space in the quilt with specific colors)
I took the offcuts of the Dutchman’s Puzzle, and turned them into a simple rainbow diamond block.
10" improvised Diamond Block made from offcuts of the Dutchman’s Puzzle above.
I went to check out one of the local quilt stores in my new town, and found some turquoise Grunge for the backing, that had some cream and yellow in it. I picked a simple Kaufman solid in Bone for the sashing, and a warm golden yellow for the binding.
The quilt measures 58" square. I used Warm & Natural all-cotton batting, and a simple meandering free-motion quilting pattern, in a matching Bone colored thread. After being washed and dried, it’s now a soft, crinkly texture, and ready for cuddling.
I had some scraps from the sashing and backing, so I turned that improvised smaller block into a 14" pillow to go with the quilt.
Here they are together, ready to go to their new home with a lucky Lettuce Crafter…
And guess what???
That Lettuce Crafter could be YOU!
How, you ask?!?!
I am offering this quilt and pillow as the first item up for sale in Round 2 of the Craft Stars Garage Sale, which will open on April 6th!!! The quilt & pillow set will be sold auction-style over 10 days, via eBay. Whoever wins the auction, gets them! Meanwhile the Mods are working behind the scenes, on several more awesome items for the Garage Sale, including a Mod-Squad Bundle of Sunshine & Rainbow themed goodies. If you are interested in participating in the Garage Sale, either by donating handmade items or craft supplies, or by purchasing items made by your fellow Lettuce Crafters, please keep an eye on the Craft Stars Garage Sale Round 2 thread.
Your sewing is so neat and spot on 
