n2scraplvr

Thank you, Lillysews!! Now is a good time for an update to this pattern for you and others who will make it. I forgot some really important things about this block that you need to know!

SO HERE'S AN UPDATE TO THE MINI-TUT I FORGOT TO SAY EARLIER:

1) To make this quilt, you definitely will need a ruler with a diagonal line on it. This line is so important because it needs to be laid right on top of the center of your strip! Your corner point should have equal amounts of fabric on each side of the corner! If the strip is not equal at the corner points, it will be off when you join blocks. SO LAY THAT RULER SO THE DIAGONAL LINE ON THE RULER IS ON THE CENTER PORTION OF THAT STRIP!! It's only natural that you will have your strips to not meet perfectly when the 4 blocks are joined!! It is very natural to have one strip a tad wider than another. This comes from us going too fast on the sewing machines and not putting the fabric flush to our seam guides where the seam becomes narrow and the width becomes wider! But don't worry about this so much. It is far better to have your seams to match perfectly than the strips so that your blocks will square up correctly!

2) ANOTHER IMPORTANT POINT THAT I MISSED! On closer examination, I realized that there is only ONE way to set the 2nd triangle while starting to sew and that is ABOVE AND NOT BELOW the point where you started your first triangle or HST. I stated earlier that it could be above or below where you started the 1st HST. You need to do this in order that the block comes out wide enough to meet the 3" size. If you are making this in 6" blocks, it will not be necessary to offset your HST's. There will be enough fabric in that size block to trim off that you won't need to do that.

3) When squaring up your individual blocks, be sure and align the edges so the diagonal line is flush with your corner points.

4) There are some simple rules that I didn't mention that I take for granted everyone knows about but I will reiterate those points now for those who may need it.

5) The first point is that when you have lots of busy fabrics in a quilt, you need to bring a balance to the quilt with solid fabrics or near-solids! You can see how I scattered lots of solids and NS in the quilt! This factor draws the eye to what you want it to see. It also is used to highlight certain areas! Take a good look at your fabrics and choose those solids that 'pack a punch' or give some pep to an area. It will make a difference in your quilt!

6) Point 2 is that anytime you have a scrappy of all sorts of colors, you need to bring balance by using the color white. You'll notice the white blocks I used are all busy white blocks. This helps to draw attention to the white blocks! It's a defining factor in your quilt.

7) Another point is that if you want your scrappy to really stand out, then you need to put a warm color next to a cool color! It is one of the best secrets to a successful looking scrappy! You'll notice I did that in this quilt.

8) When I finished the top half of this quilt, I repeated some of the same fabrics in the top down to the bottom. This gives it a 'connection' and unity that was prevalent in antique quilts. Those quilters did that same thing whether out of need or desire we don't know, but the repeat of a certain fabric hits the message home better!

9) I ignored the colors of the center strips all through the quilt except when I had a noticeable exception that needed switching I think only happened once. One of the advantages of using all different fabrics for your center strips is eliminating the worry of possibly bumping into the same fabric again! I don't like doing that. It's ok if the same fabric is 4 blocks over, but you don't want it to meet its match next door. So you can see how the strips form their own wonderful colors when they meet. It happens automatically!

10) Last but not least this is not a quilt to match things up with. You notice in the many blocks I showed you pics of where I put a big floral on top of a check or plaid! This is what works best! Just concentrate on getting dark strips with light squares and dark squares matched with light strips and you'll have a FANTASTIC looking scrappy!

Well, now that you know all this, I am sure some of you will give it a try and we will be looking forward to seeing your wonderful scrappy posted here! One of my blocks has a center strip that was pieced and left over from an earlier project!! It has 3 different fabrics in it!! It's a scrap quilt, so don't get too serious but pull your leftovers too and have fun with it!!