2019 Fabric Moratorium
05-30-2019, 06:35 AM
#1081
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,061
Yay me, no more fabric buying in the past week and I have all my blocks for the Wonky Bright project sewn. I am still in the process of pressing and then it's on to trimming but here's what they look like so far. Keep in mind that I am starting with them over-sized and ragged as shown and then will be trimming them in various ways, so the single block picture shows how I will skew the square for cutting.
05-31-2019, 03:08 AM
#1083
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Maine
Posts: 873
Originally Posted by Iceblossom
Yay me, no more fabric buying in the past week and I have all my blocks for the Wonky Bright project sewn. I am still in the process of pressing and then it's on to trimming but here's what they look like so far. Keep in mind that I am starting with them over-sized and ragged as shown and then will be trimming them in various ways, so the single block picture shows how I will skew the square for cutting.
I am doing good on this fabric thing. 5 months down and no fabric buying of any kind. I have pulled from the stash only. Now that I see this wonky thing, I am going to do a scrappy wonky. Sometimes I feel so stupid, its all in front of my face and I can't think of doing scrappy stuff to use the scraps that are piled up as bad as the good stuff.
05-31-2019, 04:03 AM
#1084
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2,414
Good going, AnngelAnne! Five months and no fabric purchases! That's almost 1/2 of a year! Keep it up one day at a time and by Jan., 2020, you'll have a whole year in and lots of stash out!! You can do it! The first 3 months are the hardest! You have a friend here, pulling for you!!
05-31-2019, 06:31 AM
#1085
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,061
AngelAnne, this bag of scraps just grabbed me. It was so bright and cheery (even with grey fabrics) and so not me! LOL. It helped that it was mostly fat quarter remnants and easy to cut. If you go back and read my notes my thoughts are clearer but here it is summed up:
I'm doing this project to loosen up, I've been inspired by one of the ladies in my small group that is an improvisational quilter. In this project corners don't need to match exactly or at all. (not my normal concept) Fabrics are going to not be "perfect" that is, polka dots and quatrefoil prints of different colors or sizes will touch, same colors will be next to each other, all the sorts of things that I work to de-randomize I'm leaving in as is. There was never any desire or planning for the 9-patches to all have dark corners or light centers or anything like that. I was just going for random fabric using.
I cut strata of various widths and then combined them randomly into 3-piece sections. My goal was for a 10-12" block that would be cut down with a 8.5" square because it would be highly unlikely that I would be able to achieve a normal perfect block at that size. Each block does have exactly 9 pieces in it, some are small and some are large, they may all have different shapes but they are all 9-patches. Most of the blocks I trimmed on a tilt but some are still more noticeably square 9-patches.
I found that anything below a 3 to 3.25" cut was just too small and would give me problems with my finished desired size. As I went on I got freer and not all my strips had a numeric size, just "that's how big the scrap is and it seems to be good enough." All of my seams are basic straight right angle seams and the pieces are mostly squares and rectangles unless the scrap had a jag but you don't have to do them that way. My improvisational friend will sometimes throw in some pieced units either left from other projects like half-square triangles, but my bag of scraps didn't have any of that.
In my project I'm making 70 blocks. One block is my fussy cut and more or less precise Caroline block. All the others are off, skewed, or in other ways not-perfect. I just finished filling my current box for my crumb quilter with the trimmings from this project -- the strips that didn't get used, small jagged pieces that I washed but didn't want to deal with, and quite a bit of trimmings from the blocks themselves. Like that picture I showed with the ruler, the cloud fabric had a nice bit for a crumb quilter. Anything that didn't start out at least 1.5" wide I tossed but there is still a sizeable stack of triangular trimmings in the crumb box. If I didn't have a person to send them to, I would have flinched slightly at the mound of them but I could have easily and happily thrown them out as their purpose in fabric had been served!
Yesterday I trimmed the rest of the blocks and have more or less randomly pinned two blocks together. Usually I layout my blocks on the bed, but for this I'm letting it take its own course. I understand that it will look more like a crazy quilt than a 9-patch, but I decided on no sashing or alternate blocks but either of those things would work and could enhance another set of fabric. I did sort the blocks a bit, like the ones I grabbed for the first pictures all had that grey with polka dots print, had another with a purple polka dot that was very noticeable, as were the house blocks and the elephants. I tried to be as random as I could and keep repeating fabrics away from each other but I know as I put blocks together it will happen anyway. It was just easier to go through and match the noticeable ones with the more random ones.
Edit: When I was making my strata sometimes I would use strips that I would get several repeating cuts of the same combination. I would also take a long piece and pin squares left from previous rounds of cutting. It was fast and I tried to limit my thinking and working on my doing! It's been fun, I still say though that the finished product will be "too loud to sleep under" but it will be bright and happy and someone will love it.
I'm doing this project to loosen up, I've been inspired by one of the ladies in my small group that is an improvisational quilter. In this project corners don't need to match exactly or at all. (not my normal concept) Fabrics are going to not be "perfect" that is, polka dots and quatrefoil prints of different colors or sizes will touch, same colors will be next to each other, all the sorts of things that I work to de-randomize I'm leaving in as is. There was never any desire or planning for the 9-patches to all have dark corners or light centers or anything like that. I was just going for random fabric using.
I cut strata of various widths and then combined them randomly into 3-piece sections. My goal was for a 10-12" block that would be cut down with a 8.5" square because it would be highly unlikely that I would be able to achieve a normal perfect block at that size. Each block does have exactly 9 pieces in it, some are small and some are large, they may all have different shapes but they are all 9-patches. Most of the blocks I trimmed on a tilt but some are still more noticeably square 9-patches.
I found that anything below a 3 to 3.25" cut was just too small and would give me problems with my finished desired size. As I went on I got freer and not all my strips had a numeric size, just "that's how big the scrap is and it seems to be good enough." All of my seams are basic straight right angle seams and the pieces are mostly squares and rectangles unless the scrap had a jag but you don't have to do them that way. My improvisational friend will sometimes throw in some pieced units either left from other projects like half-square triangles, but my bag of scraps didn't have any of that.
In my project I'm making 70 blocks. One block is my fussy cut and more or less precise Caroline block. All the others are off, skewed, or in other ways not-perfect. I just finished filling my current box for my crumb quilter with the trimmings from this project -- the strips that didn't get used, small jagged pieces that I washed but didn't want to deal with, and quite a bit of trimmings from the blocks themselves. Like that picture I showed with the ruler, the cloud fabric had a nice bit for a crumb quilter. Anything that didn't start out at least 1.5" wide I tossed but there is still a sizeable stack of triangular trimmings in the crumb box. If I didn't have a person to send them to, I would have flinched slightly at the mound of them but I could have easily and happily thrown them out as their purpose in fabric had been served!
Yesterday I trimmed the rest of the blocks and have more or less randomly pinned two blocks together. Usually I layout my blocks on the bed, but for this I'm letting it take its own course. I understand that it will look more like a crazy quilt than a 9-patch, but I decided on no sashing or alternate blocks but either of those things would work and could enhance another set of fabric. I did sort the blocks a bit, like the ones I grabbed for the first pictures all had that grey with polka dots print, had another with a purple polka dot that was very noticeable, as were the house blocks and the elephants. I tried to be as random as I could and keep repeating fabrics away from each other but I know as I put blocks together it will happen anyway. It was just easier to go through and match the noticeable ones with the more random ones.
Edit: When I was making my strata sometimes I would use strips that I would get several repeating cuts of the same combination. I would also take a long piece and pin squares left from previous rounds of cutting. It was fast and I tried to limit my thinking and working on my doing! It's been fun, I still say though that the finished product will be "too loud to sleep under" but it will be bright and happy and someone will love it.
Last edited by Iceblossom; 05-31-2019 at 06:39 AM.
06-01-2019, 09:52 AM
#1086
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Maine
Posts: 873
Originally Posted by SillySusan
Good going, AnngelAnne! Five months and no fabric purchases! That's almost 1/2 of a year! Keep it up one day at a time and by Jan., 2020, you'll have a whole year in and lots of stash out!! You can do it! The first 3 months are the hardest! You have a friend here, pulling for you!!
The issue is more now that nice weather is coming along and people have yard sales. I used to enjoy going just to look around, didn't want to fill the house with things even if it was a bargain. Then I started to see more and more material at wicked prices. Me....If I have way to much and want to get rid of it, would much rather use it up than sell it, that would be sad to see it go away with someone, lol. Working as I do I don't have the time I would like to sew, but am not trying to find better ways of fitting it in. So yes, by all means, pull for me, I need it. Thank you.
06-01-2019, 09:53 AM
#1087
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Maine
Posts: 873
Originally Posted by Iceblossom
AngelAnne, this bag of scraps just grabbed me. It was so bright and cheery (even with grey fabrics) and so not me! LOL. It helped that it was mostly fat quarter remnants and easy to cut. If you go back and read my notes my thoughts are clearer but here it is summed up:
I'm doing this project to loosen up, I've been inspired by one of the ladies in my small group that is an improvisational quilter. In this project corners don't need to match exactly or at all. (not my normal concept) Fabrics are going to not be "perfect" that is, polka dots and quatrefoil prints of different colors or sizes will touch, same colors will be next to each other, all the sorts of things that I work to de-randomize I'm leaving in as is. There was never any desire or planning for the 9-patches to all have dark corners or light centers or anything like that. I was just going for random fabric using.
I cut strata of various widths and then combined them randomly into 3-piece sections. My goal was for a 10-12" block that would be cut down with a 8.5" square because it would be highly unlikely that I would be able to achieve a normal perfect block at that size. Each block does have exactly 9 pieces in it, some are small and some are large, they may all have different shapes but they are all 9-patches. Most of the blocks I trimmed on a tilt but some are still more noticeably square 9-patches.
I found that anything below a 3 to 3.25" cut was just too small and would give me problems with my finished desired size. As I went on I got freer and not all my strips had a numeric size, just "that's how big the scrap is and it seems to be good enough." All of my seams are basic straight right angle seams and the pieces are mostly squares and rectangles unless the scrap had a jag but you don't have to do them that way. My improvisational friend will sometimes throw in some pieced units either left from other projects like half-square triangles, but my bag of scraps didn't have any of that.
In my project I'm making 70 blocks. One block is my fussy cut and more or less precise Caroline block. All the others are off, skewed, or in other ways not-perfect. I just finished filling my current box for my crumb quilter with the trimmings from this project -- the strips that didn't get used, small jagged pieces that I washed but didn't want to deal with, and quite a bit of trimmings from the blocks themselves. Like that picture I showed with the ruler, the cloud fabric had a nice bit for a crumb quilter. Anything that didn't start out at least 1.5" wide I tossed but there is still a sizeable stack of triangular trimmings in the crumb box. If I didn't have a person to send them to, I would have flinched slightly at the mound of them but I could have easily and happily thrown them out as their purpose in fabric had been served!
Yesterday I trimmed the rest of the blocks and have more or less randomly pinned two blocks together. Usually I layout my blocks on the bed, but for this I'm letting it take its own course. I understand that it will look more like a crazy quilt than a 9-patch, but I decided on no sashing or alternate blocks but either of those things would work and could enhance another set of fabric. I did sort the blocks a bit, like the ones I grabbed for the first pictures all had that grey with polka dots print, had another with a purple polka dot that was very noticeable, as were the house blocks and the elephants. I tried to be as random as I could and keep repeating fabrics away from each other but I know as I put blocks together it will happen anyway. It was just easier to go through and match the noticeable ones with the more random ones.
Edit: When I was making my strata sometimes I would use strips that I would get several repeating cuts of the same combination. I would also take a long piece and pin squares left from previous rounds of cutting. It was fast and I tried to limit my thinking and working on my doing! It's been fun, I still say though that the finished product will be "too loud to sleep under" but it will be bright and happy and someone will love it.
I'm doing this project to loosen up, I've been inspired by one of the ladies in my small group that is an improvisational quilter. In this project corners don't need to match exactly or at all. (not my normal concept) Fabrics are going to not be "perfect" that is, polka dots and quatrefoil prints of different colors or sizes will touch, same colors will be next to each other, all the sorts of things that I work to de-randomize I'm leaving in as is. There was never any desire or planning for the 9-patches to all have dark corners or light centers or anything like that. I was just going for random fabric using.
I cut strata of various widths and then combined them randomly into 3-piece sections. My goal was for a 10-12" block that would be cut down with a 8.5" square because it would be highly unlikely that I would be able to achieve a normal perfect block at that size. Each block does have exactly 9 pieces in it, some are small and some are large, they may all have different shapes but they are all 9-patches. Most of the blocks I trimmed on a tilt but some are still more noticeably square 9-patches.
I found that anything below a 3 to 3.25" cut was just too small and would give me problems with my finished desired size. As I went on I got freer and not all my strips had a numeric size, just "that's how big the scrap is and it seems to be good enough." All of my seams are basic straight right angle seams and the pieces are mostly squares and rectangles unless the scrap had a jag but you don't have to do them that way. My improvisational friend will sometimes throw in some pieced units either left from other projects like half-square triangles, but my bag of scraps didn't have any of that.
In my project I'm making 70 blocks. One block is my fussy cut and more or less precise Caroline block. All the others are off, skewed, or in other ways not-perfect. I just finished filling my current box for my crumb quilter with the trimmings from this project -- the strips that didn't get used, small jagged pieces that I washed but didn't want to deal with, and quite a bit of trimmings from the blocks themselves. Like that picture I showed with the ruler, the cloud fabric had a nice bit for a crumb quilter. Anything that didn't start out at least 1.5" wide I tossed but there is still a sizeable stack of triangular trimmings in the crumb box. If I didn't have a person to send them to, I would have flinched slightly at the mound of them but I could have easily and happily thrown them out as their purpose in fabric had been served!
Yesterday I trimmed the rest of the blocks and have more or less randomly pinned two blocks together. Usually I layout my blocks on the bed, but for this I'm letting it take its own course. I understand that it will look more like a crazy quilt than a 9-patch, but I decided on no sashing or alternate blocks but either of those things would work and could enhance another set of fabric. I did sort the blocks a bit, like the ones I grabbed for the first pictures all had that grey with polka dots print, had another with a purple polka dot that was very noticeable, as were the house blocks and the elephants. I tried to be as random as I could and keep repeating fabrics away from each other but I know as I put blocks together it will happen anyway. It was just easier to go through and match the noticeable ones with the more random ones.
Edit: When I was making my strata sometimes I would use strips that I would get several repeating cuts of the same combination. I would also take a long piece and pin squares left from previous rounds of cutting. It was fast and I tried to limit my thinking and working on my doing! It's been fun, I still say though that the finished product will be "too loud to sleep under" but it will be bright and happy and someone will love it.
06-02-2019, 02:38 AM
#1088
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Boothbay Maine
Posts: 9,518
Congratulation AnngelAnne on your discipline...I hope you are making a dent in your stash.
IceBlossom, I can’t wait to see more of your wonky project. It sounds like a different challenge for you.
IceBlossom, I can’t wait to see more of your wonky project. It sounds like a different challenge for you.
06-02-2019, 04:58 AM
#1089
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,061
It is going fast and furious here with the Wonky Brights! Currently I have blocks sewn into sets of two. I pulled out a couple since this should end up at 7x10 blocks... mildly distressed because I did send away the fabric and maybe I'd rather have 72 blocks! But I can improvise and I have several options floating in my head if I don't like the size of the pieced area. Anyway the 2-sets are now pinned into 4-sets (except the others for the uneven row).
Edit: I am having no problems at all with the slightly bias edges. All the sewing and cutting was done at straight right angles and I think that gives the fabric a little more support. I pin a lot, averaging about 6 pins per 8.5" block. And that block size means even a long bias edge is no more than about 4-5 inches so that helps too. I do press open so no issues there. It is really funny on how our eyes play tricks and when I was pressing the 2-block units, so many of them looked bent in the middle where the block seam was. Straight as can be, but my eyes so no no no.
Here's a random assortment of the trimmed blocks:
Edit: I am having no problems at all with the slightly bias edges. All the sewing and cutting was done at straight right angles and I think that gives the fabric a little more support. I pin a lot, averaging about 6 pins per 8.5" block. And that block size means even a long bias edge is no more than about 4-5 inches so that helps too. I do press open so no issues there. It is really funny on how our eyes play tricks and when I was pressing the 2-block units, so many of them looked bent in the middle where the block seam was. Straight as can be, but my eyes so no no no.
Here's a random assortment of the trimmed blocks:
Last edited by Iceblossom; 06-02-2019 at 05:03 AM.
06-02-2019, 05:10 AM
#1090
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: Central Ohio
Posts: 15,175
Iceblossom, your blocks are so cute!
I have been really bad this year. I found out I'm going to be a Grandmother so I've been buying all kinds of cute fabric for baby girls. I didn't have any so I feel it's imperative!
I have been really bad this year. I found out I'm going to be a Grandmother so I've been buying all kinds of cute fabric for baby girls. I didn't have any so I feel it's imperative!
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