Wednesday 20 May 2020

It's cool to be square


This is a great week because there's a blog hop going on. Just what I needed! Thanks to Carol from Just let me quilt for organising the hop and providing a very welcome change to a life of working from home in these troubled times.

I love squares and they are so useful in quilting patterns. When I've finished a new project I cut the scraps into varying sized squares depending on the size of the scraps. The ones I find most useful are the 2 and half inch squares and the 5 inch squares. I have a whole heap of these squares and the pile below is just a few of them.


Since I am now working from home and teaching remotely I decided to keep my project very simple. Changing to remote teaching has bought a lot of extra work as the courses were never planned to be taught by distance learning. As a result I've been slotting sewing around the work and knew I wouldn't be able to make anything large. On my list of things to make this year I had new quilts for Picasso and Scamp. Their current quilts get a lot of use and need to be washed regularly so it will be useful to have a spare quilt for each of them. Here's both of them enjoying the sun on the back of the settee.


I had all the fabric I needed in my stash to make Picasso's quilt and I decided to do a mini Irish chain. The quilt finishes at 22 inches which fits nicely in his cat basket. I so nearly got it completely finished but time run out on me. I just have to stitch the binding down in the far corner.


I love the cat fabric and the orange mouse fabric is perfect with it.


When I started making this quilt I also started putting together a scrappy square quilt . Pulling out my 2 and half inch squares made me realise I need to use them up having cut them all. No point in cutting scraps into squares and then leaving them to gather dust. This quilt will be a child quilt to be donated to Project Linus when they reopen for donations.. This is how far I've got.



When this is finished it will have used up almost 300 squares which will make a good dent in my scrap box.

Thank you for visiting today. Now you need to visit the others blogs on today's hop. Enjoy the projects everyone has made.

May 20

May 21

May 22


Take care, stay safe and keep quilting.

Lyndsey

19 comments:

  1. The cat quilt is so good looking, and the Project Linus will be great for a child. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Two great scrap busting projects. Nicely done.

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  3. Your quilts are both great. That's such a good idea to cut leftover fabric into squares as you finish a project!

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  4. I am also a teacher and struggled to convert To online learning, mindless sewing of 4 patches was a big help to me. I love your cat and mouse quilt.

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  5. I like both quilts! I use my 2 1/2" squares in the same way, and it's time to pull them out again. They do pile up quite quickly. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Great fabric for your kitties quilt, love the mice. Wonderful idea to cut squares from your scraps. I need to give that some serious consideration. Thanks

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  7. So pretty and clever. I love Picassos quilt. Thanks for sharing and inspiring today.
    quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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  8. Picasso's new quilt is SEW perfect (for him AND for the Hop!!) I'm not sure that I've ever seen a Plus Quilt with a scrappy background before now. I absolutely LOVE it!!!

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  9. Using 300 squares of fabric in one little quilt makes me think 'what a super idea'. Now, you'll just have to use more 'squares' to make another quilt for your other special pet.

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  10. I feel for teachers who have to change up everything about the way they are teaching. But I'm so glad you had a bit of time to stitch. Cat and mouse is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!

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  11. Cat fabric and mouse fabric together, how fun!

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  12. Oh my goodness, I love the combo of cats and mice fabrics...very cool and so cute! Great use of scraps in the second quilt. It reminds me of quilts my mom made when I was growing up. She'd use all her scraps to make a quilt and it was fun to seek out the different fabrics that were from dresses I'd worn. Thank you for sharing your cool square quilts!

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  13. I'm sure that Picasso loves the new cat quilt; perfect fabrics too! The other quilt is really cool too, and will be treasured by the child who receives it. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. I spy so many beautiful fabrics in this one.

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  15. That car fabric is super cute! Love the scrappy quilt; I like that the scraps surround the white plus signs and not the other way around--it's a fun twist!

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  16. the cats and mice quilt, so perfect...

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  17. Love this fabric! I bet Picasso loves his new quilt. He is sure to have wonderful dreams. I know your Project Linus quilt will be much appreciated, too.

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  18. Well you sure had fun! Love the halloween quilt and the use of all your scraps in that scrappy square quilt! Lovely job!

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