Parts and Pieces

Right now my biggest accomplishment it finding a new routine.  I have a new job and my schedule is 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and that is earlier than I've ever worked.  The up side is I am off at 3:30 and home at 3:35.  Yes, my new job has a very long commute, a whopping 1 mile.  :-)

I've got back to the laundry basket that is holding my Medallion quilt parts from my Gwen workshop.  This is just part of the generous stack of 2 1/2" strips that were so graciously sent to me from Kathie at Inspired by Antique Quilts I never would have had the fun of working with so many different prints and colors if not for her.

 The challenge for me was to come up with blocks using 2 1/2" strips with all these different colors and prints.  Cut the dark strips into 4.5" sections, cut the shirtings into 2.5" squares and you have flying geese.

Sew together your bonus triangle blocks from a previous project and you have 3" pinwheels.  Use a variety of cheddars in 2.5" squares for corners on your 4.5" piece and you will have a round of flying geese.  By sticking to one color, it will give the definition of being a round of cheddar without being boring.

Take the bonus triangles from the above cheddar flying geese, trim them down to 1 3/4" squares and you can set them together in some manner for the center of your medallion.  Here is my focus fabric, it's gorgeous.  I have contemplated using a piece of it for the center, but opted for a pieced center.  Also if you take a light and dark 2.5" square you can make really cute 4 patches.  Then take your 2.5" shirtings, cut on the diagonal and you have a four patch in a square. Thank you Gwen, I love this little block.

Or you can take your mini 4 patches and add trimmed down 1/2 sq triangles.  I have the values mixed up on these blocks, I want them the have the 4 patch run with the dark value like the top block. This will make a very graphic round. Again, Gwen just has the knack of working with these little blocks and sees the opportunity with the parts and pieces sitting on the work table.

You can also take your 2.5" strips and make a ton of scrappy 1/2 sq triangles using your trusty Easy Angler ruler.  Take some of the 1/2 sq tri's, and sew them into mini hourglass blocks. I think these finish out at 2"

Here are the rows of my parts and pieces.  I have a L-O-N-G way to go as these blocks are 2 - 3" each.  I want to get my center sewn together and then I can focus on each round.  I have enough variety of blocks so I can play around with a few rounds at a time and do a little planning as I work through this piece.

I also have over 100 of these guys, they finish out at 2".  With 1/2 sq tri's, you can make pinwheels..........

Or set them like this........

or in many other ways.  The beauty of this is that you only have to work on the round that you are on.  Decisions can be made on the fly, you don't have to commit too early and can have a lot of design fun with a quilt like this.  At this point I have no idea what size or shape this is going to be.  I do know that my focus print is going to guide me along the way.  It's interesting to work  with someone else's fabric choices, and yet, as I'm piecing away, I add a piece here and there from my stash and it just seems to all come together.

It's that time of year where the weeds and the grass seem to grow twice as fast as my flowers and vegetables.  The nice weather beckons us outside, but once I get the center decisions made, I hope to use the 15 minutes of sewing to keep myself engaged in this piece.

Hope your weekend has some sunshine and sewing in it!
Sharon