Ripples

As I've written before, I've taken Bonnie Hunter's cue of using all available fabric. For this project, I used the triangles I use to toss when I trimmed them from the star points for Dad's Stars. She also is all about having a leader/ender project in mind and then sewing the small parts one would generally chain piece while piecing the main project. 

It is like having two projects going at the same time! That was how the Ripple project started. The photo on the left shows all the triangles sewn into half square triangles or HSTs.

I was inspired to make this because I belong to a quilting book club. We call ourselves "Thread Tales." We read a book, discuss it, make a quilt and then have a reveal. It is so cool to see what portions of the book inspired people and then how they translated their inspiration to fabric.

In the book, "The Husband's Secret," there were different story lines that were underlying at times. Sometimes, the story lines crossed paths; but, what struck me was that one act caused such an event of ripples. So I knew what I wanted to sew.
I made #344 units of four half
square triangles sewn together. 


This is a one unit pictured on the right. They are small!













Then, I tried the design out on the design wall.

Of course, I was curious about "What If?" This is a phrase I learned from Sharyn Craig. In a class, she showed each of us that whatever blocks we brought, we could ask a few questions, try a few layouts and have success with the blocks living together!

I actually decided the box design would be the one so I began to stitch a couple rows together. Oops, there are "holes" in the boxes!! The design could have worked for this project; but, it wasn't what I was thinking. Perhaps, I'll use it another time. It was a challenge matching all those intersections!






I also like to challenge myself to doing something different in a project. This time, I wanted to use reclaimed materials. I did plan to use new thread! I stitch small pieces of left over batting together into larger pieces. This piece is ready for a placemat or a bag.
My second challenge was to purchase a ruler that I could use to quilt free motion circles without marking and do it!




My second challenge was to purchase a ruler that I could use to quilt free motion circles without marking and do it!

The fabric for the back of the quilt was in a bundle I picked up from the free table at our guild meeting. It had seams in it and a few stains. . .perhaps, it was a table cloth? There was a large enough piece for the whole back! I also used it for the binding. The batting was pieces of wool and pieces of 80/20 that were left from another project. Yes, there are two layers of batting in this project and yes, each layer is pieced!

 I even used the  few left over HSTs to decorate the label! 

So this is my "free" quilt with only the thread as new!