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| Variety of fabrics in finished clue #3 |
We got to play with our red and orange fabrics for clue three of Bonnie Hunter's Grassy Creek mystery! I even was able to use a few strips from my precuts and a couple chunks from the orange drawer. Using from my scraps is always a bonus! It is fun to speculate how these units will be incorporated into the quilt. I hope that my units will fit the space when it comes time to fill it!!
Because I used a variety of fabrics, I spent more time cutting. Bonnie wanted us to have a specific number of like units. Some of my precuts weren't long enough to yield that number and some were just right. If I cut from yardage, I didn't have to think about units! Although cutting from yardage gave me an idea of how long a strip I needed.
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| Added gray and neutral wings in clue #4 |
After reading laments about the amount of time it takes to cut scraps from people participating in the mystery, I can understand why many people work with yardage. I don't mind the extra time. With COVID restrictions, I have time to spend cutting. As I looked over my chunks, I thought about the people who tell me that they generally toss any scraps less than a quarter of a yard. While I would have more space in my studio, if I followed that mantra, I wouldn't have nearly the variety in my blocks! The variety is what makes the quilt sparkle. I plan to continue with my scrap saving system!
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| Parts and finished clues organized |
Last Friday, Bonnie released clue number four. We added parts to clue number three! I cut at least one strip from each gray and neutral fabric to have as much variety in the blocks as possible. I like how the clue stitched together. The majority of the points are sharp!
Cutting all those fabrics left me with a lot of leftover cut strips. I try to keep those cut strips and leftovers together in a plastic zip lock bag. As Bonnie releases clues, I will use from the cut bag saving the yardage. Once I've finished the top, I will cut the remaining pieces into the units that I save for my scraps.
As I finish the clues, I bag the clues in zip lock gallon bags. It sure helps to have the parts organized in this manner! If I haven't finished a clue, I bag the parts and the directions together because I've learned that action saves me a bunch of time later when I'm trying to figure out what I was doing! Bonnie will release clue number five the day after Christmas. I'm ready!
4 comments:
Terry,
This is going to be a lovely quilt. Bright and sunny! Just what we all need as we move past the shortest day and onto longer days, even if only by a minute or two! LOL
Luann, Bright and sunny. . .I sure hope it turns out be a bright and sunny quilt! I am always happy to have the winter solstice behind me! Bring on the longer days! Thanks for stopping by!
Oh my word -- WHO are those quilters who toss any piece of fabric smaller than a quarter yard?! I need to send them giant, self-addressed, prepaid packages to ship those scraps to ME!!! I am in the More Is More camp when it comes to how many different fabrics belong in a quilt. Even when I'm working from yardage rather than from scraps, I'm working from half yard or quarter yard cuts and trying to mix in as much variety as possible, most of the time. I'll be holding the tiniest, weirdest-shaped snippets reluctantly over my trash can, thinking, "but wait, it's big enough to be the center of a flower for appliqué!"
Rebecca, I'm with you. . .although I have a lot of tiny pieces!!!! I'm finding that I like playing with strings. . . .oh yes. . .another rabbit hole I've entered. . .It's okay. . .I'm having fun!
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