Marcie has been inspired to try her own version of my block from this post a while back. I love her blocks and I'm so tempted to start a new set of my own. Back when I made them there were hardly any reproductions available in Australia and I used my 'best' fabrics... Now I look at them and go Ugh! How Boring! But that was all I had to work with. I could do them much better now......
My blocks were all done by hand, and I'd machine sew them if I did them today, but I'd still just cut heaps of fabrics and 'audition' each piece in the block. Like Marcie says you get some lovely surprises that way.
I must NOT start another project! Especially one I've already done! I'm trying to nerve myself to show you the stack of blocks that didn't even make it to the stage of being a proper ufo, with brothers and sisters and an aspiration to be a finished something one day. I quite often grab some scraps and make a block to try out some scribble on graph paper, and a lot of these are non-starters. They just get put in the drawer as reference and I was amazed to see how many there were. I shall have to do a proper 'orphan' quilt with all these one day, but a lot of them are uninspiring. But they'd make a charity quilt I suppose, and they'd at least be out of the drawer and being used.
You can't see it from this photo, but there's over 60 blocks here! That's enough for two orphan quilts. Sometimes I prefer not to know these things, now I'll feel guilty about adding more blocks to The Drawer.
11 comments:
But there is so fun making blocks LOL I love to handstitch and most of the blocks I stitch by hand. So just continue to make them and do not feel guilty putting them in a drawer.
I think this is a great idea, something I'm going to start doing myself. Sometimes the urge to sew something new is so strong, but just doing a single block might do the trick instead of cutting out a whole quilt top (like eating one piece of chocolate instead of the whole block LOL). You could make them up into charity quilts, but it would be nice to leave some of the blocks for another generation to put together :-)
There are some great blocks there! What a fun guild challenge - pull an random orphan block out of a bag and make something with it!
if adding to the drawer causes guilt start a shelf for new orphan blocks! :-) More seriously why not just sew a bunch of the orphans together, get them out of the drawer and make a couple of charity quilts, then its back to business as usual...
I am glad you posted again. I wondered where you went. I know you will do something wonderful with those orphan blocks, but there is no rush. Your sewing room looks terrific, and the fabric your sister gave you is perfect for those blocks you made! Isn't it fun to get excited about an old project as you watch it blossom with renewed life?
I cannot wait to see a quilt made from all these blocks
The block in that quilt is a great one, perfect for scraps. You shouldn't feel any quilt about the random blocks in your drawer. Consider them experiments, a way to test out different color combinations, a new technique or a means of testing a patttern. In the end, they might make some fun scrappy sampler quilts, but even if they don't, thats okay too.
If you put all those "uninspiring" orphan blocks together, they will sing! I hope to see a quilt made of those blocks some day soon.
Yep, I see some lovely charity quilts there. =) That's where a lot of my AmHero blocks come from. People send me all kinds of things, and half the fun is seeing what can go together from different people, or what I can add to make something really fun. You have a lot of different blocks there, so you could have the same kind of deal. =)
Now please don't feel guilty about those orphan blocks- they are just stored treasure- like a sound investment! They are all lovely! And I laughed over your "pudgy" hand comment! All hands look pudgy in pics! Makes you appreciate those hand models, eh? Have a merry Christmas!
These are beautiful blocks, and I am sure you could come up with a beautiful setting to go with them. If you look at applewood farms - Beth comes up with really nice settings you could try with your blocks.
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