Being a frugal New Englander,I couldn’t let a single scrap go to waste with this one. While making other quilts in this palate,I was piling up the scraps from trimming patches and saw how lovely all the colors looked and wondered what could I do with them. I remembered the method of string piecing and thought I’d make an old time looking quilt. I’m really pleased with how this one turned out. This large lap sized quilt measuring 54”x70” sold on eBay. I liked this one so much that I’m saving my scraps to make another one. Maybe blue sashing next time?
It all starts with the scraps and this pile was only the beginning. The next step was to cut paper into shapes of what I wanted for patches. The paper is cut to the exact shape I need and will be the foundation on which I will sew the scraps together.
The fabric strips are sewn to the paper foundation in a flip and sew method. The strips extend beyond the paper edges to insure complete coverage. Once I have finished sewing the strips of fabric to the paper foundation and I’m happy with the coverage,I then remove the paper.It has done it’s job helping me create the shaped patch. Before using a plexiglass template to trim the patches to size,I made sure everything was pressed flat.
I arraigned the diamond patches into six point stars. These stars were sewn together with background patches and that created the finished block. Twelve of these blocks were then sashed with a bubble gum pink print style fabric popular back in the 1800’s. This makes for a colorful and lively quilt I really like and enjoyed making.I machine quilted this in an all over abstract design with a taupe thread then finished the quilt with a dark navy binding.
Beverly Quilter 