Shop Samples

The Leftover Challenge

 

This is a little challenge pattern I wrote for my friend Lucy’s Quilt shop. I made a shop sample for her, and couldn’t resist turning the leftovers into something fun too. I need to work on photo placement - this seems like the longest post ever.

What can you do with the leftover bits from creating this pattern?

Here’s my story.

I started with the, “Sunset,” pattern from Sunflower Hill Designs. (note: I added an inner border, 2” cut)

The pattern is accurate and easy to follow. As a bonus, you end up with some (I got 96) pieced ½ square triangles, and some 4 ½ “ strips.

I’m not one to let anything go to waste, and nice leftovers are a quilt with half the planning done, right? At the very least you know the fabrics coordinate with one another.

The 4 ½” strips became simple table runners. I added a 1 ½” cut inner border, and a 3” cut outer border in coordinating fabrics. “Very simple, very easy.”

I was so excited about the ½ square triangles, I neglected to spend a bit more time paying attention to sincere accuracy in my piecing. I go for overall effect, so I’m okay with missing a few points here and there. You’ll have to design your leftovers at your comfort level.

The leftover ½ squares will create spinning blocks that spin in both directions. I made 8 blocks that were pinwheels, and 20 blocks that were paddlewheels. I have both kinds of blocks spinning in both directions. Because the fabrics are fairly low in contrast, the paddle wheel blocks look a little more like diamond in a square blocks.

 

Since I had blocks that were going in different directions and things just wouldn’t fly for a pinwheel/ paddlewheel secondary block variation, I decided to try a variation of a Trip Around the World quilt. My two styles of blocks each, “read,” like one style of block when something was placed in between.

I “fussy cut,” the circles (2 ½” squares) and surrounded them with 2 ½” strips. I trimmed both the paddle/pinwheel blocks and the alternate blocks to be 5 ½”. The setting triangles were pieced to form an interior border. A 3 1/2” square cut on the diagonal, is sewn to an 8” x 3” strip. I folded the strip in ½ to mark the center, position the triangle,  sew and trim. I know there is probably a more mathematical solution, where I could make a template and be more conservative with my fabric, but, it would be mathematical and involve math.

I laid everything out on my design wall, and pieced the diagonal rows together. I had thought that the stripe would be enough of an outer border, but, it just wasn’t quite right. So, I added a 4 ½” outer border that really frames it nicely, and pushes your eye through the quilt.

This photo came out awfully dark, but the border really does look good. Now, I challenge you to show your leftovers!