5th Quilt from Box of Scraps

DONE!  Yes, I'm still finishing that "box of scraps".  Our Guild is preparing for our Quilt Show and suddenly we needed a few more quilts.  This was close to completed, so I got off my you-know-what and finished it in several hours.  (Why do we wait so long?)  

It's not large, and looks a lot like a previous quilt.  This one is about 53" x 63".  I deliberately chose that busy backing.    

This project taught me about using a formula for cutting variable width floating borders.  Thank you Gyleen Fitzgerald!

I also learned (second effort) about making a faux flange.  My strips were 1 5/8 and 1 3/8 in., narrower than most of the instructions and next time I'll reduce them more, to 1 1/2 in. and 1 1/4 inches.  The binding is sewn to the back, then machine stitched to the front.  

If this is new to you, hints.  Be very neat and precise.  Quilt the top all the way to the edge, then trim exactly.  Be exact with those binding strips and don't stretch them when pressing.  When sewing down the binding,  I wanted to use my regular quarter inch foot as it's more precise than my walking foot - that is why I quilted to the edge and chose very narrow strips.  The last seam is on the front, with Smoke, invisible thread, very slowly and carefully.  Those stitches on front are extremely difficult to see.  Yeahhhhh!  

The busy backing was intentional because despite precision efforts, stitches were going to show where I didn't want them.  It's OK and it's DONE!

I have 4 quilts in the show, with no expectations for ribbons but ya always hope, don't ya?  Putting quilts in the Quilt Show takes effort, doesn't it?  Our show is local, with ribbons awarded by visitor ballots. 

The X Block

I've had this ruler for years, but never actually USED it.  After seeing several tutorials on YouTube, I decided to give it a try.  It's on the right, with the packaging and it says 6 1/2".  That's just one of several sizes available.  (Packaging may be different now due to new owners.)

First I had to FIND the ruler in my "collection" -- miraculously, the  Instruction/Pattern book was with the ruler.  This book has wonderful ideas, options, and patterns for various sized rulers - I'm glad I have it.  I chose a simple baby quilt.  I had 1 yd. pieces of 3 fabrics and they are stripped together (NOT 2 1/2" strips).  Here is my finished project, about 44" x 60"  My "cutsie is the bright blue with frogs  (the star), so I learned that the middle of the strip set should have been the "cutsie" as my cute frogs are all chopped up.  My strip set, from Left to right was 1)light with little green things, 2)plain light blue, and 3)bright blue frog pattern.  Each block is the same.   There is a good amount of waste but it's reused in a border.

From start to finish,  2 sewing days.  This was the easiest design but some of the design suggestions are  downright stunning!  The ruler is used either right side up or flipped over for an entirely different project.