I have finished up my monthly scrap challenge projects. April was declared as the orange month. Angela, of So Scrappy, suggested including accents of black; like a Monarch butterfly. While this is a nice idea, it didn’t work for any of my projects. Plus, orange and black makes me think of Halloween, which just doesn’t feel right in April.
I made my improv HST’s and I love them! I am totally enjoying the process of piecing all of these scraps together and slicing them right back up again into half square triangles. I have the HST’s sized at 9 inches right now.
Half square triangles can be arranged in an endless number of ways.
Each arrangement brings an entirely different look to the project.
Just changing the perspective on this arrangement (setting the blocks on point) changes the look.
All of those gray dotted blocks would provide great negative space to quilt! Even with all of these choices, I am debating cutting them again to make quarter square triangles. I haven’t decided yet but I think I may want to have the blocks a bit smaller than nine inches. With quarter scale triangles, I could do an hourglass pattern or a ribbon pattern (some call it a DNA quilt pattern.) So many ways to do this! I will wait until I get a few more months done and then maybe it will make itself known to me, as these things often do.
For the Gemstones quilt, I took a suggestion from Cynthia Brunz and used rust colors instead of brighter orange tones. The suggestion was absolute genius. These blocks call out Topaz, or Tiger’s Eye, and what is better for a quilt called Gemstones?
I will confess that I had to go buy a few fat quarters to be able to use this colorway. I only had a few in my stash. Aren’t they gorgeous though?
I added the green sashing strip to one side of each block so I could see what that framework would look like. It’s perfect! At this point, I have made blocks to represent Amethyst, Topaz, Sapphire, and Rose Quartz. I still need to make blocks in Ruby Red and Emerald Green. What other gems need to be included? Maybe a lighter green for Peridot?
Finally, I used the last of the orange patchwork squares to make a little hot pad. I will pop this in the mail to my sister who seems to have a thing for orange right now.
I used two layers of Insul Bright for insulation which makes it a bit stiff to handle. I found it was challenging to bind. Or maybe I just didn’t pay close enough attention? I machine stitched it to the front and back and it only looks ok. Should be alright since this will end up in a kitchen drawer and not under anyone’s close inspection!
Scrappy projects for April are complete! This week I will continue to work on the Stepping Stones QAL. I was very happy to see (on Instagram) that Sandra over at Musings of a Menopaulsal Melon (probably the best blog name out there) joined in. She is making a great quilt using a neutral palette. In addition, I am working on a mystery QAL over at The Inbox Jaunt. More on that later this week. Finally, I will be hosting Free Motion Mavericks for Muv this week. I hope you will come back on Thursday and link up your FMQ projects!!
As always, I am linking this post up with all of my favorite spots. Check them out at the top of the page, under Link Ups.
I like all of those layouts. what a great way to use those crumb blocks. A peridot for the gemstones quilt would be nice, and how about an aqua or light blue for aquamarines?
Ahh, I love the aquamarine ideae. That is the perfect shade to add to the list. Thanks Mari. How was the wedding?? Hope it all went well!
Definitely peridot. If you want really deep green or rose, both of those are in tourmaline. Red could be ruby or garnet, too. Citrine is yellow, isn’t it?
I think I will go with all of those. The deep green and the paler green, a pale blue, yellow. So many colors for these gemstone blocks! This is an easy one to shop my stash for!
I love your scrappy triangles with the brown dots. And I love that they are 9″. How bold! Depending on the size of quilt, they wouldn’t be too large at all. It will be interesting to see what you do next with these.
Thank you Nancy. These scrappy blocks are so fun to make. Luckily there is no hurry to complete the project. I will keep on making them and playing with them…. I’m sure I will eventually decide how to use them. This will be a lap quilt, so not a huge one. So glad you came by!
Hmmm, what to do with all those oranges. You’ve got a great start of projects going on for the RSC challenge this year. I went overboard with mine, now up to 5 projects since I added the churn dash colletion to my list. Will have to taper back for next year. LOL
Oh my gosh! Five is a lot. I bet you have loads of scrappy fabric to use up. Good luck with all of the projects. 🙂
HSTs are so versatile, and going to quarter square triangles could be a lot of fun, too. I do use those a lot in my own designs and play.
You did so much with orange this month, and it really is a wonderfully versatile color.
In terms of gemstones, I think of Opal and how shimmery it can be – in almost any color. It might not work for your grouping, but it could be a lot of fun. 🙂
I was actually thinking of doing something with pale pinks, greens and blues and calling it Opal. Great minds think alike. ?
Cute blocks and projects Bernie!! Thanks for sharing!
That hot pad is flaming orange and already very hot 🙂
I am sure your gemstones quilt will be a riot of color and loveliness. Love the rust.
Hugs,
Preeti.
Preeti, you have such a great way with words. Thank you for the comment! Hope all is well.
B.
Great job with the orange scraps… love the hotpad!
Thank you Kathy! Now it is time to dig through the green scrap bin for the May projects – perfect since May’s birthstone is Emerald!
Lovely collection of gems. That hotpad will come in handy for sure.
Thank you Angela – looking forward to playing with green scraps this month. I will be looking for shades to make my “emeral” gems this month. The green scrappy bin is overflowing so it shouldn’t be a problem!
Beautiful blocks. I Love the little orange hot pad. Happy Srappy new week/month!
Hi Ivani, Thanks for your kind words. I just checked what color we are doing for the month. Looks like darker greens. That is perfect for me – green of any shade is a favorite of mine.
Love your scrappy HSTs. In the larger size like those the fabrics and your construction can be appreciated, which is,what I like. And the overall look is not busy or fussy. Peridot is my favorite gemstone, so lively. You could keep going quite a while with the gems. Love the topaz, very rich.
Thanks Paula- I love the topaz blocks too. This month I will be working on Emerald blocks! Should be really pretty.