NEW'BEE Hearts for Sherri

Here are my NEW'BEE hearts for Sherri for February -

these were fun to make, Sherri, and your tutorial was perfect too! These are going in the mail tomorrow - enjoy!

Unsuccessfuly setting my scrappy hearts

I love what everyone is doing with their 15 minutes. So inspiring.

As for me, I have gone ahead and set my scrappy heart blocks, and I tried to think outside of the box, but I am not thrilled with the way it came out.
It doesn't read this way, but it is supposed to be alternating sets (snowball block, bordered block, snowball block) but the borders are too thin (due to my own errors) so it isn't giving me the alternating look I had pictured in my mind:
Oh well, that is what experimenting is for!

I'm finishing this off and starting a new with the lessons that I learned, there are plenty of scraps where these came from!

Help me figure out how to set my scrappy blocks!

I love all you inspiring 15-minute+ quilters. I feel like I know you all from the types of fabric in your blocks. Makes me realize I don't think outside the box enough!

I have been busy (with my benign fabrics). Me and my little helpers have finished all the blocks for my 15-minute scrappy top.



But now I am stuck. I need to figure out how to set them. I did some practice layouts (please ignore the warped perspective of the pictures, I had to lay out the blocks on the floor since I don't have a design wall anymore.)

I could do them in horizontal rows by color:

or I could do diagonal rows:

Or I could just lay them out randomly.
I have a clear favorite, but was looking for some feedback.

ALSO any opinions on how I could set them using nothing but scraps? I was thinking of making fabric to make scrappy sashing.. like this:

Quilt from Alice Cordell Quilts

(Ironic that she used hearts on white as well.)

Should I stick with just a single color (I would use blue since that is the color I have the greatest number of scraps)? I am not really sure how I would incorporate multiple colors of sashing.

I am just stuck creatively. I was also pondering cutting the blocks down and then setting them with alternating squares of scrappy fabric, but I'm having trouble picturing if I would like that or if it would be too busy.

Any thoughts? Thanks ya'all.

(This post has also been modified and posted at the The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love blog )

Using my first batch of 15 minute fabrics

Here is what I came up with in order to:
1) Use my 15 minute scrappy fabric
2) Practice machine applique



I chose to use the freezer paper method and it was pretty easy. The machine sewing wasn't bad at all (It may even convert me from a hand appliquer since it went so fast). Really, the worst part was folding over the edges since there were so many seams and strange biases.

So far I have gotten though 3 blocks (Yes they are appliqued down at wonky angles, I did that on purpose. If I decide I don't like it I plan on re-squaring them up once they are all completed.)

I have decided I am going to do 4 sets of 3 blocks in each color. Lets see how it goes!

Scrap Kitties

I keep my scraps in a basket, so when I need a small piece, I can grab from that.
I wanted to make a box of kitties, so I grabbed some pieces and sewed them together.
These are larger pieces, I wanted to keep the tops clearer for the faces.

After I made up large blocks, I used freezer templates to cut them out.
You can do this with any shape and in smaller versions, for make ahead gifts.




I also made some hearts, using this method and used the machine to piece, then floss over the seams to give it a more primitive, handmade look.