I have been in serious scrap and stash busting mode. When I saw that Rachel at Stitched in Color started a Scrap Attack {String Fever}, I jumped right in. Good excuse to hit my bucket of strip scraps. I wanted something easy that I didn’t have to think too much about. Using Excel, I laid out a 12″ block as below.
Then moved that block to Illustrator to mock up a quilt.
In this diagram, I am assuming 6″ width strips. The layout shows how many 1″ strips I can layout before beginning to shorten the strips. If I’m working with 1 – 1.5″ strips, I can cut 7″ strips (if I started over, I would start with 8″ strips to allow more room) and have a width for a 12″+ block. If the strips are 2″ or more then they also need to be longer to allow for the 45° angle. As the strip sets are sewn together, each strip will be offset approximately the width of the strip. A 1.5″ strip would be offset from the edge of the previous strip by the same amount. To be honest, the safest way for me to sew these and have good cuts is to use my binder ruler and mark the 45° degree as I sew the strips together.
The diagram shows a herringbone type join. I’m actually sewing those in a straight 45° angle. You can see my first finished block here. Notice how narrow the two center strips appear. I would have done better to start with longer basic strips so I could have worked toward a 6″ wide sewn strip, but I still like it. I’m using different width strips and it’s going to be totally scrappy.
This will make a dent in my scrap box, but I’ve got a ways to go. Do you have any suggestions for quick, scrappy quilts? I need ideas!
Happy quilting!
threadtime 