Stash Bandit
  • Home
  • Booking Inquiries
  • Blog
  • Ideas & How-tos
  • Trunk Shows by Diane Harris
  • Classes
  • Galleries
  • About
  • Contact
  • Calendar
Stash Bandit

Making a Scrappy Row Quilt: Bitty Blocks

Written by Diane Harris on January 23, 2018. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas

I unearthed a corner of my studio last week and came across some treasures. Neatly stacked in a cardboard box were my QM Bitty Blocks from 2015. I and other QM staff members designed these little gems as freebies that we presented month by month on the Quiltmaker blog that year.

It was so much fun. I made blocks in about half of the months but as always, there were more ideas than hours in the day, so my sweet little piles were set aside without being finished into a quilt. Coming across them again was like rediscovering old friends and I think it’s time they became a quilt.

 

I started out by arranging a few rows and sewing those blocks together: baskets, houses and hearts.

 

I added a 1″ strip between the hearts to finish at 1/2″ because I like them better with a little space between them than if they’re right next to each other.

I had some leftover triangle-squares from another project, so I sewed them together into a row, too—see them at the bottom of the photo above?

 

 

Because of all the Baby Windmills I have made, I have tons of 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ rectangles already cut. Feeling impatient to make progress, I thought to sew them side by side into a row. It’s bordered by aqua, above. But something about it wasn’t right. I realized that everything else on the wall had lots of light background, and this row did not.

 

 

So I made a new row and used a light for every other patch. Much better!

I have a whole bin of leftover parts, pieces and patches from past quilts, and I dug through it to see what I could use. I joined a bunch of creamy Four Patches into a row.

 

 

It’s at the very top in the photo below. I think it’s too creamy so it will probably be rejected.

 

 

But all is not lost because that gave me an idea for another quilt. Wouldn’t those creamy checkerboards look beautiful in an autumn quilt with rusts, golds and maroon? I’ll have to sleep on it.

 

 

Today I’m making Flying Geese to finish at 1″ x 2″. I’m using stitch-and-flip, but these small Flying Geese are the only time I think it’s the best method. For larger geese, other techniques work better for me. The patches above are cut 1.5″ x 2.5″. They become the goose.

 

 

The lighter backgrounds are cut 1.5″ x 1.5″. I put them at the ends of the larger rectangular patches and sew diagonally from corner to corner before trimming, opening and pressing to get a Flying Geese unit.

 

 

This is a scrappy quilt so I used different fabrics for each background patch. I like this look in this type of quilt. I thought to join some Flying Geese to see how it was going before I made hundreds of them, and I’m glad I did.

 

 

I think they’re pretty busy; they could use more contrast. Fabrics with less pattern will look better. So I cut more patches and am ready to carry on.

 

Little Bitty Love by Paula Stoddard

My friend Paula Stoddard brought her finished Bitty Blocks quilt to our quilt retreat in Colorado. It was inspiring! You can still get the pattern, or you’ll find it if you have the back issue off the newsstand called Quiltmaker Row Quilts.

  *   *   *   *   *


Scrap quilts are my specialty! I have a dynamic trunk show called Make Extraordinary Scrap Quilts, and I’d love to bring it to your quilt group. Get in touch today!

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Please follow and like me!
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram

Tags: bitty blocks, flying geese, qm bitty blocks, scrap quilts

Comments (6)

  • Pam Carlson

    January 23, 2018 at 8:15 pm | #

    I love this row by row!!!!

    Reply

    • Diane Harris

      January 24, 2018 at 7:34 am | #

      Thanks, Pam! 🙂

  • kaye M

    January 23, 2018 at 8:22 pm | #

    I am glad that you are putting your bitty blocks together! I followed along and made those little blocks each month that year and set them together in rows. I enjoyed working on it and it was exciting to see what the new pattern would be for the month . I am happy with how my quilt turned out! I can’t wait to see yours!

    Reply

    • Diane Harris

      January 24, 2018 at 7:34 am | #

      Your quilt–I think it was in purples and maybe blues?– was fabulous in every way! I’m so glad you enjoyed making it. 🙂

  • SANDI GRIEPENSTROH

    January 24, 2018 at 6:26 am | #

    Kaye Mattson from our GI guild made this quilt and brought it for show and tell. It was so adorable! Yours is very fun, as always, with your bright and happy color choices! I love that you “find” stuff like this…I wish that happened to me! What a delightful surprise 🙂

    Reply

    • Diane Harris

      January 24, 2018 at 7:35 am | #

      Thanks, Sandi! Now for more hours in the day to finish them up. 🙂

Leave a comment

Search

Contact

Stash Bandit
Diane Harris
Bladen, NE
402-756-1541
Email Diane

Sign Up Links

  • Follow the Blog
  • Get Stash Bandit News by Email

Social Links

Popular Topics

baby windmills Christmas quilts classes color for quilters Dresden plate easy quilts electric quilt electric quilt company EQ8 fabric fabric savvy free quilt block free quilt pattern free quilt patterns giveaways guild programs helpful how-tos holiday quilts how-tos improv piecing inspiration International Quilt Study Center and Museum jingle bells trunk show machine quilting make extraordinary scrap quilts one hundred small quilts original quilt designs quilt design quilt ideas quilting 101 Quiltmaker quilt museum quilt retreat sampler quilts scrap quilts stash bandit classes stash bandit trunk shows stash sewing trunk shows UFO UFOs value vintage quilts wagner's quilts windy wonders
© 2017 Stash Bandit     Site Credits: Infuze Creative
  • Home
  • Booking Inquiries
  • Blog
  • Ideas & How-tos
  • Trunk Shows by Diane Harris
  • Classes
  • Galleries
  • About
  • Contact
  • Calendar