New Old Work, Part 2
Another recent finish is my Bitty Blocks row quilt. I started this years ago when I was working as an editor for Quiltmaker. We had this idea to create 3″ and 4″ blocks and post them for free on our website. There was no such thing as a marketing team so we had to market ourselves, and this was one of the ways we did it.
The thing about Bitty Blocks is that they’re addictive. You make a few, and then you make a few more, and you’re having so much fun that pretty soon you have 50 little 4″ stars or 70 tiny houses at 3″ x 3″, and then what?
Over the winter I got serious about finishing. I’m sewing mostly from my stash because I want to be able to show people how to do that. I decided on aqua for the spacer rows, but I had only fat quarters and small bits of it.
I shot an experimental video to show you what I did. It’s kind of wobbly but you’ll get the idea, and I’ll get better at shooting these.
Value is the lightness or darkness of a fabric compared to its neighbors.
Julie Lechner @beenquiltin quilted it for me and she always adds such nice details. I’m blown away by her talent for machine quilting.
To me it looks like she’s just having FUN when she quilts!
I didn’t have any blue that would work for a binding so I went with the next best thing—red.
In hindsight, I could have done a wider border and scalloped the edges for a nicer finish. But done is better than perfect! So we’ll call it good.
Christmas Bitty Blocks?! Yes!
I’m making plans for Christmas Bitty Blocks. Would you like to sew along with me? So much fun!
Another finish for the week is Hexie Kisses, a pattern from Jen Kingwell.
I pieced this a long time ago but never had it quilted. Julie quilted it, too and I love the texture she added.
The hexie sides are only 2″ so that little white triangle isn’t very big. And she managed three graceful loops inside!
I love the elongated loops in the hexagons, too. And the gray setting triangles?
This is what it means for a quilter to bring your piecing to life.
Hexie Kisses was not a hard quilt to piece, to my surprise. It was pure joy to sew it all together.
On the other hand, I am struggling mightily with my current project, Framed Hexies in scrappy blues, a pattern by Emily Dennis at Quilty Love.
I sew and sew and sew, and it gets 2.5″ longer. Feels like I’ve been at it for months. Trying mightily to stay the course!
What are you working on? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Quilt on, my friends.
Tags: hexagons, machine quilting, make extraordinary scrap quilts, scrap quilts, UFOs
Nancy Arnoldy
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I’m working on some half hexie projects, NOT framed. And they are taking some time, so I can imagine how much time the framed ones take! But they do require a design wall.
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Diane
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I have all the itty bitty block patterns on my computer from when you had them on quiltmaker. I did make some of them and still have them. I’ll have to put this on my list of quilts to make.
Diane
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Jennifer Grist
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I loved the Bitty Blocks! They were so much fun and I have a boxful, waiting to be made into something. I don’t know when that will be as I am the Queen of UFO’s and easily led into trying a new block. Currently working on quilting in the ditch on a log cabin project and hand sewing some funny cat squares.
Your quilter has done a wonderful job!
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Jean
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I love those bitty blocks, and truly thought I had saved them when they came out. Couldn’t find them, but did a search and found the blog where many of the patterns are available to download still.
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Marilyn
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What beautiful quilting! And I remember bitty blocks–made a few of them and they are stashed somewhere! I would be interested in a Christmas bitty block project–I have a stash of Christmas fabric for the Christmas quilt I am going to make some day. I am currently working on a “Noah’s Ark” panel that was donated to our guild. Panel, batting, backing were all already cut. Batting and backing were cut a half inch to an inch too short all the way around. Guess I better sharpen my problem-solving skills!
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Diane Harris
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That does sounds like a challenge! But I know you, and you’ll figure it out! 🙂
Darlene Davis
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Are the patterns still available somewhere for these Bitty Blocks? I love all things small.
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Diane Harris
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Hi Darlene, here’s a link to the Bitty Blocks: https://www.quiltingdaily.com/the-bitty-blocks-of-2015-free-quilt-block-patterns-quilty-pleasures-blog/