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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Finally Digging in the Pink!

I made myself sit down and play in my pink scraps today for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge .... what fun!!!



Introducing Fantasia!  

This block is inspired by a quilt I saw on Pinterest made by Leanne at She Can Quilt.  She calls her quilt Butterflies, but she says the original block found in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Quilt Patterns, is called Fan Quadrille, designed by Mountain Mist.  What a quaint, old-fashioned name!  Makes me envision a fancy ballroom filled with colorful ladies and gentlemen, all dressed up in their finest and dancing very properly to some very dainty music, 18th century-ish.  But this quilt will not be at all old-fashioned, and I'm not thinking it will be very proper or dainty either.  I'm thinking it will be more along the lines of fun and sassy!  And so I've renamed this quilt Fantasia.

Don't you love all the different pinks in this block?  My pink scraps are very limited and I have to admit I was really tempted to bring out the fat quarters and cut some pieces from them.  But I am determined to make all my RSC13 projects strictly from scraps, with the exception of unifying backgrounds, sashing, etc.  After all, this is a SCRAP challenge, right?

http://superscrappy.blogspot.com

This was not a particularly easy block to make, so I'm glad I only have to make one a month.  I had planned to simply cut some squares and some drunkard's path blocks.  But as you can see from the initial layout below, that didn't quite work out....


The circles are too circular, and there is no smooth transition to the square blocks.  See the difference in the reconstructed block below?  The upper right corner is now a smooth curve, much better than the too round section in the bottom left corner....


In order to cut those smooth curves, I got out my handy-dandy Quick Curve Ruler designed by Jenny over at Sew Kind of Wonderful.   I really love this ruler!  It made very quick work of cutting these curves, and I was able to cut all the pieces at one time!

Of course, I had to recut new pink pieces, and I cut them a quarter inch larger to give me some wiggle room on sewing the curves.


I was able to salvage the white corners thankfully...


After sewing them together, I trimmed the section down to 3-1/2" square to fit the block.  You may notice that the white section is just a smidge (that's a word isn't it?) short of the 3-1/2", but I kept that in mind as I put them all together and it worked out fine.  For future blocks, I'll cut the white squares a little larger too before I make the cut for the curves.


Here's the first "fan" with nice soft curves, laid out and ready for sewing!  :*D


I think I will enjoy making this block now that I have worked out the kinks LOL!!!  I'm hoping it will make a fun, bright, happy quilt.


Next, I started on my Crossroads blocks.  This is also a pattern I found on Pinterest, created by Amanda at Threadbias blog.  She has a tutorial for this if you like the block and would like to make one, or two or a dozen.... they are like candy - too good to stop at one!

I dug into my 2-1/2" strips bin to see what I might have in pink for this block....  hmmm, not much!  But look at that wonderful Supergirl fabric!


It's a shame that iconic "S" wouldn't show up in this block, so I'm saving one strip of it for another project.  I plan to make four of these little blocks in each color so that there will be a lot of variety of color in the finished quilt at the end of the year.  They go together very easily.  Don't these look fun?


Next week is the last Saturday for pinks, and I'm planning to work on my Lone Starburst blocks then.  I talked about them on a previous blogpost HERE.  Then, if I have any pink scraps left over, I'll cut them into squares to go in my precuts - unless I decide to get crazy and make more blocks ;*D

Be sure to go over to SoScrappy to see all the other lovely PINK projects in process for the 
Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year!

Hugs & Blessings,
Teresa
=^..^=

22 comments:

  1. Wow, for a limited pink scrap stash, you sure churned out a bevy of beautiful blocks! Now, if you want to see a limited stash of pink scraps, drop by anytime. : )

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  2. Great pink blocks. I love the gentle curve on the first block. I like the 2nd one two. Wow you are going to have a stack of great quilts at the end of the year.

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  3. LOVE these blocks! And your pink scraps :)

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  4. Great looking blocks. I too made 4 crossroads blocks, they are soooooooo quick and easy. I only used 1.5 strips for mine though. I think they were 6.5 inches when finished. I will more than likely need more than 4 of each color. But since my scraps are multiplying I keep sewing other projects too. I think I am up to 8, and that doesn't count the string blocks.

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  5. Fantasia is beautiful, well worth all the work you've put into it and I love all your pink fabrics.

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  6. Your blocks are great! And all the pink - beautiful!

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  7. Great blocks, especially fantasia! Wonderful way to use up scraps and make something gorgeous!

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  8. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this block!! What a wonderful quilt Fantasia will be!!

    Be Joyful!!

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  9. Love the Fantasia block. The curve is just right. Glad you worked out how to do it. Thanks goodness for specialty rulers, they can come in handy for just the right project. Crossroads is going to be lots of fun too, and looks a lot easier to make.

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  10. Love that block. The curve you changed is just perfect. Love the explanation on how you got there. A very pretty quilt in the making.

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  11. I love it! I really like pink so that makes them even prettier to me :)

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  12. I really do like your re-construction of the block and the easing of the circles. Very unique and, yes, very pink. Lovely. Judy C

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  13. All of your blocks are just beautiful Teresa! I'm copying you and making the Crossroads blocks. My stash of pink is slim too.

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  14. What pretty blocks! Love that first one.

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  15. So much inspiration in your post - thank you! Love the Butterfly block - and you're right, Fantasia is the perfect name! I am not familiar with the Perfect Curve ruler, but I'm going to check it out. And now you've gotten me interested in the Crossroads block, it looks like a great way to burn up more scraps!

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  16. Good work on your block redo. I'm not sure I would have gone through the effort to make improvements, but I'm glad you did!

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  17. Very cool...I've never seen that ruler before!

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  18. Love your pink blocks! It's bright and cheery. Great designing and your final blocks are fabulous.

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  19. How pretty all these pinks are together -- and such a cool block! I'm saving the blocks from the curved qal -- just in case some day I'm ready to work 'em!! You've really got the 'pinks' bad, don't ya?! :)

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  20. Oh..wow, that's fantastic!! Love that you are finding different ways to use the ruler...that's what it should be all about, making quilting life easier!

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  21. Fabulous pink blocks Teresa! and what a neat ruler :)

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