The quilting technique I learned from Rachel Maus at the Surfside Stashbusters Workshop on Monday is named (by Rachel),"It Doesn't Matter" and uses scraps, strips, orphan blocks, whatever you have at hand. "It Doesn't Matter!" The fabric can be color coordinated or not - I.D.M! I started with some leftover pieced strips (like Chinese Coins), some off-cuts from squaring a quilt and some strips of various widths/lengths. But the color was so DULL that I started adding strips of red and black/white - guaranteed to spark up anything. Sew the fabrics together any way you wish - random, log cabin style, square in a square, whatever - I.D.M! I didn't get out any orphan blocks (because I don't know where that box is right now), but several in the workshop used them to great effect. What you are aiming for is square blocks between 6.5 inches and 9.5 inches. As you are sewing square up the results, according to your own persnickety desire, or don't - I.D.M! I have used a 9.5" square ruler paired with a 11.5" square ruler. More about these rulers at the bottom of this post.
Here are my four 9.5" somewhat randomly pieced blocks which I have arranged and rearranged until I found a combo that is tolerable! 
Then I sewed them together and pressed them as flat as I could.
Photographing an acrylic ruler on top of the patched blocks isn't very legible, so I cut a piece of lightweight cardboard just for the clarity of the photo. I aligned my 11.5" square just as the cardboard is shown here. Don't cut edge to edge of the fabric - instead cut from one corner of the acrylic square to the next. Which leaves me with....
.... a sort of frame with an 11.5" hole in the middle.
With scissors I cut from each inside point to the outside edge of the fabric creating four triangles with each of two points cut off. Now I match the short sides of two triangles and sew, then repeat with the other two triangles.
The resulting triangles go together creating a second block with a bias edge all the way around. Care must be taken to not stretch this bias edge out of shape - I carefully pressed the joining seams in the middle, not the outer edge. Using the larger of my acrylic squares I trimmed the block to size,
and I have the first two blocks for my "It Doesn't Matter" quilt. It will be necessary to make all the blocks, put them up on a design board (or pin them to a wall) and move them around to make a pleasing combination. Since these blocks are 11.5" square I will need 16 blocks for a 44" square quilt without a border. I might also add sashing between the blocks, cornerstones at the sashing intersections or some other arrangement of putting them together.
Acrylic square rulers come in a LOT of different sizes. Rachel's inspired idea is to use these rulers in pairs. The combinations that she uses are:
Acrylic square rulers come in a LOT of different sizes. Rachel's inspired idea is to use these rulers in pairs. The combinations that she uses are:
6" or 6.5" square paired with a 7.5" square
7.5"square paired with an 8.5" or a 9.5"square
7.5"square paired with an 8.5" or a 9.5"square
8.5" square paired with a 9.5" or a 10.5" square
9.5" square paired with a 10.5" or an 11.5" square
5 comments:
Very interesting Del! I want to see the outcome! I know I like the colors ..Thanks for the little lesson! wish I had gone to that class.
Good for you for starting the new year with a new project! So, when you sew the four triangles together, it matches the size of the square you cut out of the center?
Your project looks like fun. I think I'd need someone standing by to tell me exactly what to do. We will wait for the finished quilt.
Uh - we need to talk.
Okay, I tried this technique yesterday, and posted a picture of my first two blocks on my blog today. Thanks for the step-by-step!
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