For a number of years now, Angela of soscrappy has hosted what she calls the "Rainbow Scrap Challenge". The idea is to use up your scraps, one month at a time, one color at a time. (not that I could ever really use up all my scraps! 😏) I have decided to give it a try this year. The color for January is RED.
The first decision, of course, is what pattern to use? I decided that this was (finally!) the right time to use Eleanor Burns' book "Birds in the Air".
I bought this book back in 2001 when it was first published. Eleanor's sister, Pat Knoechel, came to our guild and demonstrated the technique. I thought it was genius and bought the book but had yet to make the quilt. Some other quilt project always seemed to come first. Well, at last, it is time for these birds to take flight.
I went through my stash and pulled out an assortment of red scraps:
The Eleanor Burns method for making Birds in the Air blocks makes two blocks at the same time. You start with something that looks like this:
You draw a couple of sewing lines on the back like this:
Then you pair it with a larger rectangle of the red fabric, sew on the lines, cut it in half, and you get these:
As I said, it's GENIUS!
BUT, after cutting my "scraps" into units for the blocks, I had created more scraps.
These were too big to just toss. I decided that while I was making the Half square triangle units I needed for my blocks, that I would also create a solid red block made up of just scraps, also known as a "crumb" block. Eventually, I had this:
Now, the only scraps I had left over were these:
Now that's a pile of scraps I can bear to toss!
Here is my first month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge result: 6 Birds and 1 Crumb. Birds and crumbs make a good pair, no?
I'm thinking that I'll make additional Bird blocks each month in the chosen color and eventually put them together something like this:
I expect there will be more crumb blocks, too. Those will have to sort themselves out later.
I've seen the Rainbow Scrap Challenge before but never took part in it. I like what you've done so far. It's so great to use up those scraps!
ReplyDeleteThe Birds in the Air block is one of my favorites, but I have never seen how it was made before. That really is genius! They're going to make a beautiful scrappy rainbow quilt!
ReplyDeleteReally nice blocks! Hey, I have that book. Maybe I should look at it again, this looks like so much fun.
ReplyDeleteBirds in the Air will be wonderful. And the bonus crumb blocks will be too!!
ReplyDeleteThose blocks are like magic!! Smart thinking using the leftover bits for Crumb blocks, too.
ReplyDeleteYour blocks are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteYour blocks turned out perfectly. That method looks like a real time saver.
ReplyDeleteYou are going to wind up with a great quilt. I have seen the pattern before but have not seen that technique. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great block to choose! So fun that you used your scraps to create. Bonus crumb block too! Lovely.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great block and will make a very fun RSC quilt. Love that you took all the extras and made a crumb block - that means you will actually make some space in your scrap bins!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the detailed article
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