Scraps Squared Pattern Updated

In my quest to make all my patterns available in printed form, I've updated and expanded my Scraps Squared pattern. It now includes baby (48" x 48") and queen (90" x 90") size options, along with the original throw (60" x 72") size shown.

This is one of my favourite patterns because I love anything that lets me use up some of my scraps 😊 I don't know about you, but I could probably make 6 more of these without running out of scraps!

Sewing the 4 patches together is a great leaders and enders project, which is exactly how I made mine (plus all the ones I still have sitting in a baggie waiting to be used, lol).

You can get the updated Scraps Squared PDF pattern from my Etsy or Payhip shops. Printed patterns will be available soon.

What colour background would you use? I'm thinking a blue background would be great, though that would eliminate a good portion of my scraps, since blue is definitely dominant in my scrap bag!

Not Alone

Devotion for the Week...

Jesus told us straight out, "Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows" (John 16:33). We won't all face the same things, but every single one of us will have problems of some sort. Unfortunately, some of the problems people face make them feel completely alone, separated from everyone, and like no one else has ever experienced the trouble they're facing. None of those things are true, but the feeling of it can be overwhelming.

I find that this is true, especially, of mental illness because of the stigma that has always been attached to it. People who are dealing with depression or anxiety often don't want to talk about it because it feels like a weakness or a character flaw in a way that having a physical illness doesn't.

Opening up to someone, though, can sometimes bring relief when you discover that the person you're talking with knows exactly what you feel. I saw that happen recently when I was a part of a conversation in which one person talked about his recent struggle with depression. Another person said to him, "If it's any comfort to you, I've been where you are and I came out on the other side." You could see the man's face change as those words sank in and he felt the hope that was in them.

I've been there. These are powerful words to someone who feels alone and lost.

I know a young woman who is walking the difficult road of infertility and who started a blog to document her journey in the hopes that it would help someone else to not feel alone. I know another woman with a chronic illness who posts often about her treatment on IG and FB and connects that way with others who have to have similar treatments so they can lift each other up. Connecting with others who understand the specifics of our situation can lessen the feelings of separation, of no one having gone through what we're going through. It can make us feel seen and understood rather than alone and lost.

Paul tells us that God "comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us" (2 Corinthians 1:4). His comfort is all around us, residing in people who understand what we are going through and can give us comfort through that understanding.

Whatever you are facing today, know that you are not alone. Reach out to others and you may be surprised by the understanding and comfort you receive.

Wyoming Valley Block - IB February Challenge/Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop

Note, the fabrics for this project were given to me by Island Batik as part of their ambassador program.

Welcome to my stop on the Dust Off a Quilt Book blog hop 😊 When Bea said she was planning this hop, it sounded like such a great idea I signed up right away. The only question then was, which old book would I use? I have so many great quilting books and magazines there's no way I'll ever use them all, but this was a great excuse to dig one out and make something from it, so thanks for the opportunity, Bea!

If this is your first time here, thanks for stopping by! If you're interested, I'd love to have you join in the Medallion Magic QAL. We're cutting our fabric this month, so there's plenty of time to get caught up before we start sewing next month. 

This quilt is also my February Island Batik ambassador challenge project. Our challenge this month was to create a mini quilt measuring less than 24" x 24". Mine is 12" x 12", so it definitely qualifies! Here's a peek:

I chose to use this book by Jinny Beyer. It's a gorgeous book full of eye candy and interesting snippets of information about the blocks and I highly recommend it.

I figured it would take me forever to choose a block, since there are over 4000 blocks in the book and I'd have to consider them all before picking. But then I noticed I had a Post It flag sticking out partway through the book. And, when I opened to the page it marked, I found another Post It covering one block and the flag itself was covering the description of the block.

 Apparently I chose the Wyoming Valley Block for something at some point in the past, but I can't remember when or why. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it!

And here's my version 😊 I will say that reversing the light and dark from the block in the picture made it more difficult to get all the units laid out properly. I kept turning the HSTs the wrong way, thinking the blue should match up with the black in the block when really it was the cream that needed to match the black.

The orange and cream fabrics were both in the Stash Builder rolls in the Island Batik box of goodies that came a few weeks ago. The gorgeous aqua is from the Blossom line and was leftover from my Sparkler quilt. I don't have much of it left now and that makes me sad. It's such a fabulous colour!

I used my new Accuquilt to cut out all of the pieces for the block, which made quick work of the job. It also meant I had to sew four Y seams, since the orange pieces are parallelograms. It has been a few years since I last sewed Y seams, but I thought I remembered how to do it and the first two I sewed worked perfectly on the first try. The third one took a couple of tries and ended up with a bit of a ripple at the inner point of the Y, but I figured it would look fine once quilted. The fourth one took me more tries than I care to count! I took it apart so many times one evening that I just gave up and left it for another day. Then, when I tried it again, it took another couple of tries before I got it right. Phew! You'd think it would have gone the other way and they'd get easier as I went along, but that definitely wasn't the case. Thankfully, they all looked good in the end and they were even better once they were quilted 😊 I wouldn't even be able to tell you now which one it was that gave me so much trouble.

I used a scrap of Warm and Natural batting and I really think the batting scraps are taking lessons from the fabric scraps and have learned to reproduce when I'm not looking. How else would you explain the fact that I keep using batting scraps and yet there always seem to be more??

As per my usual, I worked out my quilting plan as I went. I quilted a quick dot to dot design in all of the cream print triangles first with Aurifil 2311, then did some quick back and forth lines in the orange parallelograms with 2210. I used 5005 to quilt the same dot to dot design in the aqua triangles that make up the center star, then filled the centers with micro stippling. Then I started doing some micro stippling in the rest of the aqua blocks. I hadn't gone far when my bobbin ran out and as I filled it I realized there was no way I'd have enough thread to finish all of the stippling. I don't have a local source for Aurifil, either, so there was no chance of getting more in time to finish for the blog hop. Oh no! I looked through my Gutermann thread and found a spool that was almost the same shade, so I used that in the bobbin and used the bobbin of Aurifil for the top. Saved! I even had enough of the Aurifil left to finish the binding, too.

I wanted something special for the center square, though, and I didn't have enough 5005 for it. Instead, I chose 2210 and quilted a flower, surrounded by more micro stippling. I love how it turned out! I think I even like it better than if I had used the matching thread I'd originally been planning.

And, of course, I love, love, love how the quilting looks on the back! I used Island Batik's Rice fabric for the back and I like the subtle spots of colour that show through the quilting in some places. They don't show up well in the pictures, so you'll just have to trust me that they're there and that they're very pretty.

 Be sure to hop over to visit all of the other bloggers taking part in the hop and see what they made from their old quilting books! Again, thanks to Bea for having such a fun idea and organizing the hop so I could make a mini I love so much 😊

Here's the full schedule for the hop...

Monday Feb 18^th

Turid at densyendehimmel

Pamela at Pamelaquilts

Joan at Moosestashquilting

Anne at seems like a plan

Susan at Desertsky Quilting

Selina at Selinaquilts

Kathleen at Kathleenmcmusing

Tuesday Feb 19^th

Cindy Stitchin at home

Jennifer at curlicuecreations

Stephanie at stephjacobsondesigns

Kathy at Kathysquilts

Shasta at high road quilter
Theresa at bumbleberrystitches

Wednesday Feb 20^th

Sharon at Vrooman’s quilts

Suzy at Websterquilt

Nancy at patchworkbreeze

Karrin at karrinscrazyworld

Denise at craftraditions

Thursday Feb 21^st

Anita at Domestic Felicity

Leanne at Devoted Quilter

Jennifer at Dizzyquilter

Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks

Lee Anne at Podunk Pretties

Andree at quiltinglearningcombo

Lyndsey at Sew Many Yarns

Friday Feb 22^nd

Bea at Beaquilter

Barbara at Bejweledquilts

Laura at slice of pi quilts

Sherry Powered By Quilting

Pat at Life in the Scrapatch

Carol at Just let me quilt

Kathy at Kathy's Kwilts and More

Marian at seams to be sew
Brenda at songbirddesigns