Crazy Crumb Blocks -- 67 So Far

 

 

Here's a perfect example of a crumb block. 

It's a variation of a crazy quilt block, made with scraps. 

And it truly is scraps because I can tell you all the other quilts these fabrics previously appeared in.

If you are a long-time reader, you might even recognize some of them.

 

Here's a sampling of the 67 in the stack so far ...

SOme of those hourglass and windmill blocks were leftovers from the Farmer's Wife Pandemic Quilt. Gotta use them up somewhere.  Lots of other bits and pieces from that project visible here.

 

Crumb blocks are a little more linear than traditional crazy quilt blocks. I'm mixing it up between the two styles.

 

I am planning to add some kind of long triangles as sashing so they are set kitty-whompus rather than a straight grid.  That's why I laid them out crooked.  

It really gives you a flavor of what colors I like to work with -- the pallette.

 

 

Here's the stack of 67 blocks -- so far.

How many do I need?  How far am I willing to go?

Yet to be determined.  

The scraps are sewn to a foundation square and then trimmed down to size. The foundation fabric is usually the ugliest thing imaginable -- not white -- so that if I miss a spot, the foundation fills in with some color.

 

 

This is the unsorted and overflowing scrap basket behind my sewing machine.  Whenever I feel like sewing, but have no specific project in mind,  I grab a few bits of color to make some of these authentically scrappy crumb blocks.   Usually 2 or 3 at a time.  

 

Even though I have 67 5-inch blocks now, never actually seems to make a dent in this pile!

My lovely black locust tree is in full bloom.    The smell is intoxicating, with those flower clusters like wisteria or grapes. 

Here's a shot from the back yard-- proving that I don't spend all my time at the loom or the sewing machine. 

Scrap Management: Crumbs

This is my first "crumb" block.  

 

I pulled from the pile of scraps comparable to "bits of string too short to save." 

"It's good yet!  I can't throw that fabric away!"

 

I started with a foundation square that was about 4 inches.  I didn't want anything too big for this first experimental attempt.  In future, I might make it 4-1/2 or 5 inches to allow some room for trimming and squaring it up afterwards.

Then I just started laying bits of scraps on the foundation, and doing the sew and flip method until the whole block was covered.  No real rhyme or reason ...  Kind of like a crazy quilt block.

 

Here it is before trimming.  Unruly and unkempt.

But I can still tell you what projects I used those strips of green in, and that orange wave ...  

This could wind up being a kind of memory quilt, after all.

Here it is after trimming. 

And no-- I will NOT be keeping those even smaller crumbs, trimmed off the edges. 

I loved that orange wave scrap, but I never noticed the blue wave in it.  When it was a bigger chunk, I always saw the green, black and orange in it: Never the blue!

I'm thinking this might be a nice warm-up or finishing exercise -- or even something "mindless" that I can do in the evenings after work where I can enjoy colors and shapes and not think too much about numbers or words.