Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Motivated by Mari

Mari made a quilt - Misfit Toys.

Misfit Toys is now going to AQS Quilt Show in Virginia Beach!!!  Mari shared this fantastic news with me on Friday. I jumped with joy for her.

With Mari

She gushed, I listened.
And in that moment, I knew I had to drop everything and make a quilt using up my leftovers - bee blocks (Honey Pot Bee) and orphan blocks and audition blocks.

Sandra and Elizabeth

I met Elizabeth in Buffalo. She mentioned a quilty term that I had not hear before - Coping Strips.
When the blocks are of varying sizes, she adds strips to the smaller blocks to bring them to the requisite size. These strips are aptly named coping strips.

Now, some folks call them sashing but I believe sashing is used with uniformly sized blocks.
See you can use sashing strips after you have used coping strips to make all blocks uniform :-D

I needed coping something but I chose to use coping blocks (also used coping strips in two places). Or you could call them filler blocks. The Charlie Brown+Snoopy block is a coping block. The improv slab next to it was leftover from Fire Pit, used also as a coping block.

Coping Blocks - Charlie Brown, Cool Leftover Slab from Fire Pit, Warm QSTs




I made coping blocks from leftover triangles discarded from Curry Favor (picture above) and from those leftover from making Doggone Cute blocks for KaHolly

Yellow Gray QST is a coping block using leftovers from Doggone Cute blocks

The leftover blocks from Charmed Encore worked perfectly as coping blocks.

Coping Blocks - Framed Charm Squares, 4 HSTs, and a house
I also used a coping strip to bring the red tree block to size. See picture above.
Simple 4-patch blocks made perfect coping blocks, sometimes used singly sometimes in a series.

4-patch blocks, used in a series - left corner

There were some composite HSTs leftover from Animal House. They became houses with mix and match roofs. I tried the same pattern in a larger size. Did not work.  Kinda loses its appeal in that size.

Here they are - three modest houses and one Mac-mansion.

Three modest houses and one Mac-Mansion - UGH

I loved the Blended Scraps Block so much that I made a whole quilt - Shadow of Light. The first block from that endeavor is near the top left.

Finished Flimsy

My experiments with paper-piecing are all here - the black/red/yellow star that was a moderate success, the very pointy 1.5 star, the Tall Tales book block which was a huge success, the two mushroom blocks where I used freezer paper and the As-You-Wish block (envelope+letter) which I declined to paper piece.

Paper Piecing Adventures - Star Blocks and Mushroom Blocks

The lattice block next to the tree block also came from the Honey Pot Bee. As did the Pantry Jar block and the Star Kisses block.

Star Kisses block from the Honey Pot Bee

The BHQ Economy Square Block had me whining because it has 81 pieces in just one block.

The 81 piece Economy Square Block

Before I wrote my most popular tutorial, I made an audition block in purple and red. It finally found a place in here.

Audition Block - Purple Red and Cream

I enjoyed making the strawberry block. Made in three colors. You can see the red one below. Saving the pink and orange ones for the Quilt Guild BOM later this year.
Did not enjoy the Echo block. This was a perfect place to get rid of it, but if you love it here is the link to the tutorial.

The Strawberry (love) and Echo (hate) blocks

This flimsy also has one of the discarded blocks from The Queen's Necklace (top row), next to the leaf block, which I loved so much that I have made several. Yes, they will make a quilt - just not yet.

Leaf, Kaleidoscope and Tall Tales Blocks. Pantry Jar, As You Wish and Tree Blocks
In the picture above, there is a coping strip (with a snail) next to the leaf block. I recently got that sliver of a fabric in the scrap bag that Sandra brought for me when we met in Buffalo!!!

This is one quilt with so many stories!!!

Some posts are laden with pictures. This one is definitely laden with links. I am trying to give credit where credit is due. It is possible that I missed some. If so, please ask and I will supply the link/inspiration in the comments.

Thank you Mari - I started because of you.

Thank you Sandra - I completed it because of you. So that I could make it to this Dreami party.

Lots of color = One Happy Quilt

Who has inspired you lately? I'd love to hear from you. 
I will be liking with all my favorite linky parties, see sidebar for full list.

_____________________________________________________________________

OOPS!!!
I almost forgot. Here are the winners from the giveaway.


1. Solids Kona FQ Bundle to Dottie Bishaw (#30) and Gran Chris (#52)
2. Four warm prints FQs to Kristin (#74) and four cool prints FQs to Frederique (#5)
3. Pink/red scraps to Lisa Marie (#10) and Blue/green scraps to Clare M(#80)

Emails will be sent to the winners later today, unless you are a no-reply blogger, in which case please send me an email. If I do not hear from you in a week, you will forfeit your prize and I will pick someone else.

Thank you so much for celebrating with me. Big hugs to you!!!




30 comments:

  1. Gwen Marston refers to coping strips in her Liberated Medallions book and illustrated her point with ohotos of a Martha Washington quilt! (I may have a detail not quite right, but I am only on my first cup of tea and my books are all upstairs -- but you can see how your coping efforts are part of a long tradition.). WELL DONE - your DREAMi quilt top is wonderful!!

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  2. This is gorgeous Preeti. Unfortunately I didn't make enough of the Honey Pot Bee Blocks to do much with it but maybe several years from now I can make a quilt top like this. It's a riot of colour and I love it.

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  3. Wow, that quilt really sings! I love it!

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  4. Preeti,
    As always I can't decide which one I like best - your quilt or your blog post about your quilt. I loved reading about all your blocks and my favorite is the lattice. I see a Dreami in my future :-)

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  5. Coping strips--that's a great name for it. That strawberry block is the cutest thing ever! Great colorful quilt!

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  6. That turned out brilliantly. Vibrant and fun and glad you got it all together with blocks and strips and the blocks themselves.

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  7. Love the quilt - all the bright appealing colors. It can keep a child busy for awhile just looking at all the designs. Thanks for the information on coping strips - good to know!

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  8. Great quilt!! It makes me wish I'd made test blocks along the way these last 25 years of quiltmaking. Sigh!

    The other definition for "Coping Strips" is for those times when you've made a pieced border and it's a bit too long for your quilt edge. You measure the length of the gap, divide by 2 (because you need one on the far side of the quilt!) and add 1/2" for seams. Do the same for the other two sides of your quilt if it's a rectangle. Sew these newly cut coping strips in place around the quilt and sew on your pieced borders. They should fit perfectly if you did the math correctly. My information and a better explanation is found in the book "All the Blocks are Flying Geese" by Mary Sue Suit and probably here and there on line.

    Wishing you well!

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  9. Oh Preeti!! This is one spectacular quilt!! I love that you went thru and told us what the various blocks were from and provided so many links! I also laughed at the "coping"'needed for some blocks!!! Perfect!! You should be quite proud of this one as it likely required more planning than making a whole quilt at one time!! I am saving my orphan blocks and have a small pile of them! One is a pineapple so I loved seeing your strawberry there!! Well done, my dear!!!

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  10. That's awesome! Strips that help us cope with measurements! Gotta love it!

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  11. I love the vocabulary of quilters, and you have illustrated it perfectly. The whole time I was reading this, I thought, “Wow what a lot of work documenting all those names and links.” But it is so fun to see all these bits and pieces of your quilting life again. And now they are all together in a spectacular quilt. Mari is a great inspiration, and you are a inspiring “pupil.”

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  12. Oh my goodness, Preeti! You amaze me with your creativeness, and I love the stories of all the blocks! Coping strips, a great quilting term, that reminds me of life. Don't we all use coping strips from day to day, kinda? As friends, I think we provide coping strips to one another, don't you? Anyway, this is a GREAT quilt!

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  13. This is one fantabulous quilt! A real mish mash of blocks and stories, and quite delightful....both the quilt AND the post! It’s a glorious way to use them up! Mari certainly had the right idea!

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  14. Hi Preeti! What a fabulous post. I loved every single word of this. All the sweet memories this quilt contains - successes, trials, auditions, friends, and fun. This is a great Dreami project. And coping strips and blocks - I use them all the time without even knowing it. Thanks for sharing it with us today - I love seeing the pictures of friends! Happy Wednesday to you! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  15. I love your quilt top and all the stories! As for being an inspiration, we all know you wanted to clean off your design wall, but I'm happy to take the blame. (BTW-- I don't think you can call yourself a newbie any longer!)

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  16. Look at all of the projects contained in this flimsy!! I bet if you would have stacked up all of those orphan blocks it wouldn't have looked like they could be put together. Somehow you managed it though. This is really cool. Makes me want to take inventory of my odds and ends. I have them all stacked together. Not sure there is 'enough' yet though.

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  17. Good for you is using up all those blocks into a useful quilt and out of your bins! I have not heard the term coping strips either-they are just sashing strips to me, LOL

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  18. It had to feel amazing using all those stray blocks! It turned out so good! It can be a challenge fitting all the different sizes and colors and designs together, but you nailed it!

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  19. I love it - and all the memories that came with it! I have been known to use coping strips a lot - I sew with 2nd and 5th graders - they are a necessity ha ha!@

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  20. Wonderful DrEAMi! project! Between you and Mari, I think some of my orphans will languish no more in a drawer! I have several from Honey Pot and many years prior...Thanks for linking up your squirrel with the rest!

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  21. Wow, what a post! I think I will have to look at it more than a couple of times to grasp what is all going on. I think your Indian heritage gives you the guts to try putting so many disparate images together knowing it will work out.

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  22. You 'coped' very well with this one! Great job on getting everything to fit together, and using blocks here and there to cope.

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  23. This was a lot of fun to see and to read about, Preeti! Thanks for inspiring me to finish an orphan block quilt I started quite a while ago. It needed a lot of coping strips! :) Now it just needs to be quilted!

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  24. What an interesting collection of blocks that have come together to make your colourful quilt.

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  25. Nice job with all those leftover bits and blocks. I usually do quilts like that with my quilt buddy -- we raid our leftover blocks and put something together. Hum, Sharon, my QB inspires me. As do lots of folks who write blogs! Especially Patty at Elm Street Quilts!

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  26. Now I'm motivated and inspired by you and Mari, to use up my orphan blocks and pieces!


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  27. A beautiful quilt. So much energy and laughter. And so much better to put them I to a quilt than into the stash. You've inspired many quilters with this and you get to enjoy it.

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  28. Yes, I believe the name "coping strips" comes from carpentry. They use "coping strips" of wood to set doors and windows into place and get them positioned just right and level. I think maybe they use them when installing new kitchen cabinets in older homes, to ensure that the base cabinets are installed level even if the floor is a little wonky! Your sampler is gorgeous, like a colorful fabric party.

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  29. Such a darling quilt. It makes me wish I had more orphan blocks.

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  30. Love the whole idea! When I use up blocks and pieces this way, I usually keep the quilt as an "album" of all the quilts that I've made and given away.

    Sure I document every quilt with pictures and blog posts, but an actual block or piece of fabric is a tactile reminder that I can enjoy in a different way.

    Some quilters donate them, but I think they are personal only to the quilter who knows the many stories. The riot of colors and blocks certainly can brighten any room. It's just that the memories and stories are lost on anyone else. Goodness it's beautiful and happy and inspiring!

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