Block 2 - Year of Scrappy Triangles

It's been fun seeing the scrappy triangles people have made on Instagram this week. There are so many different looks depending on what fabric is selected. It's made me want to start another set, but I have resisted - so far. Click on over to see what people have been making and leave them some quilty love.

This week's triangle is divided into even more triangles. The center triangle is perfect for featuring a favorite fabric or fussy cut motif.

I love how the bee fills this center triangle. 

I can't wait to see what you guys make!

Click here to download and print Block 2 

Click here to find links to all of the blocks in the Year of Scrappy Triangles.
Find 1, 2 & 3" Scrappy Triangles in my Craftsy or Etsy shops.

Block 1 - Year of Scrappy Triangles

Today is the first day of the Year of Scrappy Triangles! It is going to be awesome. Before we get started, let's go over a few things.

The basics
The scrappy triangles finish at 6" square and I will post a link to a new foundation template on this blog every Tuesday morning for at least a year. Please, share a link to my blog if you have any friends who would like to participate, but don't email or mass print the templates for others.

Where can I learn to foundation paper piece?
I've got a tutorial for that! Read The Ultimate Guide to Foundation Paper Piecing and you will be paper piecing like a pro in no time.

How can I be sure I don't miss a post?
There are a couple of options:

1. Sign up to 'Follow by Email' (on the sidebar). It will send you an email notification every time I post on the blog (one or two times a week). 
2. You can also sign up for my newsletter (on the sidebar). I will send out a newsletter every three or four weeks with links to the foundation patterns and other news.
3. Follow me on Instagram @sewnbyleila. I will post pictures of the new scrappy triangle each week and provide a link to the pattern in my bio. 

Please, share pictures of your blocks on social media with the hashtag #yearofscrappytriangles. I would love to see them!

 Let's get started!

Click here to download or print the Block 1 foundation.

When printing the foundation, remember to disable the fit-to-size option. After printing, measure the inner square and verify that it is 6" square. Then get to piecing!

I love the line of small rectangles in the middle of this block. It reminds me of a fence, or railroad ties. The first time I made this block, I used the same pieces of fabric for the end triangles. Not a good look, in my opinion. I didn't bother to remake it because it won't matter in the overall quilt, but the next time I tried a different fabric placement.

I think alternating two fabrics looks much better! 

Then I alternated three colors. It looks scrappier, but in a controlled way. Of course, you could choose a different fabric for each section too. The sky is the limit!

One last thing, before you start digging through your scrap bins. When choosing the background fabric for the solid half of the block, remember to choose a fabric that contrasts well with the pieced half. Otherwise, the two halves of the triangle will bleed into one another. Not cool, unless that is what you want them to do. In this block, the long strip (A7) will need to contrast well with the large triangle (A9).

I think that is it.
If you have any questions, comment and I will respond both by email and in the comment section.

Thanks!

Click here to find links to all of the blocks in the Year of Scrappy Triangles.

Find 1, 2 & 3" Scrappy Triangles in my Craftsy or Etsy shops.

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Year of Scrappy Triangles

I have been playing around with these 6" foundation paper pieced half-square triangles for a while and they are So. Much. Fun. I have made them in rainbow colors, full on scrappy, and low-volume scrappy. It is so relaxing to pick through my box of scraps to find the perfect fabric for each block. 'Cause that's how quilters relax. We play with fabric! And these triangles are the ultimate in fun, relaxing foundation paper piecing.

Not only are they fun to make, but they are very versatile. So many different quilts are made with just half square triangles. I could substitute these into any of them. So many options.

To keep me on track and to share the joy, I am going to post a link to a foundation paper pieced pdf pattern for a 6" Scrappy Triangle every Tuesday, here on my blog. A different triangle every week for at least 52 weeks! (I have over 80 drafted, so I might just keep going....) To help keep us on track, we will have some link ups and prizes too.

I hope you will join me!

Click below to get patterns for the blocks we've made so far!

Block 1      Block 2      Block 3      Block 4      Block 5     Block 6 Block 7    Block 8    Block 9      Block 10    Block 11    Block 12     Block 13    Block 14    Block 15    Block 16    Block 17   Block 18  Block 19   Block 20   Block 21   Block 22   Block 23  Block 24    Block 25  Block 26  Block 27  Block 28  Block 29  Block 30  Block 31  Block 32  Block 33  Block 34  Block 35  Block 36  Block 37   Block 38  Block 39   Block 40    Block 41  Block 42   Block 43   Block 44    Block 45    Block 46  Block 47  Block 48   Block 49  Block 50  Block 51   Block 52

How many blocks to you need to make a certain sized quilt? Check out this post.

New to foundation paper piecing? Totally intimidated and can't wrap your mind around it? Been there! But it wasn't that bad once I gave it a go. To get you on your way, I wrote the 'Ultimate Guide to Foundation Paper Piecing'. Clear, step-by-step instructions. You can totally do it and Scrappy Triangles are a great place to start. They are simple, fast, and a great way to practice paper piecing. You'll be a pro in no time!

How can I be sure I don't miss a post?
There are a couple of options:

1. You can sign up for my newsletter here. I will send out newsletters with links to the foundation patterns and other great stuff. When you sign up, you will get a free quilt pattern! 
2. Follow me on Instagram @sewn.by.leila.gardunia. I will post pictures of the new scrappy triangle each week and provide a link to the pattern in my bio. 
3. Bookmark this site and check back every Tuesday!

Please, share pictures of your blocks on social media with the hashtag #yearofscrappytriangles. I would love to see them!

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edited 5/1/18

If you are reading this, you probably like Scrappy Triangles and foundation paper piecing, so I think you will be excited about this new paper piecing collection. 

The Tiny Piecing Collection! 

There are 1", 2", and 3" Scrappy Triangles along with 1" and 2" wide Scrappy Strips. They are so much fun to make and are perfect for using up your smallest scraps. Hop on over to my Etsy Shop to check them out. The patterns are available for instant pdf download.

I am so excited about these patterns and I hope you like them too!

Finish Along 2017 Goals

So, the Finish-A-Long is where you write down what quilts you want to finish in the next 3 months and for each project that you finish, you get an entry to win prizes from sponsors. Goodness knows I have a million work in progress quilts and could use a little motivation to get them done.

The first quilt on my list is the Sunshine Quirky Scrap Quilt (tutorial here). I finished piecing it last week (yea!) and hope to get it basted, quilted and bound in the next week or two. I have already pieced the backing so hopefully I can get it basted tomorrow.

I will also be basting this scrappy quilt made with Denyse Schmidt fabrics - with a few Cotton and Steel thrown in. It has been waiting to be basted for at least 6 months, if not 8. Ugh.

I can't find the picture of the pieced top, but I also have this 16-patch ready to baste. (Looks like I am going to be doing a lot of quilting.)

This foundation paper pieced beauty has been basted for almost a year and I just need to quilt it. I have been paralyzed by the fear of ruining it, but I just need to bite the bullet and start quilting.

This is another quilt top that has been sitting around for awhile. I started it Nov. 2, 2016 while I waited and waited and waited for the US election results to come in. I put a pieced border on it which has some issues (thus why I haven't touched it in months) but I would like to finish it before Nov. 2017.

 I also have these improv curve blocks from a bee that I would like to get pieced in time to enter into Quilt Con. I'd better get moving on that!

And I just ordered some Tilda Harvest fabric that I want to make into a star quilt for my bed. But now, looking at my earlier list of things to do, I don't know if that is really going to happen --- unless I put something else off longer. :) So many quilts, so little time!

What are you working on? Any ancient projects? (I didn't even bothered to post my oldest - it's not going to get done anytime soon.)

Heather Ross Mini Spool Quilt

Hello all!

This summer I participated in a Heather Ross mini quilt swap on Instagram. (You can follow me @sewnbyleila)  It was so much fun! I had wanted to make a thread spool quilt forever and this was the perfect excuse.

I wanted the quilt to have a loose "rainbow" order. So, I rummaged through my HR scraps, begged/traded some more scraps from friends, and got to work. The spools are improvisational pieced, which made the final piecing a challenge, but it made for a good variety of shapes and sizes.

I heavily quilted the background with swirls so the spools would stand out. (Swirls are my go-to free motion quilting motif.) It took awhile, but I love the look. Then I stitched around each of the spools and then quilted a few zigzags across each to mimic thread.

It was a lot of fun to make and I will have to make another one for myself soon!

(An outtake of my quilt holder jumping for joy!)

That Quirky Scrap Quilt - The Low-Volume-and-Pink Version

Last month I started another Quirky Scrap Quilt (link to tutorial here). I had been thinking about making another one, and when the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild contacted me and asked if their guild could use my tutorial for a scrap busting challenge (of course!), it was just what I needed to get me off my bum and sewing.

The Plan:  I thought it would be fun to do a low-volume version with darker fabric running on the diagonal through the 4-patches. After I got cutting it turned into low-volume oranges and pinks, but I think it will be ok. I also got a bit overzealous while cutting and now it is going to be twin sized instead of throw sized.

I started pinning the squares into groups of 20 after losing track (multiple times!) of how many I had cut. Now, I am caught up with the quilt along with my fabric cut and 4-patch units sewn! Yea!

Check out the #quirkyscrapquiltalong on Instagram to see what other people are making. There are so many fun color ways. And feel free to post your pictures and stash bust along with us.