Sunday, January 12, 2014

Playing with scraps [RSC14]

Back in December, when I was trying to come up with a solution to finish off my RCS12 quilt top, I ran with an idea in my head.  I started cutting 3.5" white squares in order to create an alternating block (seen on the lower left here, and blogged here)
BUT sadly, since I didn't square up the bonus HST to 2" before sewing the bonus diamonds, ..... the block was a mess!  Lesson learned;  sew a test block BEFORE madly cutting a half-yard of fabric into 3.5" strips/squares!

The squares were still sitting on the side of my sewing area, looking quite sad in a slumped over pile :\
I grabbed 8 of them, along with some blue scraps, and tried out a 9" (finished) Maverick Star.  Simply playing....
And as I started setting the subunits together, I.... well.... cocked my head to the side, and said..."Eh.  This can be better!"

The center 3.5" [3" finished] square wasn't cutting it.  It may have been better had it been a print, but the plain......***YAWN!!!!!****

So I grabbed my Companion Angle Ruler.
I love using this ruler anytime we need QUARTER-SQUARE triangles (not Half-Square -- then you would use the EZAngle ruler).  
To use this ruler, you simply need to know the FINISHED size of your square unit;  mine is 3".   The larger numbers along the edge of the ruler are to guide you to your FINISHED size unit;  the smaller numbers that show up in the center tell you what size strip you need to cut from.

3" reference on the edge tells me to use 2" strips!  HEL-LLO!!! We probably all have 2" strips stored away in a shoebox or bin thanks to our dear Bonnie's Scrap Users System.

Four cuts later... and I have 4 quarter-square triangle ready to be sewn into an hour-glass unit.  The CON about these cuts is this:  the "sewing edge" is made entirely of a bias cut;  therefore, there is LOTS of potential for stretching of the fabric, and potentially.... a wonky unit.

LOL... ha!  A wonky unit.... in a wonky Maverick Star.....
...alright, my inner humor is probably only making me chuckle and making the rest of you roll your eyes and groan.

Anyway---a Bonnieized Maverick Star block!  
UPDATE [post-publishing]:  I was reminded of Bonnie's tutorial for her Maverick Stars.  I hadn't looked at it in years; the idea of the Maverick Star simply stuck.  After reading up on the tutorial again.....yuppers!  Sure enough!  Bonnie mentions how you can play around with numerous ideas for the center.  She shows 4-patches and plain... and Angela mentioned the possibility of a crumb-block as the center.  SOOOOO many wonderful ideas with such a "Bonnie" block!
Hence:  a definition:  Bonnieize ... "To take what originially was a plain, standard, classic block, and recreate it by replacing some or all subunits with units made up of much smaller scrappy pieces."
ie:  Celtic Solstice versus "Standard" Quilt
Notice the same overall pattern;  they both have the same alternating two-block layout.  HOWEVER, Bonnie's Celtic Solstice design uses: 
    - a scrappy pinwheel (step 3) instead of the simple center dark square
    - a 4-piece corner unit (step 5) instead of a simple HST
    - a 6-piece Chevron unit (step 2) instead of simple white squares

Happy Sunday sewing everyone!

7 comments:

scraphappy said...

What a happy Bonnieized maverick star. That middle section could be any crumb block squared up to 3.5 inches. I know you say you don't "do" crumbs, but it would be super adorable!

Angie said...

Great "Bonnie-ization" of your Maverick Stars! I like Angela's idea, too. Might have to give these a whirl!

Mary said...

Thanks for giving us yet another reason to love Bonnie and those rulers!! I have another quilt I made with the 54-40 blocks too. It has a snowball alternating block. From a Stitchin Heaven Pattern called Somewhere in Time.

Kevin the Quilter said...

I love the way you think, and I love to "Bonnieize" things too! You go girl!

Andee said...

I love anything that has been Bonnieized! I had so much fun with Maverick Stars this weekend, though mine were only 6 inches. They were kind of addicting! Love your blue one!

Marly said...

Beautiful! I love Maverick stars.

JB said...

Since I'm not a quilter, I have no clue what all of you are talking about. LOL However, I just wanted to say that I love the look of what you did with the center. The patterns were much better than the plain one. Also Amy, there's no hurry on the "Berquist Beauty". We've gone this long without it, we can wait a little longer. Enjoy working on the ones you want. (Bynext Christmas would be nice though.). :-)