MakingOver Quilts

I learned about One Block Wonder quilts on Instagram. I was blown away by the first one I saw. If you ever need inspiration, just go to #oneblockwonder to see a wide variety of incredible quilts. Here are some reasons I love making these quilts (and some tips for making your own). 1. Every One Block Wonder quilt is totally unique. You start by taking a panel or other repeating design and carefully stacking six pieces on one another. There are several great techniques for effectively stacking discussed here . You then cut strips of 4-6" and use a 60 degree ruler to cut a series of triangles. I usually cut between 25-35 triangles for a throw sized quilt. Every triangle is different. And the way I lay out each triangle differs. That means that even if fifty people started with the same exact fabric, the resulting quilts would all look very different from one another.  2.  The end result of the One Block Wonder process is really impressive, but the sewing process is actuall

All quilters have it. The ever-growing bin of scraps that we swear we'll someday do something with. Maybe there's something in the psychology of creative types where we can't stand the idea of getting rid of something that might someday be useful in our projects. Or, maybe some of those fabrics have come to symbolize an important person or time in our lives. Or, maybe some fabrics are just so cute/pretty/unique that we have a hard time convincing ourselves to use them. No matter the reason, the stash of scraps just keeps growing and growing. After many years of quilting, I've come up several ways to use scraps. I organize my scraps according to the following four patterns. My system of organizing is not the only system, of course, but I hope reading about it will inspire others to tackle their own stash. I use different size scraps for different kinds of projects. So the first thing I do is sort scraps by size. For example, I sometimes use scraps in more traditional