The Second Time Around the Block Was the Charm!

     My children, students, and husband tell me I am the most hard headed woman in the world when it comes to getting something just right, but this time it paid off big time!  I was so upset with myself for messing up my first block for the “Rainbow Around the Block” project - a wonderful project spearheaded by Anna Maria Horner - it made me work even harder to get it right this time. I decided NOT to use the pinwheel in the middle since I was designing this block from scratch.  Rather, I went back to the old stash and found just enough of a batik scrap left over from the backing of my ragged square quilt and the other reds and blacks surrounding the center were leftovers from that quilt, too. Thank heavens for the old stash! I love the way it all came together, and I am especially happy that is ended up measuring 12.5 in. X 12.5 in square.......HURRAH! I kept telling myself...”If at once you don’t succeed, Eugenia, try, try again!”  Oh, Happy Rednesday!


“Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.”
~Duuglas MacArthur

Ragged Square Quilts

Making my Ragged Square Quilts was just the most fun. Not knowing what I was getting into, I decided first to use the concept to make a dolly quilt. Following the wonderful tutorial on Crazy Mom Quilts, I used rectangular scraps from my scrap box. My sandwich was white flannel on the bottom, Heritage batting for the center, white flannel for the top, and then I stitched the little rectangular pieces on top of all three layers. The last thing I did was sew the binding around the edges and put the label on the back.


I was so tickled with the way it turned out, I could’t wait to start the lap quilt. Since I did not have many coordinated red and black fabrics, I went to our local quilting shop and treated myself to 12 - 1/4 yard pieces of really nice fabrics and a one yard piece of batik for the back. The red and black strips were from Moda jelly rolls. Mixing and matching the large, medium, and small squares for the top was a challenge, but it also was lots of fun. For the binding I used left over pieces from the top, and this was my first “one piece” binding following a tutorial by Heather Bailey entitled “Continuous Quilt Binding Directions.” The quilt turned out to fit a little breakfast table I have in my kitchen perfectly, so it is now being used as a colorful tablecloth instead of a lap quilt.
Here is the layout of the squares before stitching.

These photos show how the squares ravel after washing...be prepared to pull a LOT of little strings!The more you wash it the cuter it becomes.

My finished lap quilt turned tablecloth.