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Summer Scrap Elimination 2020: Week 6


Good morning Scrappers and welcome to our last week of the Summer Scrap Elimination 2020! It's been amazing making new projects for you this summer. I can only hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. This week, I'd like to talk to you about the project you see up top here. In this poignant moment in our history, so many of us are asking "What can I do? How can I help? How can I lift my voice?" I've been asking myself the same question. We have a long history in the United States of using our art to call attention to major issues of concern, to protest, and to show our love.

As I've been watching my friends in Portland, Oregon, in Chicago, in New York, in Los Angeles, in Houston, and all around the nation stand up and call for justice, I've looked for a way to help all of them. Change is difficult and that notion stuck in my mind. Being an example of what you want to see in others is often even more difficult, which is what led me to a phrase one of my favorite teachers used to say to me "Be the Change you want to see." BE THE CHANGE became my plan for a call for action.

Today I'd like to talk to you about creating letters and either making a replica of this project or making a message of your own. To start a project like this, decide how tall you want your letters to be and begin with a sheet of graph paper. The letters in this project finish at 9" tall. Skinny letters are 5" wide and bigger letters like Cs and Gs are 7" wide. I have a 2" spacer between each letter and 5" between words. I chose all my strips to be cut at 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" with 1" finish HSTs (Half Square Triangles) and 2" finish HSTs. The backgrounds use all the same measurements as the colored strips and HSTs.

I started with a pile of brights and blacks that match.

Tip: when sorting black fabrics, look for qualities that pair well. You've likely noticed that no two black fabrics are the same. Some have a little blue in them, some grey, some are slightly green. When I sort my black scraps, I take the time to put them in at least 4 groupings and give attention to things that are really out of character with the others in the stack.

Cutting for B:

Three 1 7/8" background squares

Three 1 7/8" colored squares

One 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square

One 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangle

Two 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangles

Two 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangles

Three 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" background rectangles

One 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" background rectangle

Make 6 HSTs

Arrange them as you see here.

Another tip. Once you determine how many HSTs you need for the whole project, you can improve the scrappy feel of your project by making all your HSTs in advance and spreading different colors around in your letters.

Take a look at the series of images below to see how to assemble. Press as desired while you work.

You can get as scrappy as you like by making any portion of the larger pieces with several smaller pieces.

At this stage the B will measure

9 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Cutting for one E (Make 3 for this project)

One 1 7/8" background square

One 1 7/8" colored square

One 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangles

One 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles

One 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square

Two 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" background rectangles

One 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" background rectangle

Make 1 HST for each E and layout you pieces as you see here.

Use the images below to complete your letter Es.

Your E will measure 9 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Cutting for T:

One 1 7/8" background square

One 1 7/8" colored square

Two 1 1/2" x 7 1/2" rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 5 1/2" rectangles

One 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" square

Two 2 1/2" x 7 1/2" background rectangles

Make 1 HST and layout your pieces as shown here.

Use the images below to complete your letter T.

Your T will measure 9 1/2" x 6 1/2"

Cutting for H: (make 2 for this project)

One 1 7/8" background square

One 1 7/8" colored square

One 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 9 1/2" rectangles

One 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" square

One 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" background rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" background rectangle

Make 1 HST and layout your pieces as shown here.

Use the images below to complete your letter Hs.

Your Hs will measure 9 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Cutting for C:

Three 1 7/8" background square

Three 1 7/8" colored square

One 2 1/2" x 7 1/2" rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle

Two 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" square

One 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" background rectangle

Three 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" background rectangles

Make 6 HSTs and layout your pieces as shown here. (I laid out the bottom left corner wrong, it gets fixed in the piecing.)

Use the images below to complete your letter C.

Your C will measure 9 1/2" x 6 1/2"

For the most part, my design for the letters uses 2 1/2" pieces on the left side and the bottom. I like the 1 1/2" strips for piecing the tops and right sides and I like to replace the curved parts of the letter with 1" HSTs.

If you create your own letters, consider using images of basic cross-stitch images to help you determine the shapes of your letters.

Cutting for A:

One 1 7/8" background square

One 1 7/8" colored square

One 2 7/8" background square

One 2 7/8" colored square

One 2 1/2" x 7 1/2" rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangle

One 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" background square

One 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" background square

One 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" background square

Make 2 HSTs (1" finish) and 2 HSTs (2" finish) and layout your pieces as shown here.

Use the images below to complete your letter A

Your A will measure 9 1/2" x 6 1/2"

I used a black background so the warm brights work so well here.

If you plan on using a lighter background, choose a range of cool brights or dark warms.

This could also be accomplished with Black letters and pale neutrals.

Cutting for N:

Two 2 7/8" background square

Two 2 7/8" colored square

One 2 1/2" x 7 1/2" rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 9 1/2" rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" background rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" background square

Make 3 HSTs (2" finish) and layout your pieces as shown here.

Use the images below to complete your letter N

Your N will measure 9 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Cutting for G:

Three 1 7/8" background square

Three 1 7/8" colored square

One 2 1/2" x 7 1/2" rectangle

One 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" square

One 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" background rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" background rectangle

Three 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" background rectangles

One 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" background rectangle

One 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" background square

Make 5 HSTs (1" finish) and layout your pieces as shown here. I changed the piecing in the top right corner to use a rectangle and a square instead of the single long rectangle. The piecing will reflect the change

Use the images below to complete your letter G

Your G will measure 9 1/2" x 7 1/2"

You can see the changes in the upper right hand corner. This helps you to avoid needing to use a partial seam.

Once all of your letters are pieced, layout your phrase and determine the placement of your 2 1/2" x 9 1/2" pieces. I use 5 1/2" between words as well.

Piece your letters together with the background sections.

I really like the spacing of the 2" between the two lines of text.

The bottom line measures 9 1/2" x 44 1/2" when assembled.

I used 22 squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" to create the center spacing line.

I finished the project, by adding a 2" border.

I plan to quilt this one with my walking foot to keep everything straight and crisp in the image.

I hope you enjoy making this project or your own project with a statement or a call to action. I hope you all become the image of the change you hope for. Me? I hope for peace, for justice, for love and equity. Keep making your beautiful quilt projects and adding to the hope in our world. Share your stories and support each other. This year, more than ever, we all need each other. Next month I'll be back with a new blog to talk more about sharing love through quilting and some great organizations you can offer your time and quilting to. Stay tuned, scrap quilters!

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