Finish Those Old Quilt Projects!

It’s amazing what you dig up when you go through every. single. thing in your sewing room and are determined to either use it/store it properly, or get rid of it! Orphan quilt blocks, old quilt projects, fabric that you would never use anymore… None of it is terrible, it’s just not you anymore! And that’s ok.

These kinds of projects are great for those moments when you just want to sew something anything – pick it up and make it into something! Even just finishing off quilt tops that can then be donated to charity is a beautiful way for these projects to be loved by someone else. That’s what I did with a three lots of quilt blocks, and a partial fat eighth bundle.

I found 3 old projects in particular that no longer sparked joy. Two were quilting bee blocks from an old, old bee 6-7 years ago in which I just never got around to piecing together, and the third quilt was a Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery BOM sampler.

I signed up to the BOM sampler because I adored the Bonnie & Camille fabrics that were being used. I kept up with it, and finished all twelve blocks (unlike the next year’s quilt…) but they sat languishing in a pile for a few years. I laid them out on the floor, mixed them up a little, and just sat and sewed them together.

The first set of old bee blocks I found were these churn dash blocks. For this quilt, I can remember asking for two churn dash blocks from each member – the method used makes two blocks at a time. What is that method? I don’t know! Well, I’ve googled and googled, and cannot find an existing tutorial or pattern for this, so perhaps I wrote it up for the group?? I genuinely do not remember, it was so long ago. If anyone has any leads, please do let me know! Because otherwise, I think I’ll need to write up the pattern, because I want to make it again for a nephew (the brother of the one getting my big Bow Tie quilt – it’ll be a great match!).

UPDATE: A reader saves the day! The tutorial for these blocks is the Funky Wrench one by Happy Zombie. Thanks Terri! I do have a way in mind that is different, and quicker, for making a whole quilt out of these, so I will contact Monica and ask if I can share that.

The other set of blocks were these warm-coloured blocks. These ones I do distinctly remember writing up a quick pattern for the blocks, as I had planned on making them into a pattern… clearly that never eventuated, and the paired-and-sewn offcut triangles (I had asked for them to be sent with the blocks) dangled off a hanger on my sewing room wall in Japan for years. Yeesh. Pretty sure I called the block design ‘Firecracker’, so there’s that.

One more project that I want to share today was inspired by a leftover strips of fabric from making the Ruched Cushion from Zakka Home by Sedef Imer. I used up about half of the remaining fat eighth bundle (Daisy Days by Keera Job for Riley Blake Designs) to piece together this sweet little quilt. It was so quick and easy! I’ve shared a tutorial for it over on the Pfaff Australia blog – get the free pattern here.

I tell ya what, there’s nothing like feeling productive and accomplished by finishing off these projects, and passing them on to lighten the mental/physical clutter! Do you have any projects like this? I highly recommend finishing the tops off and passing them along! And hey, just even passing the projects on as-is if you are truly that over them. No shame in that!