Hustling right along, getting caught up after a week of making sailboat stuff, not having quilty fun. I finished Step Two by doing a zigzag around all those crumby circles (what was I thinking when I made those?!!) and then adding crumby borders.Okay. Now for Step Three, color. OMG, I have so much color the only thing I can do is use a solid -- everything else made me cross-eyed. I do have more black but that looked too dull and not a "color." So searching through the stash, I found 4 colors with enough fabric for a wide border, all possibles. Which one do you like?

Stepping ahead

This liberated thing is hard. Not sure that I like this block. Sigh.

But let's give it a chance. I started by adding more color.

For Step 2, I had a great time making a whole pile of squares with bits and pieces (ignore the pandas--I was using that quilt as a design wall), but when I put them with my block----yuck. Didn't work. What next?

I didn't know where to go with this. I'm wishing I had done something different. Other people's blocks look so much better. Why can't I be free and easy? Should I start over? And then my sewing machine jammed.
While waiting to get it fixed, I read Step 3: Color. And thought, ok, add more green.

 Hmm. That's enough green. What about more yellow? No. Orange? No. Needs more red.
Someone had left scrap triangles at my guild's free table, and I added more strips to make big red triangles.

And maybe add just one little square in the middle?

Leaving it here until the next step...

Starting Over

I just wasn't  happy with the center of my RR, and my Step 1 didn't improve anything.  If I didn't start over, I knew I'd lose interest in the RR and I didn't want that to happen.

So  I began again, this time with triangles left from a long ago traditionally pieced quilt and added more triangles cut from 3 old (traditional) blocks. That became my liberated center . Next up was making fabric from more of the original triangles. I cut the made fabric into triangles and added them to the top and bottom of the center block. Then I made more fabric from tiny blue scraps and added a 1" wide border to all sides.

Now I'm smiling and I'm ready to add color for Step 3.

Eddie's Round Two

Here is my block so far, Round Two done.

First I went through my scrap basket looking for brights & made some small crumb blocks which I arranged around my round one block.

I thought it looked like a hot mess, then I remembered that Freddy Moran said that she used a lot of black and white fabric to give the eye some where to rest so I added the black and white border and then the crumb blocks as around the black and white border. I think I am ready for step 3.

Not a Happy Bunny

I'm not happy with the original block and the crumbs so I'm starting again.

I've got some batik blocks left over from a previous quilt so I'm starting again with those. I shall probably be a round behind, but that's got to be better than my initial decision which was to leave in a fit of pique!

I don't like the original idea, it won't lie flat and the green really jumps out.

I'll probably slash it and use it in something else.

A Great Revelation

So here is a quilting truth: if you start with colors that clash, you get an ugly block with clashing colors, and if you sew those blocks together, you get a quilt with ugly clashing colors. Well, duh!! So just STOP!

And that's what I did. The square I started with for Round One was made of scraps as a prototype for a pattern I was testing. I made no effort to match colors and the resulting block is abominable (though the pattern is great.) Slashing the ugly block apart, adding more scraps, only made a slightly more complicated ugly block. And as for crumbs? Well, I made some nice dots in various sizes from assorted scraps -- but they didn't coordinate with that ugly center square. So today I made blocks with more crumbs from exactly those same ugly colors -- and I still don't like them!

So now I'm going down a different road. The only other "orphan blocks" I had were some fabric postcards that didn't work out. But they did match my dotty crumbs. So, without a clue as to what I might be doing, I trimmed the shoddy satin-stitched edges from the postcards and framed with them with black strips.

And now I'm playing around with dots, first just random placement but am now thinking I like overlapping better. They're not sewn down yet -- I can play some more tomorrow. So, here I am, wandering down another road, wondering where I'm headed.

Mary in Panama

Round Two Done

Well, I didn't wait to see if there were going to be any suggestions.....I just went ahead and did what I wanted - and then finished the for crumb borders ~ Ready for Round Three!

                                           ............. and one poor little left over block............

Leanne
http://hawaiiquiltsandlife.blogspot.com/                                                                           

An Old Block

Last month I started with an old block, slashed and then added the black inserts. Today I cut it twice diagonally, moved the pieces and put them back together with more black. The borders for this round are from  blocks leftover from my liberated "Wedges" quilt--I cut the blocks into strips. Well, I'm not excited about my small piece, but I've "challenged" myself to make something of it!

Round two - made fabric ready to go

It doesn't look very exciting but progress has been made.

Round Two

OK ~ So I am working on my Crumb Round.......

......pulling bunches of brighter colors into it, and it occurs to me that my original center block is getting overwhelmed! So I am thinking of slashing the center block again, throwing some of the bright pinks into it and then even bordering it with some more hot pink so as to give it an identity of it's own......                                                       
                                         

                                                                          So ......any ideas?

Leanne Clare
http://hawaiiquiltsandlife.blogspot.com/

I'm Really Not Sure Where I'm Going

I've got some crumbs going--and I've got more.  It's just that I'm not sure how I'll unify all that I have.

I found this cute little block in my crumbs drawer.  I don't know yet, if I'll use it, but I'm not discounting it as a possibility, not just yet, anyhow.

I've not cut any crumbs to specific sizes yet either, as I don't know how I'll put them together.  For now they are on the design wall waiting for some inspiration.  I've pulled a couple of strips that were in the drawer too.  They may or may not be used.

 Wow!  They really need some color to unify or define them.  Maybe they'll just go back into the drawer!  Some sort of definition is needed!  Just a bit of my hand dyed blue is left, so I'm not cutting into it yet.  Is this how liberation works?  Boy, compared to some others, this really looks like a mass of something--don't know what I'd call it.  I'll just let it incubate and make more crumbs!

a few minutes later...
a medallion perhaps?

 

Step 2 Ready and Waiting

I found some additional feed sack fabric and decided for my Step 2 to make a piece of cloth from the feed sack crumbs.  My fabric measures 6 x 7 1/2".  I'm not sure if it will triangles, stars, squares or strips or ?????.  So, I've decided to wait for Step 3 before I put things together.   But I know for sure when this little LibRR2 quilt is finished it will be donated to Ami Simms for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.   AAQI quilts must be no larger than 9 x 12 inches.  This will be a true mini.

Crumbled cropped Blocks

Aw Stripes and mixes, the middle was already made up into a large block just waiting for a reason to be

The Chequered centre and liberated surround just 'happened', no inspiration what so ever apart from finding loads of bits in my celebrations tin that I had 'filed' away for a rainy day - and thus totally forgot I had them :-)

The next round is eagerly awaited and fingers crossed I won't get all cuffuffled and muddled when it comes to posting the pictures and text onto the blog.... oh well its late here and my daughter celebrates her 12th birthday today too... early morning and late night for me then - plus the mid night feeds from bubba boy.... ahh at least my blocks keep me going (blocks not blokes)

Step 2 - Where are the Crumbs?

To be honest, I don't have much in the way of crumbs.  I have alot of strips of various widths and some odds and ends, but little pieces of fabric don't stay in my sewing room.  I donate them to be stuffing for cat beds.  I'm serious.  I'm not making it up!  One of the members of the Bay Area Modern Quilt Guild is a volunteer at a no-kill shelter for stray cats.  Each new owner of a cat gets a bed.  My crumbs go to her initially and then ultimately to a new cat owner.

So, as I contemplated what I would do for Step 2, I went to strips.  I started out with a bunch of strips and left over cuts from other projects and made this:

 I cut the new fabric up into 4 strips to add to my center block.

 After I added the borders, I noticed how the red pick-up sticks shifted the focus of the center block to the right.  Which caused me to want to continue that concept in the new border, so I retro-fit a grey pick-up stick into the new border.  I wish I would have known I was going to do this before I sewed on the borders - it would have been so much easier to do at that stage.

 I may add a grey pick-up stick in the top border, but I'm going to study this for awhile.  At least it won't involve another corner retro-fit!

I don't think my strips have resulted in a very liberated step 2 as compared to what others are doing, but I am satisfied with my composition and most importantly, I'm enjoying the process. 

I look forward to seeing all the other step 2 posts.

Step two progress

Thank goodness for a four-day weekend!  Sewed like crazy for two evenings creating green fabric - all to show is 7 x 4.5" squares and smaller pieces of made fabric, interest waning a bit... because I can't think what I will do with them, and surely will need lots more....

Saturday, thought that maybe I should not make fabric from such small pieces, start with longer strips, pull all the lilac strings and ...  yay! in 15 minutes flat had stitched and cut these 3.5" pieces.  A border later?

Monday morning, so enthused with that turn around, I wanted to do something with red, and found in the red box all the left over string pieces from Orca Bay (mostly the triangles I cut the wrong way, because not paying attention!), Ok... seeing I'd added the turquoise slash, picked some 4.5" squares with turquoise and made these half-square triangles (hmm... more scraps for later!)  Various sizes... but at this point no idea how they'll get used!

Maybe should try again with the greens, using strings, and ended up making this, thanks to Anna's blog.  Again perhaps should have had wider pieces, as it took all evening.  It's about 14" x 16".  It looks better in the photo than in real.  But I could cut it up later!

So tonight, what to do, what to do?... then saw what Margaret had said about containing her orange... think I know what, add a border...

... and I think (see, not stitched yet..) this might work...

 Or go off on a complete tangent!

Step II: Mary's Gone Dotty!

In the bottom drawer of my sewing desk, I found some plastic templates. I bought them at least 15 years ago, thought they looked like a handy trick. Never used them even once. I had just pieced together a bunch of crumbs, was pondering what they might become, and next thing you know, I've put stabilizer on the back of this new fabric and cut out a few dozen dots, ready for applique.

What are they? Bubbles? Balloons, maybe? What will they be appliqued to? I dunno!!! I'm just waiting wait for directions for Step III and maybe something will happen to connect my dots! Hmmmmmm....
Mary in Panama

First Two Steps - Margaret

Hi there!  I'm a bit late getting started, but jumping in anyway.  Dug up some strips I'd made as part of a Shop Hop quilt in 2001!  Each of the 10 shops had designed a strip. After 3 strips I got bored and didn't want to waste any more time on it. Here are the three strips.

I decided to use the middle strip to begin with. Parts of the others might join in eventually.  We'll see.  So here's how those blocks went together after they were liberated from the strip, chopped up, and stitched back together freestyle.

Stuck with purple for the Round 2 crumbs. Since the middle was already pretty crumb-ly, 

I tried to contain it with a small orange strip but added a few orange teeth in the border just for fun.  

Waiting on Round 3 to trim it up.  Can't wait to see what's next!

  

Janet's Round Two

This was the way the block stood at the end of round 1. I liked it well enough.

For round two, I started to make scrap fabric.  I really love to do that.  I use that techniques as leaders/enders sometimes.  Anyway, I thought I would use the pink, black and yellow, which came originally from the Block Lotto stray flower, as accent colors.  I thought for this round I would use the yellow.  So I started about 6 little scrap fabrics with small pieces of yellow.  Then I grabbed scraps in blues and blue-greens mostly. After a while, I sewed my 6 pieces together and cut a nice strip and experimented with adding the strip to the sides of this block.  What I found was the pink was too strong and the "medallion" look was not doing anything for me.  So......I cut the pink border in half, grabbed two more of my liberated stars and added the borders to three sides of the original block and this is what I came up with.

I think I like it.  This process is so interesting as it is always evolving and nothing is set in stone. I still have two more stars, some more made fabric, and scraps of pink and black, if I need them.  Can't wait to see what round 3 brings.

A Change in Direction

I knew it! I did tell you didn't I.

They have taken on a mind of their own!

Another quilt in the making!

So on to Plan B

Scrappy Sawtooth borders.

My second round

 Round 0ne wasn't looking liberated enough so I cut it into 4 parts then sewed it back together. Then I had some old blocks that I cut into 3 inch strips for my next round.