Charm Squares

 Charm squares... those little 5" rays of sunshine made from a coordinating range or grouping of fabrics.  I had bought a few as part of a Pulse nightclub shooting fundraiser... and also the odd one here and there when they have proved too tempting.  But the real question is... what do you do with them?  They dont really have enough yardage to achieve much... and sometimes the charms just dont all go together.

Well, I decided to use two of them in two different sew alongs happening at the moment.

#sewcialitesQAL  (which is one block per week) is using my Blue Carolina charm pack, and this plus a white background are the only fabrics.  I am using the charm squares with the intention of utilising the size of the squares to the fullest... so blocks are being resized to whatever the measurement turns out to... based on those original 5" squares and doing little to no trimming.  It's a challenge!

The 3rd block:

And the three blocks together.  The charm pack has a nice range from very light to very dark prints... so it creates a soft yet dynamic look.

The #stitchpink QAL has new blocks every day for the month of October to raise breast cancer awareness.  For these blocks I have a Basic Grey Stiletto charm pack and have added some neutrals from my stash to fatten up the project.  I am trying to use the charm squares strategically but this time I am keeping to the instructions size of 12" blocks and using the stash fabrics when the pieces need to be larger.  There are some blocks I don't like, so I'm allowing myself to pass on those ones, and also some blocks that don't really suit the 5" square... and it's OK to pass on those too.

Block one used one charm square for the centre cut to 4.5" and the small triangles in the corner squares used a second one.

Block 2 was a bit more tricky.  Again the centre is a charm square, and I cut a second into the inner star points.  Then two more charms were used for the tan in net star background.  For a change... this charm pack actually has few doubleups.

For the 3rd block, I cut two charms in half to create the large triangles.  A third charm was cut into 4 small squares to form the plus shape.

This process is turning out such different results!  It really is very exciting.

Progress on this and that... plus what happened to all those little bits??

I enjoy reading my own writing too much to have a wordless post... so I will bore you with all the little details of my minor accomplishments over the past few days.  I'm also linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for her Wednesday WIP thingee.  My entire blog is 99% work in progress - it would be brief if it was only finished projects (snort, snort).

Firstly, with the guild's Xmas lunch pending, the need to make a handmade gift for the santa exchange had been hovering over my head.  Over the weekend I played with a little grab bag of leftover fabrics from "my local" (the lovely ladies at The Country Yard) containing fabrics covered with quilting related words. 

Now I can't reveal all at this stage, however... a small, sneak peak.

I have also started piecing the sashing strips on a charm square quilt.  I'm starting to get the hang of these solid fabrics... and they are definately growing on me.

OK these are really just pieced straight, but don't they look
so much more interesting on an angle?

My Sew Happy Me stitch along is progressing nicely... still behind but who's counting??

And just incase you were wondering about the freezer paper templates I gave you a little tutorial on cutting a few posts ago... well they've blossomed into a wee block.

Freezer paper ironed onto the reverse of the chosen fabrics waiting
for the seam allowances to be glued down.

Little bird still needs a black bit on his eye, and whole thing
needs to be invisible machine stitched down.

After a bit of a vague email, those same lovely ladies from The Country Yard sent me a package containing my favourite thread for everything "Seralene" by Mettler in a mid grey.  I think it is meant to be used as a bobbin fill - but I use it for just about everything.  And also a little selection of Japanese Taupe fat quarters to add to my rapidly diminishing pile of scraps which will ultimately end up pieces in Gail Pan's Bluebirds and Berries BOM quilt.  Don't you love it when they wrap them up to look like presents?