Wonky Log Cabins for Summer Scrap busting!!!

The ladies in my WPH group and Lynn with the Mystery Quilt Group have been having fun with Wonky blocks of late. I  love the fun of these blocks though I do know that they take some people out of their comfort zone. These are a great way to use up scraps, which we have an abundance of at HQ AHQ!   I love making something from nothing.  

I thought some of you might like to have fun with them as well so I asked Lynn to write a tutorial for them.  Now please, a round of applause for Lynn.  This is her very first tutorial and I think she did a great job.  

You might like to sew some of these for your next quilt or you might like to make some just for the fun of it and send them to me and we will incorporate them into our quilts.   Either way, just have some fun with them. 

Over to Lynn now!

Wonky Block – a bit of summer fun from Lynn   

OK – here is a bit of fun.  I don’t know if you have made wonky blocks but although I was not a fan of scrappy blocks I did find the ‘building’ of this block a bit of fun particularly when made with a colour theme.  So I decided to photograph the steps I took.

The final block size is the only measurement we need to worry about.  I used 1.5inch, 2inch, 2.5inch and also irregular off-cuts that we all collect in our scrap bin.  Give it a try – relax about the lack of careful measuring and have some fun. I started by sorting various size strips, offcuts and scraps in a variety of red, white and blue fabrics.

I then used a square of the Aussie flag fabric as the centre of each block, and sliced it through the middle at an angle 

Then just start building.  Add a fabric to each side and trim back to a straight line.

        Keep adding and don’t worry when things get a bit irregular like this…..

Keep trimming ………and stay wonky, that is the fun of it all…………….

Keep adding strips and keep trimming so the shapes are irregular.

When you get an idea that you are nearly at the desired finished block size add some wider strips (if you have them) so that when cut back there is a more comfortable area for seam allowance when joining to other blocks.

I wanted blocks at 14.5inches square for this quilt so I placed the ruler over the block and ‘wonky-ied’ it even further. 

And tah-rah – here is the finished block.

And here are two quilt tops completed with this method.  Both recipients asked for the particular colours with the flag included.  Very satisfying, reduced my scrap bin which is also satisfying because I used material instead of tossing it out.

                                      

Hope you like this block and have fun building your own version.

Till next time...... keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

Jan-Maree  xxx