My new favorite way of quilt-making~

I tried my hand at an Orphan Block quilt last year and absolutely loved the challenge of using up leftover or random patchwork to create something whole. (I wrote about it in the post: “There’s an Angel In There Somewhere.”)

Since then I’ve made at least three more. There’s not much to say about the process of making these quilts except they take a lot of math and require a very open mind, neither of which are my strong suits.

Here are photos of three more. The third one I had planned to hand quilt like I’ve done on the other Orphan Block quilts but I think I’ll pay to have it long-armed (professionally machine quilted) as I am eager to get it finished and my hands hurt too much to hand-quilt large projects anymore.

This next quilt began with a gorgeous small piece of a black Liberty of London print, gifted to me by a friend, which I thought was too pretty to cut so it sat in a bin for a long time. I finally decided to create some Sawtooth Stars with it, and by skimping a little on the seams I was able to get 6 stars. Then I put them away for awhile to ponder how to use them.

This last quilt was probably the most challenging one and I will have to do a bit of “trimming” once it is back from the quilter. Otherwise I am happy with the way it turned out and happy that the cat liked it, too.

I can’t wait to start another. There are still some orphans needing a home.

If you’re a quilter and you have some leftover blocks lying around, give the Orphan Block quilt a whirl. You might surprise yourself. Just keep a calculator handy and an open heart.