Empty Bin Incentive

In tidying my sewing room to have a quilt friend over, I peeked in a plastic bin and found 16 blocks I'd assembled from the 2006 JoAnn Block of the Month series, called Spice Meadows. I'd collected a scattering of random block kits from the clearance section for $1 per block kit. Each block measured 12½ inches square. The colors are dated and rather blah (in my opinion), but 16 was enough to assemble into a decent size quilt. Why not join the blocks together now and have an empty bin available for other projects? The challenge would be to use only fabrics from my stash.

This is not the first time emptying a bin has been my incentive for working on a long forgotten project. Other bin projects having had their rebirth after a prolonged time period neglected, dwelling, and taking up space in a plastic box. For example, in my 4/10/23 blog post for my Pieces of Blue quilt:

I typically store the components – pattern, fabric, specialty rulers, magazines, etc. – for my ongoing-projects or dream projects-to-be in these 12"x12" plastic bins designed mainly for scrapbookers. I own fifteen of these bins, as many that will store five across and three high on one of my shelves. The following photo shows nine bins. I have a self imposed limit of fifteen on this number of bins. If I need another for a new project, I constrain myself to 1) finishing a project in one of the bins or 2) giving up on a dream project and disseminating the components to free a bin.

I did not have all twelve advertised kits from 2006 JoAnn Spice Meadows series, nor the finishing set, but each block kit was an opportunity to sew up a block only for amusement. I was missing blocks 9 and 12, but since I had duplicates of others, I could substitute to create a layout of four by four blocks.

For those curious, here are the Blocks 9 and 12 that I did not have. Block 9 was a cute star named Mosaic Star. Block 12 was the central appliqué block, called Bouquet. Skipping Block 12 was perfectly fine with me. I prefer piecing far beyond appliqué. Many of these blocks can be found to buy on eBay, but certainly not for the bargain price of $1 that I paid.

My friend and I dug through my stash to find sashing and cornerstone fabrics. We came up with this brown speckle for the sashing and soft red for the cornerstones. Both seemed to go with the common tone of golden beige of the block backgrounds. But how wide to make the sashings? Simple. As wide as my one yard of brown speckle would allow. I cut 2" strips that would finish as 1½" sashings. At the outer edges, I widened it to 2½" strips so the binding would not cover up a disproportionate width of the outer edge. I only had ½ - ¾ yard of the soft red, but it was enough for cornerstones and binding. The resultant top assembly seemed a bit brighter with the rivers of brown and the splashes of red. Here is how my friend and I collaborated to arrange the blocks. Where I could manage it, there is some symmetry in the block placements.

Next up for decision was the backing. I found this Noah's Ark stripe in my stash. The hight of the animal bands are about 2". Except for blue instead of purple, the fabric reflected the colors and tonality of the top quite well. The whimsy of the print also cheers up the somewhat somber nature of the top. I had three yards, which I calculated was enough area for the 57" x 57" top. I just had to figure out if I could cut and seam the Noah's Ark while preserving and matching the stripes. 

TOP: 57in x 57in = 3249 sq.in.              

BACKING: 3 yds x 36"/yd x 40" WOF = 4320 sq.in.

I did mange to seam the backing fabric quasi-invisibly with one entire width horizontal seam, and one short partial height vertical seam. The vertical seam is shown in the following photo where the tip of the scissors are pointing.

I have enough leftover Noah's Ark fabric to make another quilt. I could cut the fabric into squares and alternate it with patchwork blocks of another pattern such as nine-patch or pinwheels or rail fence. In the photo below the fabric is folded in a double thickness. Or I could use the longer pieces as the borders of a smaller quilt. Whatever I do, I am not storing this back away in the bin I just emptied!

My binding is all made from the red fabric. Next up is sandwiching this top and backing with batting, and then quilting it. Those activities are the subject of another post.