Colorwash Again

The other day I took my plaid quilt off the bed and changed it out for an all floral Log Cabin quilt. For some reason I can't find the pillow covers that I use with my floral quilts. (Probably the reason is the same as why I have trouble finding my keys; I have no memory of it because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.) Anyway I  need to cover 3 decorative pillows and I have been using up all my old floral fabrics. that is what I have been working on doing but those were the fabrics that go well with the quilt. I am not opposed  to buying new fabric for something I am actually going to make NOW but all the current pretty floral fabrics are brighter and cleaner and don't look right with that quilt.

 But wait.....I have a large Rubbermaid box of ninepatch color wash leftovers on my shelf.  

Here is part of the mess stuff that was in the box. In the back you can see some of the Ziploc bags with things that are sorted according to the  project they were used for. On the table and  over on my desk there are probably a hundred or more 3 1/2 inch 9 patch blocks plus some strip sets and some of the fabric that I used and put away with the blocks thinking that I might need it if I ever decide to use the blocks. I am happy that I saved it; I can use it to finish the pillow covers. Below is the first piece that I sewed  together. I cropped the picture on the  top  and sides so you can't see how the edges look but you can see along the bottom how uneven the  edge turned out and this piece does not lie flat.       

 

No matter I can trim it and add the border and  when it is  quilted it will all moosh together and  intersections that don't line up won't be noticeable.  However I did square up the blocks for the next pillow because it was not fun sewing the first one together.

I am not sure I made all of these blocks at the same time for the same quilt because I made a lot of Nine patch color wash quilts. I would frequently change directions when the quilt took off the way it wanted to go and I would pull out all of the one or two kinds of blocks. These blocks have  been sitting around for 10 to15 years and at some point I found  the quarter inch and began to sew it consistently. That leaves me with a lot of leftover blocks that don't all fit well together. So I trimmed them down to 3 1/4 inches and now they play nice. I like liberated piecing when that is my intention but when I am sewing them together I square them up and I don't have to fuss around making things fit. I like wonky but I want flat wonky.

After I get these 3 pillow covers done I am  going to have a look at the rest of the leftovers in all those ziplock  bags.

Oh, guess what!!  I just remembered where I put those pillow covers.