shoo fly advice anyone?

After I made blocks for the challenge, I got carried away with making shoo fly blocks and ended up with about 80 blocks. I'm not sure this is an appropriate use of the blog, but would be interested to hear any ideas regarding layout. The colors kind of lent themselves to "steps," but it doesn't really seem liberated. I'll play with it again tomorrow.

The florals and blues were given to my family. The guy who gave it to use thought it was from the 50s (when his mom worked in a clothing factory -- these seem to be leftover shirt pieces). In any case,I have a lovely green that I will use for the eventual border, but I could also use it for stripping.

My sewing room is small, so I apologize that I can't get a good pic of the 7x10 block layout. Apart from the ones in the pic, I have 10 left-mostly with pink centers. The blocks are 7.5 inches.

Speaking of Shoo Flies . . .

For more variations on a theme, check out Malka Dubrawsky's  Supersize Shoo-Fly Quilt Tutorial on the Sew Mama Sew blog.  Each block is a big 35" square and you only need 4 blocks to make a big quilt. 

Of course, I looked at this and imagined it being made with WONKY shoo flies . . .  can you imagine starting with a square yard of background to make each block?  I don't have a cutting mat big enough to do that without sliding it around.

March Winners

The Winners for the March Lotto are:

Ellena (ripstitcher) *** newbie ***

Anna (1kwlter)

Vivian (vivplum) *** newbie ***

Deborah (little deb) *** newbie ***

Cathy (cathysews)

Randi (randigirl)

Congratulations, ladies!!

Annette's Shoo Flies

Annette (annettejeavons) is back from a trip to Egypt . . . just in time to make these 6 blocks for the lotto.



Our new total for the month so far is 284 Shoo Fly blocks.

Three more blocks from Laurie

Laurie (laurielt) made these three more blocks, making a total of 7 for her and 278 for the group.

One more block from Randi

Randi made the block we needed for a total of 275--enough for 6 winners !!!

Extra Blocks from Sara

Sara (sassywoodchuck) made these 6 extra Shoo Fly blocks . . .



. . . for a total of 274–one more to go until we have enough for 6 winners this month.

Extra blocks from Randi

Everyone seems determined to push us to 275 blocks for the month so we will have 6 winners.

Randi made these 4 extra blocks . . . we're at 268 now, only 7 more to go with 4 days left.

More Shoo Flies from Sara

These additional 7 blocks from Sara (sassywoodchuck) make a total of 8 for her and 264 lotto blocks so far this month.

Extra Blocks from Wanda

Another generous newbie has made extra blocks for the lotto this month.

Wanda (pandnstarr) made these 16 extra blocks giving us a new all-time-high number of blocks in a month of 257.



Woo hoo! Thanks, Wanda.

Extras from Ellena

Ellena must have a lot of florals in her stash and a generous spirit. She made 12 extra blocks to push us to a total of 241.





Thank you, Ellena.

241 blocks means at least 60 each for 4 winners.

Shoo Fly Setting Idea

My friend, Diane, recently told me about this quilt, in the current issue of Quick Quilts. Although this quilt is made from churn dash blocks (from floral and coordinating bright fabrics), I immediately thought of our floral Shoo Fly blocks.


Directions for making a queen-size version of this quilt are provided by Quick Quilts as a web extra here.

To make alternate quarter square triangle squares to finish at 6 inches, start with two squares cut at 7-1/4 inches. See Janet Wickell's article, Intro to Quarter Square Triangle Units on Quilting.about.com for more information on sewing these.

For an even easier setting, consider plain squares (in white or more floral fabrics). Plain white squares would be a perfect canvas for a pretty quilting design; using floral fabrics would add to the overall scrappiness of the quilt.

Other pieced blocks based on a 9-patch grid would combine in interesting ways with this block. Consider 9-patch, snowball or Ohio star.

More Blocks from Judy

Judy (possumtownquilter) made these 4 blocks, making a total of 8 for her and a new total of 229 Shoo Fly blocks for March.



We are officially in 5-winner territory now and 16 blocks away from a block lotto record high number of blocks in a single month.

Laurie T's Shoo Flies

Laurie (laurielt) joined the block lotto--our 9th newbie this month. Here are her first 4 blocks.



Total blocks for March: 225

Extras from Kate

Kate (katelnorth) made these four extra blocks, bringing our official total so far to 221 blocks.



I know there are more blocks made or in the works . . . this could become a record-breaking month ;-)

More blocks from Vivian

Vivian (vivplum) made these two blocks--making 8 for her and a new March total of 217.

Laura's blocks

We are racing toward the 5-winner mark this month. These 8 beautiful blocks from Laura (ljrandolph) bring our total to 215.



(We're 12 blocks to go to 5 winners; 30 blocks away from the record high.)

Sara's First Block

Sara (sassywoodchuck) completed her first block in her first block lotto on the forum. She plans to make more when some ordered fabric arrives.


It's a great start, Sara.

New total for march: 207 blocks.

Pamela's Blocks

Pamela (fabric_fiend) made these blocks: 8 chances for her and 5 for the boost to push us to a 5-winner month. Thanks Pamela!



Deb (Little Deb) also contributed an extra 4 blocks for the boost, bringing us to a March total so far of 206 blocks. (21 blocks to go to reach the 5-winner mark)

Anna's blocks

Anna (1kwltr) said she couldn't resist and made these 5 blocks.



Welcome to the lotto, Anna!

Our new total so far this month is 189 blocks.