Yesterday I had a little fling with my linen scraps. Summer is the time of year for linen, after all! And these scraps are tempting.

I keep my linen and linen cotton blend fabrics separate from my quilting cotton fabrics. That’s because these fabrics have different properties. Linen tends to be a looser weave and a stronger fiber. I have found that if I combine linen with quilting cotton in patchwork, the linen can unravel and the seams can tear. If, on the other hand, I make patchwork of just linen or linen-blends, the fabrics are equal and the patchwork is as durable as you’d expect.

Still, I sew such linen patchwork with 3/8” seam allowances. That extra wide seam allowance is extra insurance against unraveling.

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True to the anything-goes spirit of summer, I sewed improv blocks with my linen scraps. Here I have begun with some of my favorites. Most of these are leftover from apparel sewing projects, plus some linen scraps I was gifted by a friend.

I like this beginning. The browns feel earthy and grounding. Combined with the whites, grays, yellow and blue, it has an optimistic, airy vibe.

Here’s where I stopped a bit later. But honestly, I don’t like how it developed. Perhaps introducing the turquoise was a mistake. Perhaps it’s just too diverse in terms of prints. Unfortunately, this is not where I want to be heading. That is as important to feel and acknowledge as one’s thrilling successes.

I am going to take these down now and go back to sewing happy, scrappy dottie blocks. Taking a break from this project will do it good. I already have an idea, actually, for transforming these linen blocks into the centers of large-scale linen stars. I will come back to that later after my summer travels!