I am tickled pink with how well this scrappy quilt turned out.
I had a box of fabric scraps that were really too small for anything but some of the fabrics were so great that I couldn't bear to throw them away and felt the need to find a way to use them up.
What I did was randomly sew pieces together. I did straighten most of the pieces, so no curves. But other than that it was completely random, often cutting off the excess after sewing strip after strip onto the growing scrap block.
I did square up the blocks. You can likely see that one of the large blocks resulted in leftover log cabin coaster blocks sewn together. There's a mini mountain square patch in the middle of a larger scrap patch.
I used up all those small pieces and then used larger pieces of scrap fabric to fill out the dimensions. I free motion quilted the blocks, cutting the backing squares at least an inch bigger on every side. Then I joined them together by sewing the backs together with a tight 1/4" seam and using 3" sashing strips folded in half for the front. Even the binding is created by joining 3" scrap pieces together. I joined the binding on the back and flipped it over to the front and sewed along the edge. No hand sewing the binding for this scrappy quilt. It was all about down and dirty, quick and easy (though the scrap blocks were started over a year ago), and impact more than perfection.
Dimensions, big enough to cover the love seat. We had a few days of cooler weather last week and it was a cozy little lap quilt to pull over my lap while reading or watching tv but not big enough to cover my toes if I wanted to lay down. I'm still tickled pink with it.
The vibrant colors really thrill my senses. And this quilt was made almost entirely of scraps of fabric that most sane people would have tossed when finishing the original project. So it's a freebie as well as free form. The batting was leftover from a wedding quilt I made two years ago. The backing fabric was the top sheet from a set whose fitted sheet tore. It's a true scrap quilt.
Because of its nature, I felt a great sense of freedom in whatever I did with it, as in processes. I played with the free form quilting, not worried about how it looked, just having fun with it. I experimented with the using the backing fabric to attach blocks together to see how that worked out. It worked out but I definitely learned some lessons for that.
Just take a look at the ladybug quilting I did. That's what it reminded me of, the path of a flying ladybug.
But it's all right. It made me happy to play. This is what a quilter sees but the bigger picture is what everyone else sees. I'm not entering it in any competitions. I am content to have it on my love seat for the next cool evening where it will make me feel good to cover up my legs and lap with a splash of bright colors.
I had a box of fabric scraps that were really too small for anything but some of the fabrics were so great that I couldn't bear to throw them away and felt the need to find a way to use them up.
What I did was randomly sew pieces together. I did straighten most of the pieces, so no curves. But other than that it was completely random, often cutting off the excess after sewing strip after strip onto the growing scrap block.
I did square up the blocks. You can likely see that one of the large blocks resulted in leftover log cabin coaster blocks sewn together. There's a mini mountain square patch in the middle of a larger scrap patch.
I used up all those small pieces and then used larger pieces of scrap fabric to fill out the dimensions. I free motion quilted the blocks, cutting the backing squares at least an inch bigger on every side. Then I joined them together by sewing the backs together with a tight 1/4" seam and using 3" sashing strips folded in half for the front. Even the binding is created by joining 3" scrap pieces together. I joined the binding on the back and flipped it over to the front and sewed along the edge. No hand sewing the binding for this scrappy quilt. It was all about down and dirty, quick and easy (though the scrap blocks were started over a year ago), and impact more than perfection.
Dimensions, big enough to cover the love seat. We had a few days of cooler weather last week and it was a cozy little lap quilt to pull over my lap while reading or watching tv but not big enough to cover my toes if I wanted to lay down. I'm still tickled pink with it.
The vibrant colors really thrill my senses. And this quilt was made almost entirely of scraps of fabric that most sane people would have tossed when finishing the original project. So it's a freebie as well as free form. The batting was leftover from a wedding quilt I made two years ago. The backing fabric was the top sheet from a set whose fitted sheet tore. It's a true scrap quilt.
Because of its nature, I felt a great sense of freedom in whatever I did with it, as in processes. I played with the free form quilting, not worried about how it looked, just having fun with it. I experimented with the using the backing fabric to attach blocks together to see how that worked out. It worked out but I definitely learned some lessons for that.
Just take a look at the ladybug quilting I did. That's what it reminded me of, the path of a flying ladybug.
But it's all right. It made me happy to play. This is what a quilter sees but the bigger picture is what everyone else sees. I'm not entering it in any competitions. I am content to have it on my love seat for the next cool evening where it will make me feel good to cover up my legs and lap with a splash of bright colors.
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