An Experiment

 

 

I watched a YouTube video a few weeks ago where a woman sewed her scraps together to make scrap fabric.  I didn't want to make a bolt of scrap fabric like she did, but it inspired me to make a free-form scrap quilt.  

I used several of my orphan blocks and scraps out of several boxes, bags, and bins (but nowhere close to all my scraps) to make blocks that were roughly 13 - 14 inches square.  I didn't worry at all about color, though I did think some about light and dark when sewing together half-square triangles.  Occasionally I did make the scraps into recognizable blocks, but mostly I just sewed pieces together based solely on size and shape.  It was a little difficult for me at first, but it really was liberating to just sew and not worry about if it was "right" or not.  I also used up odds and ends of thread that I had around.  It was an anything goes kind of project.

Once I had made 20 blocks, I used scrap batting pieces, and some miscellaneous fabric from my stash as backing, and quilted the blocks.  I wanted to practice some free-motion quilting, but I was always worried about messing up a completed quilt top, so again, this was a liberating experience.  I didn't have to worry about getting things perfect.  I could just practice and have fun.

When the quilting was all done, I trimmed the quilted blocks down to 12-1/2 inches square.  Pictured above are the quilt blocks laid out in the general configuration for the quilt.  They won't necessarily stay in those exact places in the finished quilt. 

I plan to use a quilt-as-you-go method that I learned in quilt guild to put the blocks together.  I will use narrow strips (1-1/8 inches) on top to join the blocks.  This will make the blocks butt up against each other and not make a thick seam like if you sewed them directly together with all the layers already quilted together.  Then I'll use a 2 inch strip, folded in half, to cover the gap on the back.  That is another technique I've been wanting to try and this seemed like a good opportunity.  

All around this has been about learning, experimenting, and having fun sewing.  I'm glad that I did it.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes out in the end.

More Trick-or-Treat bags

I made a couple more trick-or-treat bags from a different pattern. This pattern is modified from a Japanese Twist bag that was published in Quiltmaker Magazine about 19 years ago, I think. They are smaller than the first two bags.  The outsides of the bags are made from two fat quarters that I won at the quilt shop several years ago.  I really like the twist design, but it does make the bag a little trickier to put together than the first two.

These two are for my grandson and the grandchild that is still on the way. 
 

Trick-or-Treat bags

 

These two bags are made from orphan blocks and fabric from my stash.  My intention is for them to be trick-or-treat bags for my granddaughters, but they are a little large for that.  They are purse-size, or book bag size actually, so they could be used for those purposes if they prefer.  

It feels good to be doing some sewing again.  And I especially like making things for my grand-kids and using stuff from my stash.

Fabric Face Masks

One of the ladies in my quilt guild works at a nearby hospital.  She requested that our guild make fabric face masks for use at the hospital.  I'm honestly not sure if it is for the staff or the patients, but either way, I'm happy to help any way I can.  Mostly I've tried to do my part by staying home and sheltering in place, but it's nice to have some little way of helping that feels tangible.  I hope that these will actually do some good.  It is so hard to know.

Four Corners Quilt top

I made this quilt top about a week and a half ago, but I'm just getting around to posting a picture of it.  It is a pattern that I designed a few years ago, but never got around to making.  I had written out directions for it and bought fabric, but I just hadn't sat down and sewed it together yet.  But now I have.

I didn't really care much for the way I had written the directions, and there were only a couple of illustrations, so the directions will need some work before they get published (if they ever do).  But I like how the top turned out.  It is made with Frolic! fabric from Me and My Sister by Moda.  The line is a couple years old now, so it's probably not readily available anymore.  But it uses 4 fat quarters for the four corners and one yard for the background fabric.  The finished quilt will be 40 inches square.  That seems like a nice sized baby quilt.

Merry Christmas 2018 quilt

Merry Christmas 2018 is all that I put on this quilt's label.  Since it is being donated to the Salvation Army I didn't want to put my name on the label.  That's probably silly, but I don't know if the kids think these gifts come from Santa Claus or what, so I just went with Merry Christmas and the year.  I used a simple zig-zag stitch to turn the binding.  I wouldn't want to do all of my quilt binding this way, but I think it turned out nice, and it was soooo much faster than doing it by hand.  I would have felt rushed trying to get it finished before Sunday.

I really hope that the child who gets this quilt will like it.  It is such a simple quilt, but when I was in middle school I loved hot pink!  I really like the way that the quilt feels too.  The diagonal quilting makes for crossed quilting lines every 4-1/4 inches.  That seems like a really good distance to give the quilt body, but also be supple and soft.  I'm really irrationally happy with how it turned out. 

Charitable Giving

This year at Christmas my church is collecting gifts for the Salvation Army.  One of the requested items was blankets, so I decided that I would make a quick and easy quilt.  Here is a picture of the finished top.  It is made completely from my stash.  I liked the idea of using 6 inch (finished) orphan blocks mixed in with print fabric squares.  I didn't have any orphan blocks that matched the color scheme I was going with, so I made a few simple blocks to jazz it up a little bit.  The top is 42-1/2 x 54-1/2 inches.

I plan to machine quilt it myself on my home sewing machine using diagonal line edge to edge quilting.  That way there won't be any threads to bury, unless I run out of bobbin mid-seam!  I'm also planning to machine stitch the binding, which I don't usually do, but there is limited time to get it finished, so I figure that's the safest option at this point.

Christmas Joy

This will be the last quilt that I finish this year.  I'm calling it "Christmas Joy".  It was a gift for my 8 month old granddaughter.  I machine quilted it myself.  I hope that someday she will enjoy having a Christmas quilt from her Grandmommy.  I know she will grow out of it size-wise, but it could be wall-hanging later on if she wants.  I haven't decided if I'm going to make getting a Christmas quilt into a tradition or not.  We'll see what next year brings.

Little Quilt for my Cats

I have two cats.  One is solid gray and the other is a black tortie.  They both like to camouflage themselves in matching blankets and covers.  Earlier this year I had my black and gray fabrics out in a heap on the loveseat in my sewing room.  The cats LOVED to get on the pile of fabric and nap, so I decided to use some of those fabrics and make a quilt for them.  I thought a simple 'puss in the corner' block repeated would make a good cat quilt.

They have an old shipping box that they like to lay in like a cat bed, so I'm going to drape this in the box.  It might make the box a little more comfy for them, and it should definitely make it look less like I just have an old Amazon box sitting around on the floor for no reason.  Hopefully it will be a win-win situation.

Scrappy Heart Quilt

This is a quilt top I made using some of the left over fabric from last year's Moda quilt.  I had an idea for a quilt made from a jelly roll that involves stripes and hearts.  I wanted to try out the heart block first on some scrap fabric before I started on the actual project with my jelly roll.  The project will use all of the jelly roll strips so there is really no room for trial and error there.  This isn't the same pattern as the hearts and stripes quilt, but it uses the same heart block.  Because, you know, once I had made the trial run heart block, I had to use it in something.

"Baby Blocks" Christmas Star

Here is the finished quilt top from the previous post.  I made a slightly narrower border than what the pattern called for, because it fit the width of my fabric better.  I didn't want seams in my border and the border fabric I was using was not 42-1/2 inches wide, it was only 41 inches (not including selvages).

The quilt top is 40-1/2 inches square.  Plus it will fit better onto the backing fabric as well.  I will still have a problem if I decide to have it long arm quilted, but I will probably quilt it myself, either on my regular machine or by hand.  I'm still deciding on that part.