The countdown on my 50 Days of Scraps is nearing its end, but don't be surprised if I pick it up again after QuiltCon, as I've really enjoyed it. After another dive into the scrap basket, I salvaged a handful of remnants from Vista Toscana, that I made last fall. All pieced from a grouping of Cotton Couture solids from Michael Miller, I decided to keep them together and see what else I could come up with
As sometimes happens, especially with improv, I wasn't happy at all with my first try at piecing a mini quilt. So obviously, I sliced it up and tried again.
And the second time, I was much happier. Plus I was able to find some scrap strips very similar if not actually left over from the previous project. Not really sure, and of course it doesn't matter. But they helped me frame up the arrangement I'd come up with, and I was good with that.
For the backing, I grabbed three lone tree blocks left from Uncommon Forest made a few years ago, also from the scrap basket. They were Modern Christmas Trees from the tutorial by Amy/Diary of a Quilter. Sadly two of them got trimmed pretty drastically after quilting, but it still felt good to use them.
I used a mix of matchstick-quilting and organic straight-line quilting using a variegated Sulky 30wt thread #4021 [Truly Teal], and then a periodically matched-binding. The piece ended up being pretty little - just 9.5" x 13", but it was fun once I got going, and most importantly, I used up more scraps!
I thought the scraps must be left over from Vista Toscana! I'm so glad that you share about your process with improv and that it often takes cutting things apart and trying again.
ReplyDeleteI love this mini a lot. Thanks for sharing your process.
ReplyDeletethe teal really makes this for me! hmmmm quilt photo in the snow.... now I'm thinking
ReplyDeleteI am so enjoying your 50 days of scraps process. What you are doing is so inspiring. Taking time to just play in quilting is just so important—to me anyway. Using the 30-wt. thread is also interesting in this small quilt. Lots of texture provided.
ReplyDeleteIt's always enlightening to see your scrap-using improv-making process. Cut and sew - and if it doesn't look right - cut and sew again! You make it sound so simple, but I know it's not! Your matchstick quilting looks really fun. Someday I'll try it, but it will have to be on a very small quilt. Though I occasionally think about "Smile" the quilt that won best of show at QC 2019 in Nashville. That was matchstick quilted, and it was big! I don't think I'd have the patience to tackle something that large. Anyway, what you've made is great.
ReplyDeleteThe colours in this one are just so beautiful! I smiled when I saw the snowy picture - Snowy pictures are basically my only option in the winter months over here... mountains and mountains of snow that stay until April! 😊
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