Hourglass

Begun on April 4 of this year as part of my 100 Days of Scraps, the very scrappy hourglass quilt is complete, and what perfect timing, as the 100 Day Project ends today! Approximately 58" x 60", 100% of the quilt front and binding are literally, from the scrap basket, and about 2/3 of the back, as I included some bits of solid fabric there to break things up a bit. 

I got the idea of the scrappy hourglass blocks from Leah @colorfulartgirl. I loved her version, and immediately thought something similar would be a great spring scrap project, and I wasn't wrong. In fact, I got carried away and still have nearly 30 blocks set aside for another quilt or whatever.

Anyway, I made my hourglass blocks in a variety of sizes, and generally added more rounds than Leah. I just enjoyed making each block, and let them become whatever they seemed to want to be. When it came time to puzzle the blocks together, I added mostly solid scraps as filler. It all was a little tricky, but not too bad. I love the scattered look.

The quilt back was pieced with three of my extra blocks, other printed scraps and stash finds, as well as a few solid fabrics. Gotta say, it grew on me as I sat and bound the quilt.

For quilting, I did a 2" grid using Aurifil 50wt 2843 [palm leaf], a very light green that I also used for much of the piecing. I like how it's pretty subtle on a quilt that contains so many varied colors.

My binding choice may not have been the most inspired, but I had the perfect lengths of this Denyse Schmidt @dsquilts Flea Market Fancy print in the scrap basket, that I couldn't resist. And why not for this very scrappy quilt? It was that or piecing a bunch of scraps together, which didn't seem as fun at this point. Plus I love that little flower dot print.

Admittedly, at times, this felt like the quilt that would never end, and the crazy scrappiness is definitely an acquired taste. But oh, I used up a lot of scraps in it, and that feels really, really good. It's a sweet lap-sized quilt, which feels pretty perfect.