I can't even believe I'm telling you this, but after being convinced that the last Dropcloth floral sampler was the final one I would receive, another showed up in July. What can I say!?
I don't really remember why I set aside some purple scraps months ago, but I happened across them as I began my 5th scrap quilt of the summer, and decided I'd just keep adding to them, mission unknown. So by the time I was ready to work with them, I had quite a nice quantity and variety. I tried my best to identify them, and whether one piece, or much more, I know that at least Kona Eggplant, Purple, Hibiscus, Noble Purple, Tulip, Raisin, Orchid, Orchid Ice, Petunia, Morning Glory, Amethyst, and Lupine; and Cotton Couture Amethyst, Blackberry, and Purple are represented among them.
Pulling out this mix was timely, as I'd just read The Power of Purple: Depth, Ambiguity and the Color Between Warm and Cool by Carolina Oneto @carolina_oneto. What an interesting read! Besides calling purple "The Only Color With Two Temperatures," she shares a lot of its history, and ways to explore using it. My current project will probably not be quite so intentional, but it's good info to consider.
Meanwhile, my purple scraps are also timely, as I was reminded about the QuiltCon 2027 American Patchwork + Quilting Pick-A-Color Scrappy Challenge. "Eligible quilts will use at least 10 different fabrics and feature one overarching hue in the design." Well, my current pile of scraps definitely fit the bill there. So we'll see. I have already begun to piece the smaller scraps together, and randomly put them up on the design wall. IE. the photo is definitely not a final layout. But it's a start. I have a handful of quarter-circles yet to piece, and then I'll be left with a few bit larger pieces. My (hopeful) goal is to create something in the spirit of my recent pieced quilt backs. I know. I know. We'll see where the scraps take me. And wherever it is may or may not be submission-worthy. But I'm going to head in that direction and take it from there.
I was deep in the process of making scrappy grab&piece blocks when it dawned on me that my whole purpose - making a quilt top in the style of my pieced quilt backs - was not going as planned. The problem was simple. Unlike my pieced quilt backs, where I used the finite amount of scraps left over from piecing the front, I had what felt like an unlimited amount of scraps to pull from my scrap basket. It totally changed the look of the blocks, and when I realized what I'd done, it felt too late to go back. So I continued on, using as many scraps as possible, and created Overmuch.
Despite the unintentional change of plans, I enjoyed making the scrappy blocks very much, and obviously, used a good amount of scraps. For the back, then, I did do my normal thing, using leftovers from the front, as well as all the greens I could find in my scrap basket. I used several smaller-sized greens from stash to fill in, and was quite pleased with the result.
Well, I knew even as June was closing that my fabric intake this month would be notable. Good news/bad news, my pre-ordered fat-quarter bundle of Carolyn Friedlander's new line, Memento, has yet to arrive, so that made this month a bit less monumental than expected.
But what did arrive was a necessary solid restock - mostly neutrals and blues - a lot of what has already been put to use. That said, there are other colorways in my stash that are woefully lacking, and I've been thinking that a monthly restock of a color or two at a time might be in order. We'll see.
Meanwhile, I already shared about the Tula Pink scraps I nabbed from the free table at the last guild meeting, so that was an unexpected, but welcome, addition. I'm looking forward to working with those before too long.
July Fabric Usage
Used up: 18.83 yards [12.16 projects + 6.67 recycled]
Brought in: 15.0 yards
Net: -3.83 yards
Do you remember Vessel? Made for the Women of the ELCA 2026 Triennial Quilt Contest, the challenge required quilters to interpret the gathering's theme, I Am Worthy, using the pink and yellow colors from the event logo. Selected finalist quilts (including Vessel) were on display during the event, and were auctioned, with 50% of proceeds supporting WELCA and 50% going to Lutheran World Relief. According to the quilt challenge rules, "Final winners [would] be selected for originality, adherence to selected themes, workwomanship, creative use of materials and overall design execution."
Well, I just received a letter from Jennifer Hockenbery, Interim Executive Director of WELCA, that Vessel was awarded third prize at the gathering. Yay!
There was even a judges' statement:
"The idea taken from Japanese culture of mending broken crockery with gold is obvious in this quilt. Borrowing from another culture, this quilt shows the practice of kintsugi which reflects the concept of wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect and uplifting the broken by mending it with gold. Using only the two colors of the Triennial logo makes for a striking presentation. The quilter is skilled in piecing small slivers of fabric and quilting evenly and intensely."
Well, that was nice to hear. The letter confirmed that my quilt was purchased by a "very happy quilt lover."
Gotta say, these grab&piece blocks aren't for the faint of heart. The crazy mix of shapes, sizes and colors from the scrap basket take some patience to press and then puzzle together. But I've made good progress!
Block #4, 19" x 22".
Block #5, 20" x 23".
At the end of each block, before I reached into the scrap basket again, I re-sorted the scraps I had left from the previous block. I liked to keep the smallest pieces next to my machine, as I always start a new block by piecing those together.
Kitty @nightquilter got to choose the Bee Sewcial @beesewcial this month, and she asked us to make a block or blocks inspired by how Ocean or Water + Light play together. "Whether the sparkle of sunlight on ocean, or the view from below, with the sun beams coming down through the water. Colors are a range of blues you might find in an ocean, anywhere from dark true blue to turquoise, with white to yellow/gold as the base for the light."
It feels like much longer, but it's only been about six weeks since I gave my Bee Sewcial mates my latest prompt, improv Courthouse Steps blocks. I don't have them all quite yet, but I've seen photos of them all, and I'm pretty excited.
As a reminder, here's my block. Which honestly, I plan to make remake. I intentionally made mine quite simple, and once I have all of the other blocks up on the design wall, I'll evaluate colors etc., and see what I think. But for now, here it is, 18" square.
At our recent Seattle MQG guild meeting, we heard about the guild's plans for our QuiltCon 2027 Community Outreach Challenge quilt. We're using the bold palette - Bella Eggplant, Wheat, Shocking Pink, Pond, and Periwinkle, and as you might already know, the design theme is Half-Square Triangles. I was amused - though not disappointed - that our quilt would be inspired by The Gum Wall at our city's historical Pike Place Market. (Click the link if you're not familiar with it. Brace yourself.)
We were each given three pieces of fabric to make HSTs in at least two sizes between 1.5" and 5" unfinished. We had the option to make some skinny HRTs, but I opted to stick with the HSTs.
So I've sent my 22 HSTs + that one little scrap back to our Community Outreach team. Seriously can't wait to see what they come up with!
So as I recently posted, I'm working on a scrap quilt in the 'grab & piece' method, and so far, so good. I'm using as much of each pull as I can in each block, before moving on to another. With the first block, which measured 15" x 21", I ended up with just a small pile of neutral strips, which I'll fold into the next pull, rather than return them to the basket.
Let's review. In the last two months, I've made four scrap quilts, primarily from my very full solids scrap basket.
Banded, where an entire yard of Kona Haze was used as background on the front. But other than that, every single bit - blocks, backing, and binding - was from the scrap basket. [47" x 55" x 47" x 58"]
And finally, there's Tangled Strings, which is much smaller than the others, but still made primarily from the scrap basket. Only the Kona Punch on the back and the black binding were from stash. [25" x 26"]
So the thing is....for each of these quilt finishes, I got so many comments that the back could be the front, or right out that the commenter liked the back over the front. So I figured why not? My next scrap quilt would be made, as much as possible, from the scrap basket in the style of my pieced quilt backs, but from the start, I'll consider it the front. IE. I think I'll do the 'grab and piece' method, just reaching in and pulling out a handful of scraps, and piecing them together. At some point, I'll probably need to pull from stash to fill in - maybe? I'm not sure, but I'm curious to see. Here's what my solid scrap basket looked like after the above four quilts....
