Scrappy Potholders

A couple of weeks ago, I was debating what scrappy project to start next, when I happened across a handful of scrappy slabs left over from a project in 2013!! Ha! At first, I couldn't even remember what they were from! I very briefly considered putting them right back in the closet they had come from, but I'm glad I didn't.

Rather than start in on a rainbow quilt, which isn't really my thing, I thought to make some potholders, and then I remembered the unique shape I had seen Hannah Haberkern/@verdigrissewing use, and it was settled. 

I finished one and added a hand-stamped leather 'label' that I thought was really fun, though I admit it hasn't been fully field-tested yet. We've used the potholder several times and the metal rivets haven't conducted enough heat to be bothersome; but it has yet to be washed, so we'll see how the leather holds up to washing.

Meanwhile, those scrappy slabs were enough to make 15 potholders total!!! Yeah, that was a lot! But I love the shape, and enjoyed finding backings from stash, and using coordinating thread to randomly quilt each one as I felt inspired.

So what does one do with 15 potholders?! Well I kept the red one with the leather label to field-test completely; but I had my mom choose a pair, and the rest went home with my brother, who's been visiting from out of town, to share with my nieces and nephews. Serendipitously, I had the perfect number!

Hour by Hour

It feels like it's been forever, but in actuality, I've only been working on my latest quilt for a month. It's nothing like what I was thinking about when I started piecing scrappy hourglass blocks, but I guess that's ok. I didn't anticipate the block orientationS, the 'sashing,' or the addition of the berry fabric. This one truly evolved.

The funny thing is my inspiration fabric that influenced my initial fabric pull receded into the background in no time. That olive fabric (see arrow below) was a favorite, and I had just a fat-quarter, so as the quilt grew in size and complexity, the olives got overwhelmed, but I like searching for them in the finished piece.

Any trace of those berry fabrics or that gold/green sashing fabric was nowhere to be found when I started in. But my desire to grow the piece strongly influenced the palette and the design.

For the quilt back, I used a few leftover blocks, but primarily some stash fabrics. The prints I found were amazingly good coordinates for the front of the quilt. I was actually kind of surprised that I had prints on hand that reinforced the palette that I ended up with on the front! Serendipity for sure.

As you can see, I quilted a simple diagonal grid. It just seemed like enough for this one, and resulted in a soft, cozy quilt. If I have one regret, it's that I didn't have enough berry anything to bind the quilt, but it is a scrappy quilt after all. It measures 60" square, and I'm ready to see what's next.

50 Days + Primary Color Challenge

So back in December I mentioned starting another 50 (or 100?) Days of Scraps, and two things about that: 

1) I settled on 50 days because it felt manageable AND I can just start another if it feels right; and

2) Without a speck of fanfare, I started in several days ago.

So far, I've made Bee Sewcial blocks I'm super happy with, cut out an entire patchwork hearts quilt top (stay tuned!), and started in on my response to the latest Quilt Improv Studio challenge centering on primary colors + black & white, and the common theme of lines.

So above is my (scrap) fabric pull for the improv challenge piece, though I don't think I'm going to incorporate that yellow dotted fabric, the rest has found it's way into the piece I'm working on. And below is my first slab of lines. Considering I started piecing the black and white lines into a rectangle of blue fabric, things really took on a shape of its own.

I made a similar slab starting with a red square, then cut both slabs into triangle-ish shapes. I did grab a yard of black fabric from stash to use as the background, and came up with a composition I'm really excited about. At this point, the piece measures about 26" square, with my goal being a 24" square when finished.

So I plan to wait a few days before starting in quilting, basically because I ordered some thread, but also because I like to save really focused sewing for the weekend. So stay tuned for that later, but meanwhile I've got a couple of other scrappy projects I've started that I'll share with you soon!

Another 50 Days of Scraps? 100?

At a guild meeting the other night, I actually said it out loud. About the most fun I had last year, creatively speaking, was during my self-proclaimed 50 Days of Scraps. The best part was just figuring it out from day to day... pulling palettes right out of the scrap basket, and making whatever I felt like. That and seeing the level of scraps in the basket dwindle down, quilt by quilt.

In fact, working with scraps throughout the year was so rewarding that I want to do more of it. That, and the fact that my scrap basket is tamped down and still overflowing is leading me to think I should do it again. Though why stop at 50 days? I'm thinking I'll try 100.

Yikes. Can I do it? (Should I?)

I'm still debating....

I was thinking of starting on January 1, but I have one main unfinished quilt staring at me from the design wall that I'd really like to finish first. So I'll see if I can finish it promptly after the holidays. Boy that would feel good. AND free me up to whatever's next.

So I'll keep you posted when I start, and what my goal will be. Anyone want to join me?

The End of 50 Days of Scraps

Even I was surprised how much I was able to make during my 50 Days of Scraps! Though they were mostly small projects, I kept on task and had alot of fun doing it.

Even though you've seen it all before, I felt compelled to summarize. So here goes - all the ways I used scraps in the last 50 days!

• The Tumbler Dilemma

• Liberated Rings

• Bee Sewcial block - Personal Flag

• L

• Heart Gift Bags

• Pie Time

• Bee Sewcial blocks - Little Gems

• House block for Seattle MQG giving quilt

• Flashback

And though it's not completed, I got a good start on a Patchwork Sashiko project - at least the scraps are all cut to size and arranged for hand-sewing.

So that was really fun! I anticipate taking a break from the scrap focus to participate in QuiltCon and then take on a couple of new, time-critical projects. But after that, I'll definitely consider getting back to them, as you know I have plenty left!

L

So when I finished with my Personal Flag Bee Sewcial block last week, I got alot of comments on how much folks liked the color palette, and honestly, I did too. And considering I was barely halfway into my 50 Days of Scraps, the obvious thing to do was to take the 'flag' scraps and see what I could do with them.

I had a few pieced segments in each colorway left over, and a small pile of larger fabric pieces... a good start. I pulled just a few more solid scraps - a single piece of red and some orange. I also gathered some black and white scraps I'd set aside a few days ago when I was rummaging through the basket. They felt like a good fit. And then I just started piecing.

I assembled maybe 8 or 9 green blocks, thinking I'd scatter them around and fill in with the warm strips. But though I spent a bit of time arranging them this way and that, nothing really struck me. And then it dawned on me that the block this project had been birthed from consisted of letters ("I" and "H", remember?). And suddenly, this one needed to be "L"s for leftovers. Then everything fell into place.

Luckily one little block was left from the front, and a pieced back came together in about 10 minutes. Love that!

For quilting, I gathered the rich mix of four Aurifil 50wt threads - #2250 [Red], #1103 [Burgundy], #2535 [Magenta], and #4030 [Plum]. (If those threads look familiar together, you may be remembering my Tuscan Pom.)

Matchstick quilting it was. I hadn't done it in a while, so it was a fun change of pace. There's nothing quite like it, and I'm especially fond of it when several different threads are used.

A little one, "L" measures just 14" x 17", finished off with a length of scrap black & white striped binding.

The functionality of this little quilt may be in question, but I love that it evolved and was finished so quickly. Every once in a while, it's great to just get carried away by the fabric, the thread, the process. When that's able to happen, I just drink it in.

#aqt50daysofscraps #quiltingthecountdown

Linking up with Meadow Mist Designs' Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup.

Liberated Rings

So the finish I'm sharing today is the second project in my 50 Days of Scraps; the first being The Tumbler Dilemma, which used both scrap blocks as well as actual scraps from the scrap basket. In case you missed it, this current project was inspired by the Liberated Wedding Ring block pattern I discovered in Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston's Freddy & Gwen Collaborate Again: Freewheeling Twists on Traditional Quilt Designs. In fact the blocks themselves are just as described, though I did not sew on paper as suggested. 

I really did enjoy making the blocks, as well as my pull of scraps. I guess I just wasn't in the mood to continue on to make a big quilt. So I stopped at 36 - 7 1/2" (unfinished) blocks, which I arranged into 9 'rings' that measured 14" (finished) each, making a quilt top that would measure 42". I quickly pieced a back from two lengths of stash Denyse Schmidt fabrics and started in quilting. [I know the larger blue/green backing fabric is from the Hadley line; not sure about the yellow.]

I went with an uneven grid using a variegated green Aurifil 50wt #4653 [spring prairie], really easy and stress-free quilting on a quilt this size. But I have to let you in on a little secret! When I made my backing and basted the quilt sandwich, I left a few extra inches all around the quilt top. SO THAT I could make an extra wide binding (2 1/4"!), thus bringing my quilt up to 46 1/2" square.

I actually had totally planned  - like already started cutting and piecing - a fully scrappy binding, but then I thought that might actually be kind of cumbersome on those corners, so I gave up on that idea. I swear I rummaged through every shelf of my stash looking for a suitable binding choice before happening upon a yard of  Melody Miller Ruby Star Polka Dot Arrows for Kokka. I really thought the background was a dusty olive, which went well enough with the greens I used in many of my block backgrounds. But as I researched the fabric online while writing this post, the only color I could find was 'natural.' Hmmm. So not sure. I knew it wasn't an exact match, but I think it grounds the very scrappy blocks in the quilt, and the arrows give a bit of a stripe effect to the binding.

So, I ran into one little issue. Not actually sewing the binding, as it went on very nicely and boy did those corners want to miter themselves with no problem. And I did stitch down those miters on both front and back due to their size. 

But with a binding that wide, I was a little concerned the batting might bunch up a bit when washed. So I took a gold perle cotton and stitched a trio of Xs in several places on each side of the quilt - never more than 12" apart, but often less, a total of three times on each side. So that added some fun little hand-stitched detailing that I hope will help keep everything secure. 

Once again, I feel that twinge of guilt that I didn't keep on going and make a big ole quilt using the liberated wedding ring blocks, as you know darn well I have plenty of scraps to do so. But then again, it is what it is, and I'm ready to move on, continuing on with my 50 days of scraps.

#aqt50daysofscraps #quiltingthecountdown