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 

50 Days of Scraps

To the best of my knowledge, Cassandra/The (not so) Dramatic Life is the master of 100 day projects, with at least 4 to her credit. So when she invited a bunch of us to join her latest one as a countdown to QuiltCon a couple of months ago, I was intrigued, but wasn't sure I was up for it. Fast forward to last week, when she posted that it was now just 50 days until QuiltCon, and I impulsively jumped on board. I basically glanced around my studio, and within moments was posting I'd join in by doing my own 50 days of scraps. And so it began.

At the time, I was responding to Melanie/@mellmeyer's question, "Do you even have older UFOs that you totally squished in the back of the closet?" Fact was, I did not, but I DID have a handful of discarded blocks from the Candy Land quilt I made several years ago. And I was debating what to do with them, knowing that I should deal with them now or never. 

I posed some options on Instagtam, and boy did I get some opinions. 

There were lots of clever ideas, though I really didn't want to spend a whole lot more time on them. What I ended up doing was sewing the blocks into four-patches, trimming them wonky, and then sewing all 36 blocks together as the 'back' of something yet to come. 

That decision alone was oh-so liberating, and left me free to pursue a 'front' that I found much more engaging than the tumblers. 

So stay tuned for the rest of the story, as they say. And know that my scraps are still dumped in a pile on my studio floor, and I'm committing at least a few minutes a day to them. Hopefully I can keep it up!

Check out #quiltingthecountdown and #aqt50daysofscraps to see more.