Blogger's Quilt Festival :: Keychain {Scrappy Quilts Category}

Meet "Keychain," my entry into the Scrappy Quilts category of the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy/Amy's Creative Side. Even though scrappy quilts are often a riot of color, Keychain is indeed a scrappy quilt and the fun twist is that they weren't even my scraps!! A while back I admired the Oakshott Italy that Cindy/Live a Colorful Life was using, and was thrilled when she offered to send me her scraps. I opted for a controlled scrappy look for my small quilt, and used every last inch of what she sent.



My inspiration came from a chair at my local coffee shop. I often take random photos like this, but on this occasion, I actually went home and tried sewing it up and eventually created a tutorial for the "Greek Key" block.

 

The scraps I had to work with consisted of 7 colors and I used 6 to make the larger improv blocks, incorporating Essex linen in natural as a background. It was after I'd sewn those 6 blocks together than I came up with the idea for the small unraveling 'key' in the bottom corner. Though kind of random, I thought it added some unexpected fun.



For the quilting, I used Aurifil 50wt #5021, which was a lovely match for the Essex natural, yet subtle enough not to be distracting on the colored spirals. I did very little marking, so lines are a little wobbly here and there - just the look I was after as I stitched a wonky, uneven square spiral around the quilt.



To keep the focus on the spirals, I used more Essex for the binding, while using the last little piece of the reddish Oakshott Italy to make a short bit of matched binding, one of my favorite little details.

This quilt just begged to be washed up when done, and boy did that Oakshott and Essex soften and crinkle up nicely together. All in all, this was an enjoyable exercise for me - a bit of a stretch, but with satisfying results.

 Quilt stats:

Finished size:  23" x 27"

Pattern: my original design

Fabric: Oakshott Italy, Essex linen in natural
Thread: Aurifil 50wt #5021 (light grey)

Quilted by: myself, using a walking foot 
Helpful tutorials: Greek Key Block, Straight Matched Binding

Category: Scrappy Quilts

My previous entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival:

Red Hots, 10/27/14

Unlocked, 5/16/14

Crazy Rainbow, 10/25/13
Absolutely Mod Pop, 5/19/13

HST Love, 5/17/13

The Stars of Summer, 10/26/12

Hopscotch, 5/19/12

Mango Revisited, 10/28/11

Supernova, 5/13/11

Greek Key Block Tutorial

After posting my improv Keychain quilt recently, I had several requests for a Greek Key block tutorial, so here goes! 

Click here for pdf

Start with several strips of each of 2 fabrics. Consider the gray on the left the 'main' fabric, and the natural on the right the 'background' fabric. Strips can be a variety of lengths and widths at this point, and the widths can even be angled - in fact that's preferred if you want a wonky block. The main thing to remember is you want straight lines, so I'd suggest cutting these with your rotary cutter and a ruler. I was aiming for blocks around 7"-8", so I cut my strips between 3/4"" and 1 1/2" wide.

Cut a few pieces and lay out according to photo below. You'll cut 2 center squares (could also be rectangles), then some strips at least as long as the previous section. All the cutting can be very random, as you'll trim at every step along the way.

Begin sewing by piecing the 2 center pieces. Press as desired.

If needed, trim the edge where you are going to add the next fabric piece to create a clean straight line. It can be angled if you choose, it just needs to be straight. Then sew on a strip of the main fabric as shown below. Press and trim. This will be the routine every time you add on a strip: press and trim. I found that finger-pressing worked ok for a few strips, then I'd go press the whole bit before adding the next few strips, and on and on. As you trim, feel free to trim 'wonky' if that's the look you're after.

Now here's where it begins to get tricky and you'll need to pay close attention from here on out. If you look at the photo above, it seems like you'd want to add another main fabric strip on the right side to start the spiral. But, the top background strip needs to be added first, per the photo below.

Now add the next main fabric strip.

Lay out a few more strips before continuing. Can you see the spiral beginning to develop? Keep adding strips, always careful to look ahead to make sure the next turn is covered, pressed, and trimmed.


You can continue adding strips until your block reaches your desired size. I chose to 'finish' each block with a strip of my main fabric, but that's just personal preference.


Trim edges to straighten, either wonky or 'square'.

In case you missed it, here's the quilt I made with my Greek Key blocks.

 

If you try the tutorial, be sure and share by adding to the Quilting with A Quilter's Table flickr group or tagging me on Instagram!

Scraps :: To Save or Not to Save

So I have a scrappy project to share today and the crazy part is, they aren't even my scraps!! I admired the Oakshott Italy that Cindy/Live a Colorful Life was working with a while back, and she responded by sending me her scraps! Yay for me! But before I show off what I did with them, I need to share a little tale . . .

So I was at a quilting retreat a week or so ago, and I came to a point where I had lots of little triangles left from what I was working on. So I asked the gals if I should keep them or toss them, and Joan, sitting next to me, piped right up with 'toss them!' So I did, you know, not really sure if I'd get around to using them or not. So whatever. Though I was a tad surprised at Joan's response, being an avid scrap-saver herself.

Well wouldn't you know but later in the weekend I caught Joan gathering up scraps even smaller than I had tossed. And the truth came out! Linda laughingly suggested that Joan might just be planning to raid my 'discard' bag after I had left to head home! Can you imagine?! haha. Well I don't really know if she did or not, but if she did, here's to enjoying what little leftovers I tossed.

Now on to what I did with that awesome Oakshott! My inspiration came from a photo I took of a chair at a local coffee shop. I take odd photos like this all the time, but this might be the first time I actually went on to create something!

So here's my first block, which my quilting buddy Sharon identified as a "Greek key" so that's what I've been calling it.

The scraps Cindy sent consisted of 7 colors and I used 6 to make the larger improv blocks, using Essex linen in natural as a background. It was after I'd sewn those 6 blocks together than I came up with the idea for the small unraveling 'key' in the bottom corner. Kind of a random element, but I think it added a bit of fun to the quilt. And for the record, those Oakshotts together with the Essex made for such rich texture in these blocks.

Backing was a stash find, 'garden spiral' in chocolate by Alexander Henry Fabrics, chosen for the pattern as much as the subtle color. For the quilting, I used Aurifil 50wt #5021, which is light grey by its number label but looks more like camel, and I am seriously thinking it might have been mislabeled. At any rate, it is a lovely match for the Essex natural, subtle enough not to be distracting on the colored spirals.

I began quilting there at the intersection of the top 4 blocks, then did a wonky, uneven square spiral around the quilt. Dare I say this was FUN?! I did very little marking, so lines are a little wobbly here and there - just the look I was after.

To keep the focus on the spirals, I used more Essex for the binding, while using the last little piece of the reddish Oashott Italy to make a short bit of matched binding.

One little added comment on this project . . . when completed, the  little "Keychain" quilt measured 24 1/2" x 29". I usually don't compare quilt measurements before and after a wash, but I was curious considering I was using the linen and shot cotton. Color me surprised! After a cold wash and a warm dry, the quilt measured 23" x 27". whoa. That's quite a difference. Note to self.

Despite the shrinkage, I love this little quilt even more now that it's super crinkly!

AND it's the last project on my 2015 Q1 FAL list! Double the fun.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.