Spot On

Back in January, I was doing some stash-sorting, and came up with several groupings I was ready to part with - a little fabric here, a collection of random blocks there. AND a generous stack of nearly 30 hourglass blocks leftover from the scrappy Hourglass quilt I made last summer.

All photos by Ellyn Zinsmeister; used by permission.

I happened to be chatting with my friend Ellyn @ellynz, told her about the stack, and she said she'd gladly take them and do something with them. Awesome! She joined them all together, appliquéd some solid circles on top, and passed it on to her friend Martha @pinwheelprodnsquilts, who quilted it in loops and circles. 

Ellyn then topped it all off with big stitch circles and big stitch binding. How cool is that?!

The quilt finished at 46" x 54". I so appreciate the love Ellyn showed to the stack of blocks I'd lost interest in. It's fun to see scraps I recognize (from my blocks) mixed with ones I don't (from Ellyn's additions) and how well they play together. Definitely a fun collaboration.

ETA: Read Ellyn's post about this project here.

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.

Reporting In On Living Coral

So I've been plugging along on my Pantone Quilt Challenge project, and I'm really liking where it's headed. I've made and added more 'tone on tone' blocks, and I think they add some needed resting spots. At first I was adding in strips of fabric to accommodate for rows that didn't match up, but I decided that wasn't the look I was after and removed them. I'm preferring to trim to fit rather than add to fit. I really love how the hourglass blocks are definitely recognizable, but every once in a while there's a random misshapen one. 

So it's growing bit by bit. I have a couple of more rows to add, and I should be able to share a quilt top soon. Already looking forward to quilting this one!

Slab Nine :: Hourglass

There have been plenty of hourglass blocks in my life lately, both traditional and improvisational, but still, when it came time to do the final slab for our guild's improv block-of-the-month, I couldn't resist playing with them again.

This slab is nearly 15" x 30", and with it, I'm more than anxious to begin puzzling the quilt top together. I expect there will be a bit of 'fitting together' needed, as in the way of improv, not all of my blocks came out exactly at the sizes suggested. Then it will go right in line behind the bacon quilt and improv log cabin for quilting. All three are on my Q4 Finish-A-Long list, and I so want to make it happen!