After a disastrous start, the tiny scrap quilt is finished. Having to redesign a project can be stressful. However, I’m glad I wasn’t happy and stepped back for a few days. Removing the white binding around the four square block was the right idea. I combined the four squares to make an 8 x 8 larger block.
I then a 2 inch white border was added on all sides of the block. The new frame in white is more proportional to the block from the original idea.
I had always envisioned this quilt floating in a light Kona Ash gray. It’s the perfect color to distract from the boldness of the Cameo scraps.
For the quilting I went with free motion quilting in an overall loops pattern. My husband timed me and it took 40 minutes. Holy camoly, can you believe that? While digging through my stash during my clean out I found the backing print. I thought it would be a nice compliment.
Bonus was finding Kona Pomegranate already made into binding. This quilt is all scrap and stash. Happy dance.
It’s now ready to head to it’s new home and snuggle a baby girl.
While trying to get some photos the other day, this happened. The quilt fell over onto my head as I was taking a picture. Real life.
The photo I did end up posting on Instagram was a hit. Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions throughout this process.
There could be multiple updates on this project since I’m just not feeling the overall design. Over the weekend I was prepared to add white around the blocks that I had already pieced. I was going to buzz right through them and then add a gray border.
Well I buzzed right through them and then went to press the seams. Reality set in.
The truth is I hate that white border now. I was only able to add to two sides and after pressing I stopped. The white is drowning out all the color in the tiny blocks. I wanted it to create a frame.
For now I have not ripped off the white strips, but it is very tempting. Another idea is floating around in my head that I may try.
Creating with no pattern
Since I like to freehand create quilts and let them develop organically, this happens quite frequently. Typically, I can work through the design and be happy with the results. When a quilt has no pattern, I get to stretch myself creatively. Improvising challenges me to work through the creative process. It can be frustrating to hit many roadblocks, but I’m not going to put out a quilt that I’m not pleased with.
Further ideas
I have been contemplating the next steps for a couple of days. One design that I keep envisioning is more simple. Rather than frame the little squares in white, let’s skip that portion and just frame in gray. From there I would float the framed squares around the quilt. Maybe this needs to be bigger than a baby size to play with scale more. Check back next week to see where I have taken this project.
Scrap management is topic of discussion for quilters. The smallest scrap I keep is 1.5 inch square. Some keep smaller and create wonderful pieces with these micro scraps. I just can’t fathom keeping them smaller than 1.5 inch square.
A request for a baby girl quilt came in recently. The customer asked for girly after I had found my forgotten stash of Amy Butler Cameo and some other scraps. These will do the job. However, they are 1.5 inch square scraps. Where do I go with these?
Right now, I’m not entirely sure what the overall design will end up being. The fabric and some coordinating solids will guide me in this process. Do you remember this quilt? As I’m designing I keep seeing something like this.
Hello Luscious Baby Girl Quilt used 2.5 inch squares as the center of the blocks. My Amy Butler Cameo scraps seem so tiny in comparison, see below.
Hoping this weekend to have some time to figure out the design. For now I have a little stack of squares ready for something great. I’m open to feedback and ideas too.
I’m truly at a loss for words to talk about this quilt. All I want to do is play this video when I think about it. This song will probably get stuck in your head.
Apparently, that is a dark song. I was just thinking more of the Sail Away with me part. A customer asked for a nautical themed baby quilt. The vision of the quilt immediately came to me. Deep in my scraps were some leftover triangles from a previous quilt in red, gray and navy.
Design
My vision had these triangles looking like pendants or flags along with a minimal design. The design challenge came when trying to find the right background fabric. I wanted a light blue polka dot on white and just couldn’t find what I truly wanted. Do you ever have that challenge? Luckily, I did find a print that worked with my vision.
Laying out the fabrics beside the coordinating prints was really helpful. Plus, the ladies at the quilt store gave me some valuable feedback. The polka dot is great, but it would drown out the white prints sprinkled in. The lighter blue print still showed off the navy and the white prints. Done! Designing the rest of the top was pretty easy.
The backing is a Lotta Jansdotter print I stocked up on a few months ago. Doesn’t it look like fish scales?
Adding the sailboat was the customer’s idea and it really pulls simple quilt together. I was able to complete the top, put the sailboat on, press the back, baste the quilt, and start quilting quickly with this project. For the quilting I went with waves. I marked the quilt on the edges every couple of inches. This trick really helped keep my wavy lines straight across the quilt. Then I filled in more lines along the way.
The texture the wavy lines created is perfect. For the binding, I went with the remainder of the top print. Doesn’t provide a frame of the quilt, but gives and infinity edge.
My smaller Brother machine decided to have electrical issues right before making this quilt. The sailboat is just sewn on with straight stitches, I would have preferred zig zag. The quilt is currently at it’s new home enjoying snuggles.
Woodland animals have been a trend for some time in nursery decor. Amazingly, this is the first baby quilt I have made with that theme. My husband says it doesn’t look like woodland creatures and I’m okay with that. It’s there, but you have to look closely.
Inspiration
Scrap packs from Crimson Tate were purchased months ago. When my client suggested outdoors and animal for a boy, these fabrics immediately came to mind. I had envisioned a string quilt when I first picked up the bundles and the idea had not faded.
Posing on Point by MyTeaandBrie was quilt design inspiration. While I didn’t use her tutorial, I use more of the general layout. Note: the mailing list request is for My Tea & Brie, not my site.
I pressed and starched all my fabrics before cutting.
For my blocks I cut the following string sizes:
Center white strip: 2 inches
Grey strip: 3 inches
Other fabrics 1.5 or 2 inches in width
Ready to chain piece this batch
Chain piecing the blocks made it pretty easy to bust the top out. I worked in 30 minute chunks then took a break. Tip: keep the iron nearby to make chain piecing more efficient.
Layout
In laying out the quilt top I was not overly picky about where things went. An effort was made to keep too many colors from the same square. Overall, it turned out great.
After completing the top, it was time to rip off all the little papers from the back. My mother-in-law was in town for Fall Break. I asked if she wanted to help and she joined in. It was great to have someone help out, this part was going to take forever and I was on a deadline. If I could get it to the client by X date, they could hand deliver. Well, I had to get this sucker quilted and bound quickly to make that happen.
Quilting, Backing, and Binding
A couple of backing options were auditioned but this black and white dot ultimately won. Doesn’t it play well with the front?
In the effort to meet my looming deadline, free motion quilting with loops won for quilting. Seriously the quilting took an hour. My mother-in-law and husband were watching something while I knocked this out. They were surprised when I entered the room with the quilted piece. I was pretty proud of myself.
However, while I was quilting, I found an error in my quilt. Can you spot it? If you’re a quilter probably, but most didn’t notice it. There was a frantic post to my guild’s page and texts to a couple of friends. The consensus was it’s a design element. Ha! If I wasn’t almost done with the quilting when my eye caught it I would have fixed it. Sometimes you have to let the little things go and accept them. It wasn’t the way I envisioned the quilt turning out, but it works.
Deep in my stash was the gray houndstooth flannel. The piece I had was just enough to bind the quilt. Everything to make this quilt was scraps or stash fabric which is a positive in my book. Makes working against that looming deadline even better.
After thoughts
Pretty sure I want to remake this quilt in a bigger size to keep. The colors are lovely, I am digging the jade. Despite a tight deadline, the quilt made it to CA in time to be hand delivered. The precipitant loved it. Making a baby quilt that doesn’t scream baby is always nice too.
If you like the quilt, save it Pinterest for future reference. I have it under Scrap Busting Projects.
I truly appreciate when a customer asks me to make a quilt and gives me a general guideline. For this quilt, the only guideline was girly, more traditional girly than bright. I had an idea already in mind but not being as bright really made me re-think the design. There were some scraps of Marmalade buried in my bins and I thought they just work.
Looking back, I made these quilts five years ago. Goodness.
marmalade by moda fabrics
Five years these scraps have been hidden away in a green tub in my sewing room. No more. There were just enough to create a scrappy Irish Chain quilt.
It was therapeutic to chain piece the blocks while binge watching something on Netflix. It’s easy to get lost in a series when you blocks to piece. This stack is lovely.
If you haven’t made a scrappy Irish Chain quilt, add it to your list. With 2″ scraps, your block finishes at 5″. I tend to keep a stack of Kona White 5″ blocks around for just this situation.
The quilt top came together easily. I struggled to pick the right backing for this project. As I started this quilt I envision using Kona Robin’s Egg blue on the back. While digging around for another project’s scraps, I found a pink and green stripe that complimented the front. What to do? Thanks to Instagram and Facebook, my original idea won.
Kona Pomegranate was also found while digging around. It was perfect dark pink to coordinate with all the other colors.
Let me ask again, “Why did I wait so long to try free motion quilting?” Being able to quilt something in just a couple of hours is liberating. It’s not perfect and that is okay.
My original vision came together into this lovely quilt. Girly, colorful, and scrappy. There are now just tiny pieces left of Marmalade in my scrap tubs.
