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Scrappy Postage Stamp Baby Boy Quilt

Posted on September 15, 2017September 21, 2017by Tisha

Are you looking for an easy scrap quilt? Don’t hesitate to look at a postage stamp quilt as an option. Since I keep my scraps cut into squares, making a postage stamp quilt is quick and easy. Let’s jump into how I make a scrappy baby postage stamp quilt.

Sorting Scraps

Creating a color palette that works together with a good amount of variety is my first priority.

From my 2.5″ scrap bin I grabbed yellow, neutrals, green, aqua, navy, brown, orange, and gray. Mixing in prints, novelty, and solids. If I think they coordinate, they make the piles. As the colors and prints are spread out you may not notice that one that didn’t fit.

Chain Piecing

When working on a postage stamp quilt, I find that chain piecing is the best way to go. I’m striving for a random layout on the quilt top. Grab from yellow and gray, then brown and green, and just keep going around. Once I have 10 sets (20 squares) pieced I begin pairing them up yet again. Ultimately I’m just sewing one long strip of 20 squares. Repeat that 18-24 times for the top. 18 rows is a smaller baby quilt and 24 rows is a better size.

Pressing and Sewing Rows Together

I grab the starch and spray each row. Next I press all my seams the same direction and then flip one row to create nesting seams. Sew the nested rows together and repeat 3-4 times. From there begin flipping and turning rows to nest together and get to the desired length. Some colors and prints may line up next to each other over the rows and I think that is okay.

Finished Top

Once all the rows are sewn together, head back to the ironing board. Spray starch the entire top. At this step I like to press all my sewn rows the same direction on the back of the quilt top. Then, I turn it over and press again on the top. This helps to flatten the top and smooth things out.

Thank you for the comments when I posted the top. A comment was made about the concentration of brights in the middle. That’s what happens sometimes when I got for random. I didn’t really see it but I do now that it was mentioned.

Backing and Binding

Within my stash I found a green and blue variations on polka dots. Maybe they are circles, but does it really matter? They coordinated well and used some pieces I had leftover from other projects. The binding is a blue polka dot I have had stashed away. You’re going to see it again on an upcoming quilt. I thought why not just make up some binding with this. Done!

Quilting

I prefer straight lines in a coordinating thread on the diagonal of each square. With this method I can keep quilting as I get to the end of a line, just flip around and start a new line all the way to back to the edge. Quilting takes no time, unless I run out of bobbin thread.

QAL interest??

Since I love creating scrappy postage stamp quilts, I’m mulling the idea of hosting a QAL later this fall. Would you be interested? Let me know in the comments.

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Crazy Mom Quilts – Finish It Up Friday

Needle and Thread Thursday

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Easy Baby Quilt with Solid Strips

Posted on September 1, 2017September 5, 2017by Tisha

Need an easy baby quilt? Dig into your scraps and let’s get started.

If you have been a reader for a while, you may know that I keep my scraps in tubs until it’s time to sort them. Well, my solids are kept separate and they were getting out of hand. The drawer could no longer even be stuffed close. It was time to make something again.

Inspiration

Nothing was really speaking to me, so I headed to my Modern Quilting Inspiration Pinterest board for ideas.

https://www.pinterest.com/quiltytherapy/modern-quilting-inspiration/

An older quilt from Red Pepper Quilts caught my attention. Rita’s version can be found here. This is a step by step guide on how to create my version.

Design

Tip: Without different hues and saturation, the quilt could run together.

Off to the scrap bin I went to start gathering strips to make my version. I was able to collect many strips and have the variety of colors/saturations I desired. However, I didn’t have many long strips like the inspiration quilt.

Based on my scraps I could create strips in 2 inch width to get the most from my pull of fabrics. The lengths would be 5, 7, and 9 inches. Feel free to create based on what you have in your scraps.

Each size stack was sorted yet again by color. Orange, yellow, blue, green, brown, black, neutrals, and gray. Sorting will help when piecing. I wanted to avoid having too may of the same color right by each other.

Piecing

Grab randomly from each pile and begin piecing two strips together of the same size. Rows include 28 strips, or 14 pairs, to make a baby quilt size. Piece all 5 inch strips first. Starch and press the seams all going one direction. Next the 7 inch strips. Starch and press the seams all going the same direction. Finally, the 9 inch strip set. Sew and press in the same manner. Nestle the seams of the 5 inch row and 7 inch row together, pin if needed. Sew the rows together. The outcome is randomly placed colors without overthinking the process.

My version goes in this order: 5 inch, 7 inch, 9 inch, 5 inch, 7 inch, and 9 inch. If you wanted a little larger baby quilt, you could throw another 5 inch row after the last 9 inch row.

I starched the top and pressed my row seams open. The backing is a blue print I picked up a few months ago when a local quilt shop was closing out their inventory. With this size quilt, I only needed a yard of the fabric.

Quilting and Binding

The quilt is randomly pieced, but I knew for the quilting exactly what I wanted. Straight lines in a light gray horizontally in the middle of each row. A few lines in the middle 5 inch strip vertically. In your version quilt as desired.

The secondary shapes created with colors being close together was an unintended effect. They could have been moved, but then the random process is lost. That was more important to me as I just wanted to create.

Finally, I grabbed Corn Yellow Kona Solid I have had forever to create the binding. The binding was 2.5 inch double fold and completely machine bound.

Final Thoughts

Love all the crinkles in this quilt after it was washed. Wonder what the rows would look like in an ombre?

This quilt is currently on the way to a new home. Check out my other quilts using just solids below. The solids scrap bin is still too full.

Linking up with Oh Scrap! and Finish it Up Friday

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Holiday Fabric Stashing

Posted on August 29, 2017September 5, 2017by Tisha

The fabric budget experiment and focusing on my stash has encouraged me to avoid sale posts. However, StitchStashDiva posted about a Halloween Fat Quarter bundle sale. I couldn’t resist, P loves Halloween.

She has a great selection, if you are still looking for something spooky for your Halloween crafting. I chose this bundle since the fabrics fit my living room a bit better. I plan to make a couple of pillow covers using the fat quarters, then who knows what else. Plus, I loved the spider web prints.

Well, if I’m going to make pillows for Halloween, I might as make them for a couple of other holidays. I checked out Valentine’s Day first. Lots of good options, but these won out. Not overly Valentine’s Day, but just a touch.

What about a winter and/or Christmas option? My fabric stash is lacking in this theme. Plus, helped get me to free shipping. Pay for shipping or fabric? Fabric is gonna win.

Red and gray for winter and/or Christmas is a go to for me. Since it doesn’t scream Christmas I can keep the pillows out longer.

Now let’s add holiday themed pillow covers to my list of things to make. I picked the pillow forms up a while ago at JoAnn’s for something else. Do you make anything in Holiday fabrics?

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stashing

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Indianapolis Modern Quilt Guild – Quilt Show

Posted on August 23, 2017by Tisha

The Indianapolis Modern Quilt Guild is filled with talented quilters. The range of work is impressive and stunning. On Sunday, August 20th, IMQG hosted their 2nd Annual Quilt Show. We rent the giant pavilion at Broad Ripple Park and hang our quilts. It’s a free show that is open to the public.

Sunday’s weather was gorgeous. I was going to post pictures of all the quilts, but one side of the show didn’t photograph as well. The sun was shining bright and provided an interesting reflection in my pictures. The goal is promote modern quilting and introduce people to the idea.

One mom on the playground nearby noted, “I didn’t know what modern quilting was. The quilts are amazing. Wait, you made one? Awesome!”

Attendees were asked to pick their favorite for a People’s Choice Award. As of today, the winner has not been announced. This quilt won my vote. So much detail and who doesn’t love a giraffe?

Take a look at the work of my talented friends.

Does your guild host a show?

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Halloween: Spooky Ghost Pumpkin Quilt

Posted on August 9, 2017August 11, 2017by Tisha

It is time to start planning my Halloween decorations. Halloween may trump Christmas in my house as a favorite holiday. Seriously, the kid is wearing a Halloween shirt and pirate pants in July.

Since P is still little, we prefer spooky over scary. As we acquire new decorations, I let him set the boundaries on what he’s comfortable with. He has created an idea of a Spooky Ghost Pumpkin. We have no idea what that is, but try to run with that. If you have any ideas, please share.

With decor in mind, I turn to Pinterest. Maybe I should add more ideas to my Halloween board? Do you have any family fun activities you like for Halloween?

https://www.pinterest.com/quiltytherapy/halloween-creations/

This year I will be adding a quilt to the decorations. My wonderful bee mates of the Blossom Heart Bees made blocks for this quilt last year, using the Tic Tac Toe block. My theme was Halloween in orange, lime green, purple, and teal for the X’s. Also black with white prints for the corners. The blocks turned out great and better than I would have imagined. My bee mates had some good prints in their stashes. P loved getting them in the mail.

A few more are needed to finish the top. From my stash I pulled more green, purple, and teal to balance out the top. Even a fun zombie print.

There are a couple more blocks in the works then I can layout the top as I want. It’s going to need some balance from all the orange.

P was excited each time a new block arrived. He realized they were for him and gasped with excitement. Hopefully he’s still as excited about the quilt as I finish it. Maybe we can watch scary movies and snuggle on the couch under it?

Scrappy Unicorn Rainbow Sprinkles Finished

Posted on July 17, 2017July 20, 2017by Tisha

Scrappy unicorn rainbow sprinkles by quiltytherapy #scrapquilt #paperpiecing #modernquilt

Scrappy Unicorn Rainbow Sprinkles is finished and ready for her next adventure. It would be great if this quilt left a trail of rainbow sprinkles everywhere it went. Instead it just brings lots of color and brightness to a room.

It was fun to watch scraps from friends become something cohesive and lovely. Thank you again Lisa, Erika, and Lindsay for sharing your scraps. I would love to hear your thoughts below on the quilt and any of your scraps you recognize.

When it came time to pick the backing on this quilt, I was sure I was going to make a scrappy one to flow with the front. I wondered if I would have a vintage sheet that would work and began digging into that stash. I did find a sheet that could have worked if the blue was a little more aqua. While the vintage sheet would have worked, it didn’t feel right. I would have wanted to change it after quilting it. Instead I found this solid green sheet that coordinated with the greens on the front.

Remember the purple polka dot binding from Thistle Storm? I had so much of it left that it ended up being enough to bind this quilt. Everything on this quilt is either a scrap or stash item I had not used in awhile. Feels good to finally give some of these fabrics a new purpose and use.

As I finished the quilt top, I realized there were a few errors that I hoped to work out in the quilting. One or two were too big to ultimately just quilt closed. I had to go back and zig zag stitch over them. While it’s disappointing that this quilt isn’t perfect, it now has it’s own flare and design elements. After my IMQG meeting they couldn’t really see the issue. If a group of quilters can’t see it, then there is no use in stressing over it.

For the quilting, I went with wavy lines again. It’s a simple method that I want to keep building my skills on. The waves add a softness to the overall look.

Look at all the crinkles post wash. I want to take it on a picnic or snuggle under it on the couch. If you’re looking for a quilt to add color to a room, you can find this quilt here on Etsy.

You can read about the process of the quilt below.

Scrappy Unicorn Rainbow Sprinkles

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