Tag Archives: scrap quilt

Another low volume finish…

Posted in Finished Quilts by

In my work room I have a box that I throw all my low volume scraps into as I am working.  This box fills up pretty quickly, not surprisingly with all the quilts I have my hands in/on and every time it gets to the point where it is over flowing I make a Scrap Vortex quilt…

low volume scrap vortex 2

This is my second one of these quilts I have made and I really do love how they turn out…. you can see my first version here… and with both these quilts I have struggled to get good photos.

quilt detail 3

they really are just an excuse for me to throw in as much fussy cutting goodness as I can… which makes for the best game of I spy…

quilt detail 4

plus this was a fun break for me from the complex butterfly blocks I have been making….

quilt detail 2

This finished quilt is already in the hands of the local PICU for some kid to snuggle under.

Quilt Details:

Block:  12 inch Scrap Vortex technique by Crazy Mom Quilts
Fabric:  Various low volume scraps
Finished quilt size:  48 x 60 inches

On a roll….

Posted in Finished Quilts by

Another Friday finish for you…and this week is a darling little baby quilt I made using some small wonky star blocks I had floating around…

finished small wonky star quilt

Usually when I make wonky star quilts I use 5 inch squares to make the stars , but for this quilt I used my stash of 3 inch squares and a pile of scrap pieces to make 8 inch (unfinished) stars.

small star detail 2

Actually these stars had been sitting in my WIP pile for a while when I dug them up and started playing… I did not want to make any more stars so instead I used a pile of low volume scraps to play with the star layout.

small wonky star detail

I tried to lay the stars out randomly and used filler pieces – mainly 3 inch squares, 3 x 5 1/2 inch and 3 x 8 inch strips to fill in the gaps.  I wanted the background to be just as scrappy as the stars so I did not use any really big low volume pieces.

small star detail

The scrappy background also gave me more opportunities for fussy cutting, allowing me to cram in even more novelty prints (have you spotted the squirrels yet!).

My binding choice was a little different from usual with this quilt too… I went with low volume soft colours to frame the quilt instead of my usual wonky star binding – navy blue or scrappy brights.  I liked how this choice lets the stars jump off the quilt instead of containing them inside a frame.

quilting detail

The wonderful free motion quilting on this piece was done by my friend Michelle of Mariposa Quilting.  I was so pleased this quilt was not ruined by my clumsy straight line quilting.

Once washed this quilt will head off to the our local Pediatric Intensive Care unit where it will hopefully be used for a couple of good games of I Spy….

A drunk finish….

Posted in Finished Quilts by

Despite the Portland snow…we have had 10 inches in my neighborhood… I managed to get a few snaps of my latest finish…

finished-cs-drunkards-path-quilt

The snow has prevented me from getting to my backyard and hanging the quilt on my the back fence, so the photos are a little different.  This quilt began last year with me playing with a Go Baby cutter a friend had lent me…and you can see my process for making the block on my original post…

quilt-detail-2

I must admit I would never make curves this small without the help of a cutting machine and a glue pen…. It was incredibly addictive and I must admit I have already used the cutter again…another drunkard path quilt is underway…

quilt-detail-4

I loved using my Cotton & Steel stash on this project… these fabrics are so fun, colourful and full of fussy cutting goodness.   I may have got a few more fat quarter bundles from Santa that have inspired me to start a new C&S quilt… but more about that next week!

cs-drunkards-path-quilt-detail-1

The quilting on this quilt was done by my friend Michelle Freedman using Modern Domestic’s Bernina long arm.  Michelle is the queen of the Q24 and the stores machine has just been automated… I can not wait to play using the computer assist.

quilt-detail-3

This quilt is now headed to the washing machine and then on to a local Pediatric Intensive Care unit.  It is going to make for a fun game or two of “I spy”.

New Year and new start…

Posted in Finished Quilts by

One of my New Years Resolutions is to get back to documenting my quilts and process more… between concussions and Influenza A I have had a quite couple of months but I am raring to go.

This year I am going to be throwing myself into charity quilting with gusto…I think I may need it to keep sane during what is going to be an very interesting year.  So without further ado lets get this started with a Do Good Stitches finish…

finished-wonky-circle-skirt

The wonky circle quilt is finally done and ready to be donated.  I kind of love this quilt.  I did a post last year on how to make these wonky blocks and I was thrilled with how the Hope Circle embraced the crazy curves.

wonky-circle-detail

There really is a freedom and sense of fun in wonky and it was the fun that I embraced when I threw this quilt up on the longarm.  The quilting is far from precise or accurate but it follows the flow of the weird shaped curves of the block and it was a hoot to quilt.  I had some fun music on my ipod and was laughing and smiling the whole time I was working on this project!

quilt-detail-2

To finish her off I used a lovely floral print I had in my stash… this is not a gender neutral quilt and so I fully embraced the girly…

quilt-back

So I can finally cross another Do Good Stitches quilt off my WIP list….just in time for me to start getting more blocks in the post for a new quilt.  I now only have 3 Do Good quilts left to finish… so I am off to the sewing machine..

To start the year off right I am also linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts “Finish it Up Friday“…

Playing with small curves….

Posted in Quilt patterns, Scrap quilts, WIP Wednesday by

On a whim yesterday, I decided to play with a fabric die cut machine a friend has lent me.  I have never used one of these machines before but it seemed like a fun thing to use scraps on… so I grabbed some of my Cotton and Steel scraps and started cutting…

I decided to play with the Drunkards Path die that came with the machine, because it seemed like a great way to make these blocks, as the die cuts both pieces the perfect size….as opposed to the ruler method I have used in the past which leaves you with scrap pieces that are either to small or two big to use.

cut pieces

Anyway some ironing and cutting and an episode of Game of Thrones later I had a pile of curved block pieces….

cuttingNow these pieces make a 3 1/2 inch curved block for a 7 inch finished circle… in other words they are small.  The first thing I have learned with this project is that the smaller the curve you are trying to piece the harder it is to be accurate.  After some struggles aligning the pieces accurately I finally came up with a solution… glue basting.

glue baste 2

Using my Sewline glue pen I glued around the seam line of one of the pieces of the block…

pieces

Placed the pieces together, using the notch to align and then carefully finger pressed the pieces together…

press together

It worked like a charm and another episode of Game of Thrones later (we are just finishing up Season 5 so are a little behind)… I had a nice pile of glue basted…

glue basteNow all I have to do sew them… the glue basting will make chain piecing a breeze…

sewing

 

And I will have my block pieces done and ready for me to play with layout….

block layout

I am glad I decided to try the die cut curves… I have learned a lot including the fact that I like my curves big….much bigger than 4 inches….

Oh no more stars…

Posted in Paper Piecing Monday by

After an extended break from paper pieced stars I am now venturing back into familiar territory.  At QuiltCon I ran into an old friend who challenged me to make a special quilt… my response to that challenge will unfold over the coming months….starting with this block…

adventure block 1

This is an adaptation of one of the blocks I did for my pink Snowball quilt (which means you can use this pattern too if you want to make your own version of my fun modern baby quilt).

block pieces 1

You can see I used my tried and tested technique of marking the colour variations on the pattern.  If you want to make your own block, and do your own markings… you can download the free paper piecing pattern here….Adventure Star block 1