Summer Break Projects - Part 4 - A Bunch of Scrappy Quilts

Last year, in the midst of the Covid-19 mask-making, scrub-making chaos, I also finished a number of quilt tops. I frequently used the quilt blocks as a reward: "If you make 50 masks, you can make a quilt block." In addition, I was determined to clean out the scrap boxes, most of which were overflowing.

I started with the green basket. I have an online friend who goes by @simplegirlsimplelife on Instagram, who posted several times about how she uses her scraps to make scrappy log cabin quilts. I decided to follow her example.

These wonky/improv log cabin blocks go pretty fast, and I had not one, but TWO quilt tops made in a few days. That pretty well took care of the greens - for awhile.

Then I started on the pinks. I made another wonky/improv log cabin first.

Then I decided to branch out, and started making patchwork heart blocks.

This made a pretty fun quilt. Best of all, all of these are entirely out of my scrap bins. You can see from the top photo that I was working on the pinks in the midst of the mask chaos.

Later in the summer, after Abby made the quilt for her granny I used the scraps to make the double diamond quilt. I probably have enough scraps left from this bundle to make another quilt, but I'll save that for another day.

I made the butterfly quilt from random scraps too. Honestly, the more I look at this one, the less I like it, but maybe I will like it better when it's quilted. I saw the pattern online and couldn't wait to make it. It's not that it didn't turn out well, it's just... I don't know what exactly.

Then I made the Sunny Side Up quilt from a kit my daughter put together in her shop. (If you don't follow @a.craftyfox on Instagram, you're missing a visual treat. Her quilts, kits, and photos are so amazing. (She definitely did not get those skills from me!). This one wasn't using up scraps exactly, but definitely scrappy.

All this piecing last year - with not much quilting of the resulting tops - left me with a huge pile of unquilted tops. So, earlier this summer, I decided I'd better do something about that. Stay tuned.

Double Diamond Quilt

I made another Half Square Triangle quilt in early July, in order to use up the leftover Mimosa fabric from A's quilt for her granny.  Lots and lots of HST trimming here.

The placement of the triangles is everything with this quilt.  I decided to go with a diamond design.  I love that the diamonds repeat in the negative space, so you get a secondary design that is just as prominent as the primary design.  Which do you see first?

But the quilt turned out OK and I think it is another cheerful quilt for a rainy, hot, messed up July.

Sunny Side Up Quilt

In the middle of this Covid mess, my daughter made this quilt - mostly to cheer herself up, I think.   The response on Instagram was so positive that she created a kit so others could make it too.  (BTW:  This is the Sunny Side Up quilt by A Crafty Fox for Westwood Acres Fabrics, and you can see her version on her blog.)

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to be able to get a kit.  This was the perfect quilt to make in an incredibly hot, rainy July with all that is going on in our world.

Amanda had a cute photo on her IG feed and I tried to imitate it, but wasn't terribly successful.  So this is my attempt to be artsy.  BTW, Amanda has some great cutting suggestions on the pattern that make cutting super easy, and soooo fast!

First, lots of sewing and trimming Half Square Triangles.  The task is kind of tedious, but tedium is not always a bad thing.  If your hands are busy, your mind can seldom focus for long on disagreeable things.

One of the things my girly does very well is choose low volume fabrics.  I would never have been bold enough to use all of these fabrics together without them being in the kit, but don't they play nice together in the finished product.  I will be more daring in my fabric choices the next time I make a quilt with LV background, for sure.

Also the way she puts her 9-patch blocks together is so easy.  She cuts her fabrics into strips, sews the strips together, and each strip becomes a row.  SO much easier (and faster!) than cutting bits of fabric and sewing them together individually.

I was really excited about my first Bear Paw block.  Too excited apparently, since I put it together wrong.  It wasn't until I posted it on Instagram and had several people tell me it wasn't right (thank you friends!) that I realized it. 

So a bit of ripping and resewing and I was on my way.  I was actually very glad I posted the picture - that way I didn't have to remake all the blocks!  You can bet I was extremely careful to check the fabric placement before I sewed the rest.

As you can see, I couldn't wait to get my first row finished.  I'm always kind of flabbergasted that quilts created "on point" go together so strangely.  Amanda has a clever method for making the trimming easy as you create the rows that is just fabulous.  see those bigger blocks hanging off the rows?  Those make trimming the quilt evenly a snap.

Progress being made.  Blocks going together.  Obviously my board isn't wide enough.

Getting there.  At this point, the quilt is half finished.

And now, all it needs is trimming, which I did just a few days ago.  If it ever stops raining, I'll get my "quilt husband" to venture outside with me to photograph some quilts.