Scrap Storage Quilt

Here she is, all finished! My Scrap Storage quilt made throughout the year in conjunction with So Scrappy's RSC2024.  

Pretty darn cute, if you ask me! Full of three styles of storage bins in an Ikea Kallax inspired storage unit, this quilt should inspire your own scrap (or yardage) storage.

Throughout the weeks and months of last year, I shared my storage blocks for all of the colors of the months, plus myriad prints that were also in both my scrap stash and regular stash. Since I wanted this quilt longer than 66", that top row was a stretch to find themes toward the end of the year. Like I said before, all the little-used fabrics go up top, out of reach cause they're used so infrequently!

What I love about this quilt is not only the variety of fabrics, but the variety of storage boxes and the different combinations of boxes within a storage cubby. The only boxes that can't go together are the under-bed storage box and the tall storage box. Otherwise, it's pretty much a make it up as you go.

Here's a closer picture of the top three storage rows, full of more prints than solids.

And the bottom three rows, consisting of boxes full of more solid looking colors (otherwise known as blenders).

I also opted for a dark brown for the storage unit shelves and sides. My original idea was white, but I think it would have been confusing with the white lids. If I ever make this again, maybe I'll try dark lids to get a white cabinet.

Will I do another RSC project this year? I haven't decided yet. At one point, I thought I'd make an entire quilt from the month's color choice, though I don't think I could keep up that pace nowadays. Anyway, I have some time to decide as I see So Scrappy hasn't posted a color yet for this month/year.

Enjoy your quilting endeavors - Happy New Year!

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Rainbow Tornado

Here it is! My Rainbow Tornado, the RSC2022 scrap quilt! Yes, I'm a bit ahead of schedule with a finish now, but one shouldn't stop the creative process for the calendar!

So, just what is RSC2022? It's short for Rainbow Scrap Challenge, for this year, 2022. The event is hosted by SoScrappy.com, who posts a new color each month to work with. The design of the blocks and ultimately the quilt, are totally up to the quilter, using the suggested color of the month.

Due to a tendency toward fabric hoarding, I tend to keep larger, usable scraps with the yardage it came from, finding that those bigger scrap pieces come in handy with the yardage. That means my scraps tend to be on the small or odd shaped size, requiring a bit more effort to use.

But not to fear - I've become quite proficient at sewing those scraps into useable blocks using the Making Blocks from Crumbs technique. 

Gosh, I've made several quilts using this style of scrap block. There's Pinwheel Parade (free pattern BTW), Rainbow Celilo, and RSC2021 to name a few. I'd guess you'd say these scrap blocks from crumbs are part of my quilting style. And I'm ok with that!

For my Rainbow Tornado quilt, most of the blocks in it are leftovers from previous years. In July, realizing I was behind stitching up my scraps for the chosen colors, I decided to put them up on the design wall to determine how many more blocks I needed. With a vague layout idea, I got started, then couldn't stop, heading down the road with a more modern design than what I had originally planned.

In designing this, I tried to maintain the following block order: one large block with two of the same color small blocks placed on the top and bottom of the large block. See the ovals below.

If you look closely at the quilt layout, you'll see that there are some areas where I've broken the block order, either by 1) leaving out a small square, 2) leaving out two small squares, or 3) leaving out a small square plus a large one. Doing that kept a tighter tornado design, along with adding visual interest.

Now I could have gone full tornado, with blocks flying out to the edge, but I felt they didn't relate to the tornado and ended up a bit distracting. I prefer the tighter look, channeling a childhood favorite, the Tasmanian Devil. I guess you could say he was my inspiration! 

To keep with the scrappiness of this quilt, missing blocks were replaced with a variety of white-on-white prints. Since the small blocks were stitched together as a unit with sashing, I kept that same format substituting white where needed.

And how about that quilting? It's a pantograph called 'Twister", quilted in variegated thread. I love the motion it provides, along with the added variety of color. Both just work so well together!

To complete the tornado theme is the multi-colored confetti backing. I view it as what remains after a tornado has come through - pieces of wood everywhere. I'm fortunate enough not to live in tornado country to experience the horrific destruction, and my heart goes out to those that do.

With the Rainbow Tornado quilt, I've wrapped up my RSC project for 2022. I still have a ton of scraps left to stitch up, especially in purple, blue, aqua, and green. Maybe I'll do something with those for the remainder of 2022 as it seems to be my year for scrap quilts. Time to get stitching!

Happy Quilting!

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Scrappy Heart Quilt

Yay! I have finished my pink scrappy heart quilt!

Boy, was this ever a long time in the making. There were days, weeks even, when I couldn't spend any time sewing due to all of the yardwork on our new place. I'll have more to share on that on another day.

But I managed to get some free time last week and finish it up! It felt so good to do some sewing, creating, and then the quilting with my Innova. And it's finished just in time.

This scrappy heart quilt is for a college friend of my son's. He and his wife were high school sweethearts, waiting till college was finished to tie the knot and married now for four years. They're expecting a little girl in mid-August, and as they say, 'First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage!' 

And she needs a quilt to play on! Here's a couple closeups:

the scrappy heart, for which I changed out a couple fabrics to make it more prominent.

Another picture of the scrappy blocks, each made as a pink or black triangle using strips then stitched to a background triangle. Each resulting block was trimmed to 5 1/2" square, which math wise, worked out great for the borders and the piano key placement.

Putting it all together is the simple heart quilting (Dear Heart pantograph) in bright pink Glide thread.

Last but not least is the backing. I had four pink pieces that were approximately 15" wide but short on the WOF side. They were only going to work if I made a center block to stitch them around. Using all of the last piece of background plus the black heart fabric, I managed to make a square large enough to finally create a backing large enough. We're talking approximately 1 1/2" on all sides, and if you know that a long arm needs extra, this was a tight squeeze!

Though it looks it, it's not perfectly centered on the back of the quilt, but hey, I came darn close. Overall, I'm pleased with how this scrappy heart quilt came out!

So now we wait for the little one's arrival. Then I can put a label with the name and birthdate on it for her to enjoy! 

Happy Quilting!

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Chantille Quilt

Introducing my newest scrap quilt, Chantille.

This approximately 56" x 66" lap quilt is composed of 8" teal scrap blocks, appliqued pink hexie flowers, strip-set sashing pieces, and even a scrap border and binding. That's quite the use of scraps!

In case you haven't followed the progress on this quilt over the last month, I suggest reading these previous posts to see it's evolution. And you may learn a few new techniques too!

Hexie Project in the Works - the inspiration

Appliqued Hexies - an applique tutorial

Hexie Flower Quilt Idea - EQ8 quilt mock up and some cutting info

 

Now back to Chantille. Here's a few close ups, first of the scrap blocks, hexies and sashing.

Next up is the quilting, with the gorgeous Chantilly pantograph in a pale yellow-green thread.

Love it! The quilting design is just beautiful on this quilt! I like that pantograph so much on this quilt that I chose a derivative of 'Chantilly' for the quilt's name. And it shows up so well on the back too.

Notice the pink band? I felt the original backing idea needed some oomph, as it was composed of yardage in the middle and pieced parts at the top and bottom - boring! So, I cut out a 5" horizontal center strip and inserted a 6" pink strip.

So much better!! Now this quilt resides on my sofa, to snuggle under while watching some evening TV. 

Currently, I don't plan on writing up a pattern for Chantille. If there is enough interest, I will - just drop me a comment if you would like to also make the scrappy Chantille quilt. It's also possible there could be 1 or 2 more sizes too - just let me know.

Happy Quilting!

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RSC2021 Quilt

Here it is, quilted and bound, the finished RSC2021 quilt, also known as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2021 quilt.

Comprised of finished 8" scrap blocks featuring a small scrap of black toward one block corner, the RSC2021 quilt finishes at approximately 56" x 64", making it a nice lap size.

Each month, I would make 4 blocks in the color chosen by SoScrappy, the RSC hostess. Fortunately, I just happened to make 4 dark and 2 light pink blocks in January, which gave me the right number blocks for the whole top. Subconscious pre-planning I suppose!

There is some order to how the blocks are arranged - I pulled them all out of the storage bin, leaving them in the order they were in though probably not by month. Then I put them on the design wall, following whatever color order was in my hand, and repeating the order till they were all up there.

That original order did leave some dark value concentrations, so I changed the order of one color, and worked in the two pinks. Quite frankly, I didn't spend a lot of time on the arrangement, trying not to over-think it!

For more interest, I also rotated the black squares so they weren't all in the same block corner. Having that black square jumping all over the quilt sure makes it playful!

As for the border, I managed to find a floral print with rainbow colors that worked really well, helping to increase the size of the overall quilt.

The quilting is the easy and open Happy Times, in a variegated thread, along with a soft backing. I do wish I had more of the floral print (at the top), though the filler piece (at the bottom) worked well. It's also my binding which moved more of it out of my stash.

Overall, I'm quite please with this year's RSC quilt, and would make the blocks again, though probably in a different year. I really should come up with something different for 2022!

Happy Quilting and hope you join in on RSC2022!

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Finishing up RSC2021

New to quilting or QuiltFabrication? Then let me explain what RSC2021 is.

RSC stands for Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It's a yearly challenge hosted by SoScrappy to use up those bins full of scraps. Each month, a different color is chosen to work with, from January to October so that November and December can be left for assembly and quilting.

This is my second year participating, and have found it a great way to use scraps. My theme this year was to add scraps around a square or rectangle of black. Here's some pink ones from last January.

Now that the year has ended, I've pulled out all of my RSC2021 blocks and arranged them on the design wall. Below is a sneak peek of what's in store.

It may look a bit random but it's not - I'll explain when it's finished. For now, I need to get the blocks sewn together and may add a border. It depends on what colorful fabric I find in my stash!

With luck, this should get finished before the end of the year, so I'm ready for another RSC - that would be RSC2022 of course! Are you in for next year?

Happy Quilting!

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Fall Foliage Mini Quilt

Yay! After sharing the orange bounty last week, it's time to reveal my project for Kelly Young's new book, Scrappy Improv Quilting (affiliate link). Kelly is the creative quilter behind not just this book, but also Stash Statement (affiliate link). She blogs about her quilts over at My Quilt Infatuation, where there's always some great eye candy!

And now, with a ton of scrappy goodness, here's my version of Fall Foliage, one of my favorite quilts from her new book.

I just love how Fall Foliage turned out - this leaf has such a colorful personality with scraps from orange, yellow, red, and a few bits of brown. Certainly more colorful than the all-brown oak leaves my tree provides this time of year. Oh how I miss fall in New England!

Now, this is not the first time I've made a quilt using scraps to make blocks, which then make a quilt. I find stitching my scraps into usable blocks to be my go-to scrap reduction method. It's easy, creative, and the results are always good looking.

For this project, I started with these small and wonky bits,

trimming them for the next scrap additions,

and then they ultimately look like this - blocks.

If you're new to what Kelly terms 'improv piecing', then you need one of her books. She does a fantastic job of explaining the process, making it simple and stress-free, to make beautiful quilts. You'll be thrilled with the results while reducing that scrap pile!

Here's a few more closeups showing both the scrap blocks and the quilting.

I chose Glide Military Gold thread and a pantograph called Maple Syrup, resizing it to fit plus redrawing it to make curlicues instead of big open curls. Well worth the extra effort!

The Scrappy Improv Quilting book tour has just a few more weeks to go. Visit my fellow quilter, Preeti, of Sew Preeti Quilts to see her version of Birds of a Feather today, and view the entire list of quilters and their projects at my Scrappy Improv Quilting post. Also, check out my interview with Kelly to learn more about this creative quilter!

Happy Quilting!

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My Favorite Patterns