Scrappy Churn Dash

 I hope you're not tired of my Nested Churn Dash quilt. My number one quilting goal this summer was to make a scrappy quilt with all of my Minick & Simpson fabrics. I truly love the combination of reds, creams, and blues--these colors are just soothing to me, and they remind me of summer, good times, and the ocean and lake. I actualy remember buying my first Minick & Simpson fabric, "Nantucket," from The Christmas Goose quilt shop in Las Vegas (I'm not sure if that was the first Minick & Simpson Moda collection, but I think it was at least an early one). And with every new Minick & Simpson collection I had to get at least some to add to my stash. I have lots of projects made with their fabrics: table runners, table toppers, lap quilts and even a full-sized quilt, but I've always wanted to make a summer quilt to use in in the master bedroom. 

My initial idea this summer was to make a scrappy trip around the world quilt with these fabrics, but after making Jane's Nested Churn Dash block for her blog tour I started thinking that just maybe I'd have enough fabrics to make a king-size quilt with my Minick & Simpson stash.

 After finishing my blocks yesterday I had to move some furniture to find a place to lay them out. And then the process of deciding how to set them began. My initial thought was to use a cream Bella solid and use reds and blues for the sashing posts. It turned out that none of Bella solids I had on hand were just the right color. I didn't have enough cream prints to do a scrappy cream sashing, either. What I had the most of was blues, so scrappy blues it was.

 By choosing the scrappy blues I could no longer use blues and reds for the posts. A jelly roll strip of a tan print from "Mid-Winter Reds" was the perfect solution, providing just the right amount of contrast and creating a nice secondary pattern at all of the block intersections.

This is already a favorite quilt...now just to decide on quilting...an all-over pattern...or splurge on custom? I guess it's technically a "free" quilt so far since I've used scraps...but paying for quilting on king-sized quilts is the reason I don't make many of those (this is just my fifth king-sized quilt ever).

It's folded up now; I plan on piecing the backing today and starting something new. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Quilt Details:

• Blocks from the Nested Churn Dash pattern by Jane Davidson found here.
• 16 blocks finished at 24" x 24"
• 24 sashing strips finished at 2" wide
• 9 sashing posts finished at 2" x 2"
• Quilt top measures 102" x 102"

More Churn Dash Blocks and Winners

 I'm still working on those Churn Dash blocks! Monday evening I finished up numbers 7, 8, and 9. They've been going together pretty quickly since I'm using chain piecing. I just have to be careful to keep the piles in the right order. Even though it's scrappy I am trying not to have the same fabric more than once in any given block.

Blocks 10, 11, and 12 are ready to go. And then there are just four to go. I think I'll have a king-size quilt top by the end of the week for sure. And then I can start on one of the other hundred "must make" quilts on my list.

I need to announce winners from my last two giveaways, too. Congratulations to Kathy at Kwilty Pleasures who is the winner of the Christmas Runner Kit from Olie and Evie.

And congratulations to Marcella  who wins the 35th Anniversary celebration giveaway from Olfa.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Summer Quilting

 It's hard to believe that summer is past the mid-way point for me. I only have five more weeks until school starts (I teach English Composition part-time at a local community college), and I'm starting to feel the pressure to finish up at least some of my summer goals. My number one summer quilting goal is to finish my King-size Nested Churn Dash quilt. I have 6 completed blocks (the blocks are 24" x 24", so it's hard to get them all in one photo), and I have 10 more to make.  I do have all of the parts and pieces cut and arranged in piles for the remaining blocks.

 Here is a close up of my two most recent finishes. Every time I finish a block it's my new favorite...until I make the next one. The block on the left uses a light blue for a "light" in the outer corner hst's...kind of looks like I made a mistake in the photo, but I was short on the lighter fabrics, so I had to substitute with a few light blues. The quilt is going to be so scrappy I think it will be okay.

I'm already starting to worry about the sashing; I think I should probably go with a solid cream for the sashing strips with a variety of red and blues for the sashing posts.  it's going to be a pretty visually "busy" quilt, so maybe the cream solid will give a little bit of a resting space.

I had to take a break from churn dash blocks to make an iPad case for my daughter's friend. She said her favorite color was green, and the new Heather Bailey fabrics, "Up Parasol" seemed perfect for her. I mixed in a little "Nicey Jane" and the green polka dot from "Happy Go Lucky" as well.


Hope your summer is going well! Thanks so much for stopping by!