Happy Wednesday! I love the idea of “works in progress” posts and have done many of those over the last few years; however, I’ve been thinking that along with the “progress” the important thing is the actual “process” used in creating quilts; I think this is especially interesting in relationship to scrap quilts.
The other day I shared my 9 mini Nested Churn Dash Blocks–you can see from the photo above that although the blocks haven’t changed in size yet I have been working on them. I’ve cut out all the parts and pieces for all of the outer layers: in doing so I found out I had a lot more blue Minick & Simpson scraps than red. It was a good thing I began cutting the biggest pieces first so I would have enough.
After getting everything cut out for those 9 blocks I realized I couldn’t stop at 9. I’m kind of in love with this quilt already, and I really needed this to be a king sized quilt so I can use it every summer in my room! So I set out cutting the mini churn dash sections for 7 more blocks. And then I realized I really didn’t have enough reds for a king size version (I must have used more reds than blues in all of the quilts these scraps came from). I figured out that just a few fat quarters would be enough, though, and I was lucky to find some on Etsy that will work just perfectly!
So while some scrap quilts really can be made completely from left-overs–it’s good to stop and evaluate at the beginning to make the best use of fabrics.
My other major project for July is to get all of the arcs pieced for my Double Wedding Ring project. I shared my beginnings quite a few weeks ago and have just been itching to get back to working on this. I’m using the Pickledish tutorial by Aneela for my blocks with one slight change. Callie used this pattern last year for our Bees Knees quilting group and changed the template slightly, adding seam allowances to the paper pieced arc templates.
This is also a scrap quilt (although I have been picking up fat quarters in these colors here and there when I find them). In order to make those first four arcs without any repeated fabrics I started cutting without much thought. I figured I was roughly about ¼ of the way finished with the cutting. The other day I stopped and actually counted each of the rectangles I’ve cut and listed by color how many I have of each. Since my squares at the end of the arcs are going to be navy and grey I’ll want more of the other colors.
I started making notes…I have 124 arcs to go! I’m going to start cutting more fabrics and keep track of the numbers. Then the paper piecing should go quickly!
How do you start a scrap quilt that needs a little planning? I’d love to hear any ideas on your process!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Karen M says
Thanks so much for sharing your process. I love scrappy quilts too. I often back myself into a corner by not thinking the project through to the end as you have described. This is a good reminder that even scrappy quilts should be planned.
Natasha Coy says
Beautiful blocks!
hansundgrete says
Hi Sherry,
i love this srap work.
I'm also doing some blocks with all
my stuff rests, but not so nice as you did 🙂 I sew something crazy.
Greetings, Olga from Germany
hansundgrete says
Hi, it must be "SCRAP", ! Olga
Darlene Barnes Rosner says
thanks for sharing. I just love working on quilt projects during the summer months, more than any other time of the year I guess. and I just LOVE your fabrics. That seems to be the nicest part of a scrap quilt that it really reflects all the fabric bits and pieces I have collected.
Great work and thank you for all the lovely pics!! Have a great week.
Kelsie says
I love double wedding ring quilts!
Hildy says
Love your progress, thanks for sharing! With scrap quilts I normally select the colors or themes first and then look would I have in my stash. Normally I then stumple over a fabric I think would look gorgous and then change all the others because of this one;-) And it can and has happend that a unplanned scrappy project took more time and planning in hindsight than a planned one form the start.
Debra G says
So much fun to see what you're working on. I'm wanting to tackle a double wedding ring, and like seeing how the different techniques work for this challenging quilt. And I'm especially intrigued with what's UNDER your work. Did you make those flannel boards? I love the mitred edge. Can you do a quick tutorial on how you made them? Thanks!
Heidi says
I can't wait to see more of your double wedding ring! It's on my bucket list as well!
Joy says
I love the colors and prints you have chosen. I have never made a scrap quilt. I am intrigued when I look at others' work especially the blending…like it is not effort. I hope to do one someday in the near future. Meanwhile, I will keep an eye on your steps and progress.