Finished Scrap Attack Quilt

Update: I have had so many questions as to where to find this pattern that I thought I'd just share the link here. The pattern is from "From Blank Pages" and can be found on their website. Here is the pattern.

Hello everyone!
I wanted to share with you my latest quilt finish.  Here is the Scrap Attack quilt that I made for a friend's baby shower.  I can finally share it because the shower was yesterday.  I didn't want to spoil the surprise, you know?

It finished at only 36 x 36 inches, but it's a nice size for a baby.  Each block took about a hour to complete and there are at least 10 years worth of scraps in the mix.  The great thing is that I am finally beginning to see a dent in my scrap pile.  Woo hoo!  It has only taken me all summer to do.

I toyed around with several ideas for the quilting, but in the end settled on simple stippling.  I love how it softened the lines.  I even didn't cross any of my lines... well, almost.  There's at least one tiny one, but I'm not telling where it is, if I could even find it.  It's probably my best stippling job yet.

I bound it in red polka dot fabric and backed it with a print I have had in my stash for a long time.  It's a bright colored print with happy little mushrooms.

The happy bright colors just make me smile every time I look at it.  I hope it makes baby smile too.

In other news, I have been slowly working on the next pattern which I hope to have ready sometime in the fall.  I have been taking my time really thinking through the design.  Just a little hint as to the idea... think princess seams and 1940's inspiration.

I hope you are having a great week creating pretty things.  I'd love to hear about any projects you are working on.

Until next time,
Happy Sewing!

Scrap Attack Quilt Progress And A Bit Of Randomness

I finished up the last of the 36 blocks needed for this little quilt last weekend.  Now it's paper peeling time.  Picking the paper off of the back of paper pieced blocks is not my favorite activity. Hopefully it will be tempered by some TV watching at the same time.  

I feel as though I hardly even made a dent in my scraps, though.  How is it even possible that I still have this many strings left over?  Just for reference, the drawer that they are in is approximately  18 inches by 22 inches by about 6 inches deep.  I told you all that I have a huge task in front of me to tame these scraps by the end of summer.  Here's the proof.

I'm considering joining my friend Amanda over at Crazy Mom Quilts for her Scrap Vortex quilt along.  Her use of scraps is really phenomenal and always inspires me to try something new.  I have used her slab piecing method before with tiny scraps and it really turns out awesome.

I used that method on a pillow I made for my niece's birthday a couple of years ago.  I took an "anything goes" approach to it and I was really pleased with the results.

"The Summer of Scraps"- Using it All Up

Above is a new - old scrap project that I have been working on.  I made just three of these blocks about a year ago and then got busy with other projects and kind of just set it aside.  Last weekend I was feeling inspired to sew, but didn't know what to work on so I started going through the UFO's in my sewing room, of which there are no lack, and remembered this little gem.  I have a friend expecting a baby in the fall and the gender is unknown, so I thought maybe this might be a good project for a gift for her new little one.   Each block is taking me about an hour to sew up, so this is not going to be a big quilt because I just don't have that kind of patience.  Thirty six blocks for a 36X36 baby quilt is probably all I'm going to be able to deal with.  I am LOVING it so far, so it has made the fact that it is so time consuming more bearable.  That, and the fact that I don't have any other really pressing projects at the moment begging for my sewing time.  I still have 12 more blocks to go which will probably take another weekend or two for me to complete.  I don't have a lot of sewing time during the week, I might catch an evening here or there, but my sewing happens primarily on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

As I have been working on this project I have come to realize that my scrap situation is really out of control and I REALLY need to do something about it. What you see above is only a small fraction of what lurks in my sewing room.  In response, I have declared this "The Summer of Scraps".  I'm going to really try, this summer, to make a dent in these scraps and I thought maybe my readers might like to join along.  I know I'm not the only one out there with lots of scraps.

If you'd be interested in joining a link party once a week, comment below and I will get it set up.  I'd love to see what you are all working on!  Maybe we can encourage each other to get creative and use up what we have hiding in drawers and boxes and bins.

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

Finished! At Last!

OK I know it's Saturday, but I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for her Finish It Up Friday this week anyway. That is because I have not one, not two, but THREE finishes this week!  Yay!  I could not bear to shout that they are finally finished. LOL

The first is this little wall hanging that I started about 2 years ago.  It was inspired by Amanda's little pillow, I decided that mine needed to be a wall hanging instead.  I finished the top right away and that was as far as it got until a couple of weeks ago when I decided it was time to finish it.  I sandwiched it and quilted it then and finished up the binding this week.  It still needs some little rings sewn to the back so that I can hang it up, but other than that it is finished!

The second is this little baby quilt that I started about  a year ago.  Not sure who will wind up with it yet, everybody seems to be having boys! LOL  I cut all the little tumbler blocks on my Go! cutter.  Love that thing!

And the third and final finish is this baby!  I am embarrassed to say that it was started about 4 1/2 years ago.  I got the blocks done in a reasonable amount of time, and finished the top several months later in a sewing session at Amanda's house.  She helped me arrange the blocks. :)  I finally got it quilted about a year later, the binding machine sewn on about a year after that, and I finally got it hand sewn this week. It was originally started as my effort to join in Amanda's One a Day quilt a long.  Needless to say I fell a little behind... LOL.  I am so glad to have this project off of my list and into use.  In perfect timing for a really cold week being forecast here in Minnesota!

I am not counting these as part of my unfinished project goal this year as I finished them before I set the goal.  Next up is to finish my Scrappiness Squared quilt and a small pillow a friend asked me to make from a special sweatshirt.  I hope to finish both by the end of January.

What projects are you working on?  Did you finish any up this week?