Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #13 Part Three

It sure feels like I haven't shared much on my Scrap-A-Palooza quilt in quite some time.  I have been busy working away on the top but there are so many other things I am trying to finish up, it just hasn't been given the attention I had hoped.

But with some good music and late night sewing, I have a quilt top to share today!




As a reminder, this quilt is made with turquoise and lime green improv blocks or fabric slabs.  Here is the post where I shared how I made them.




Once I had some blocks made, I started laying them up on one of my design walls.  One of the things I like to do when I am working with color blocks, is to stagger the blocks.




To do this is quite simple - all you need to do is add a spacer strip to the top or the bottom of your block.   For my 8.5" blocks, I added a 2.5" strip.




Here I have a row of green and turquoise all sewn together.  I also added a 2.5" strip of the background fabric the entire width of the quilt to give a little more separation in the rows.

Now the really observant person might have noticed there is a white and a gray background going on in the blocks.  I was greatly inspired by a split sashing on a quilt I saw on the SoScrappy blog and filed it away in my little pea brain to try some day.  I knew this quilt would be perfect.









With a bit more sewing up of the rows, I soon had this fun quilt top finished.  I used both Kona ash gray and white for the background.  And I love the bits of lemon yellow I worked into all of the blocks.














To play around with scale and create a point of interest, I also sewed up some 6.5" blocks and floated them in a white background across the central part of the quilt.




 I really had a lot of fun playing with this quilt top.  I think this is one of the great things about sewing with scraps...I am far more adventurous and playful than if I was sewing with expensive yardage.  And every time I play with my scraps, I feel like I grow as a quilter and a designer!


 I was able to find some fabric in my stash that will work for the backing but I think it is going to take a bit of piecing to make it work.  And with it being scrappy on the front, a scrappy backing is just the ticket!

Now, hopefully I can get this quilted up and photographed in some good lighting.  Hope this inspires you to get out your scraps and play!



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24 comments:

Jasmine said...

Such a fun quilt top. I love the staggered blocks. I want to make a rainbow quilt like this sometime.

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

I really like your use of two background fabrics to stagger the blocks (and the fact that you used two background fabrics)! :)

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Oh, that is fun to look at! So many different interesting blocks and fabrics to see. You have such a way with color! It will be a beautiful finished quilt!

canuckquilter said...

This is a fun quilt! I really like the staggered block look, and the way you varied the background.

Unknown said...

It's so cool!!!!!

Ruth said...

Love the rows - this is great! Really like the idea of changing up the background fabrics.

Vicki in MN said...

Love that staggered look, thanks for that idea! Your quilt is fantastic. I have so many scrappy quilts started now it is ridiculous, LOL Hopefully I will have some more finishes soon ;-)

Kris said...

That is fantastic! I love the whole thing and I am so glad you shared your process. I am in a new f2f group and I think we need to try to push ourselves to the improv modern and fun look you have going here. What a great use of scraps too which mine are overtaking since I cant' throw those crumbs away!

AnnieO said...

Great design! Love the spacer blocks and split sashing. Congrats!

Melinda Kiefer said...

What a fun quilt top. Can't wait to see it quilted!

Pattilou said...

Oh my, I love this!

Peggyinno said...

I love this quilt! I always seem to make my scrappys with all colors, but I like the idea of just the two colors! Maybe I would actually be able to see a dent in some of my colors!!! Looking forward to seeing this quilted! Great job!

LA Paylor said...

ooo the colors really resonate with me. I love them in this arrangement. LeeAnna at not afraid of color

Cheri the Quilting Nanny said...

I am working on learning to work with scraps and make scrappy quilts this year. I don't like scrappy as it looks cluttered and messy and unorganized. But someone said once.. to look at the fabric as colors, not scrap pieces....and for some reason that really turned my attitude around cause it kind of takes away from the quilt looking so scrappy and unorganized if all one colors are together... bit of organization going on helps alot! Your qult here is similar to what I intend to do as soon as I collect enough scraps of the same color!

Kathy@KayakQuilting said...

Love it! Just spectacular use of color and layout! Thanks for sharing your approach!

simple :: dream :: quilts said...

This is beautiful.

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Neat blocks and what a great idea to stagger them Cynthia!

Julie said...

I'm also a Improv Lover. Sometimes it's a tough to decide what to do with a stack of finished blocks. Great ideas here! Thank you.
Julie

Michele said...

It looks great!

Vera said...

Pretty cool! Well done! You are really good at playing with scraps!

the zen quilter said...

Love the colors and the offset squares - really neat!

Izzy said...

I love this! Using the 2 different background fabric was such a good idea.

Sandra Walker said...

Wow I love this colour combination. Such a great idea (and thanks for sharing us the magic of how) to stagger the blocks across the quilt top. I like the split sashing; I've never seen that, although I really like a similar idea in one of Tula Pink's City Sampler settings. Will have to try these improv blocks, probably when I'm back up north amongst the scrap bins...

Jan @Cocoa Quilts said...

These are some of my favorite colors for a quilt. It looks great. Love how you staggered the blocks, so simple when you really think about it.

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