I know I have been a bit silent on my blog lately. It is that time of year where I am busily quilting up a number of clients holiday projects so my schedule is pretty tight. By the end of each day, I just don't seem to have much energy to sew or sit at my computer. Luckily I only had to quilt half a day today so I thought I had better share my progress on this month's Scrap-A-Palooza quilt.
Last week I shared how I was constructing the blocks for this quilt. This week, I will walk you through how I assembled the quilt top.
The first thing I did was determine the size I wanted the quilt top. Because I was using combinations of 3" to make my blocks, I needed to choose a width and length that was divisible by three. I settled on 39" wide x 48" long. Then I needed to break up the quilt into components that could be easily sewn together. I decided to work the quilt in three sections.
The first 12" x 39", the second and third both 18" x 39".
Starting with the top section, I laid out some blocks to fill the space. Remember, all my blocks are made so each side measures 3.5", 6.5" or 12.5" unfinished. As I laid out my blocks, sometimes I would re-make some to spread certain colors throughout the piece.
Next, I need to sew up the sub-components. In this row, I formed four of these.
Then it is just a matter of sewing those sub-components together.
The second row is a bit more complex. Once you get your blocks where you want them, you need to identify the sub-components. You are really just looking for the natural breaks in the blocks.
I settled on these three sections.
Here it is all sewn together.
I went through the same process for sewing up the third and final row. This one I also broke into three sub-components. Can you see them? Now it is easy to see the next step of simply joining the rows together to finish up the quilt top.
Here is the quilt top all sewn up. I love the look of improv this method provides without the fuss of figuring out how to fit all the odd sized blocks together.
I love the colors and playfulness of this quilt. And to think it was just made from some leftover fabrics from a previous quilt and some stray solids from my stash.
Doesn't it look far more involved than the simple process above?
I was able to find a bright orange fabric in my stash for the backing so it is all ready to be quilted. With the holiday coming up, I am hoping to sneak it into the rotation. I should be able to share a finished quilt next week!
Hope you are staying warm!!
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21 comments:
Oh my goodness, this is amazing! What a great way to put together without a plan... but still have it organized in the end. Nice job!
WOW!
Lovely. Loving these fabrics and your design came together so well.
You make that look so easy!! :-) Very cheerful quilt & I'm sure it'll be a treat to quilt. Well done! :-)
I love how the blocks all work together. Thanks for sharing the process.
I really love how this quilt turned out, and a bright orange for the backing sounds perfect!
thanks for sharing your process and the quilt looks great. Very colorful.
Love how it looks all together! Definitely looks super complicated. Can't believe how simple you made it in your steps!
Thanks for sharing your process. I love how this quilt comes together.
Yes, I too want to share my appreciation to you for "lifting the curtain" and sharing how you think through the placement of your blocks and sections. Also, I love this quilt! It is soooooo cute! I can't wait to show it to my daughter! And to think, it came together from leftovers and imagination, it's amazing! Magistra13 at yahoo dot com
Beth
Thanks for sharing how you put this together. It looks so complicated, but you make it look manageable by breaking it down into sections. Genius!
It looks so good!! And like a really complicated quilt - love!
So cute! I love the whales!
I always learn so much from you! My brain revolts when I urge it to think mathematically, but when you break down your steps as you did, the light bulb goes on and "Voila!" it sinks in. Thank you! And your fabrics all work together so well - I love it!
I really love this! It turned out so fun! I may need to improv piece my next quilt...
What a clever way to organise your piecing. I very much like how the finished thing looks.
loving this quiltl - I have a panel that needs to be chopped up and put together. Over the years I have collected fabrics to go with it - this is the process I want to use to work with it but w/o a design wall it becomes hard (my 70 yr old bones don't like working on the floor too much) but someday I will get it done
Turquoise and orange is a favourite colour combo ; )
Love this! The colors are fantastic and the improv piecing is so much fun!
So...what are you doing with this lovely when it's finished? It's so refreshing and fun!
you know, Cynthia, I have all of these scrappapalooza posts saved on my phone and computer!! My quilting girls are working up the courage to join me, and I think we're gonna knock off one of these quilts about every third quilt we make. We'll send pics as we go :)) XX!
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