I have learned over the years that I advance the most when I challenge myself. So as I was planning my three little letters quilts, on one set of letters, I tried really hard to set myself up for a test that I wasn't sure I would be able to work myself out of.
To review...
This fun letters quilt turned out beautifully. It was straight forward piecing, nothing challenging about the colors or the layout. I ended up doing a lot of the piecing as a leaders and enders project because I was kinda bored with it.
This second quilt was a bit more challenging. It helped to remind me to not make quick decisions just based on a single block and because I was using scraps of solids, I was limited on my color choices so getting the blocks of colors to flow somewhat was a bit of a puzzle. I enjoyed making it.
Then, there were these blocks...
Even though no one was watching me if I cheated, I had a rule that I must pull a fabric from the dark pile and a fabric from the low volume pile and sew them up together in a block- no matter how bad they looked. I wanted to see if I could take the resulting blocks and make a decent looking quilt from them (Truthfully, with each block I finished, I felt like I was just setting myself up to fail!)
Having completed the first two quilts in straight froward layouts, I wanted to try and use the letters around the border of this last quilt. Which left me the center...
As I looked around my sewing room, I saw my overflowing bin of leftover bindings and inspiration struck! Not much cutting....works for me!!
I did start by figuring out the outer border first so I knew what size I needed to make the center. I was able to get the letters to flow perfectly around the entire quilt. I used some Kona Ash gray to border the letters. This helped to unify the look.
Then it was just a matter of sewing the strips together. (Jasmine, if only you had posted your race quilt formula a few days earlier!) Some of the strips I joined at a 45 degree angle and some I used a small Kona Ash square. No reason for the square, there were just some already cut sitting on my cutting mat.
I even used a big piece of unloved fabric on the back and spruced it up by adding a fun pink print to the sides.
With the exception of a bit of gray, the entire quilt came from the scrap bin. While she might not win any prizes in a quilt show, I have to say I adore this quilt. I challenged myself and I think I came away a winner!
And this quilt achieves my January goal with A Lovely Year of Finishes over at Sew Bittersweet Designs! Oh Happy Day - starting the year out right!
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23 comments:
That is adorable! What a great idea! I enjoyed seeing the progress of all three of them.
I love the finish with the letter blocks around the outside! That would be a great idea to finish off a children's panel too. And hurray for using up scraps!
What a great outcome and hard challenge! The scrappy center really does tie it all together, and using the alphabet letters as a border was an inspired choice.
What a clever design solution for your third version - looks great! Congratulations on a challenge very successfully met.
I love the last quilt. I'll admit when I saw the blocks on the design wall, I thought, "HM....not sure how that is going to go." But, they are just PERFECT with the fabrics that you used in the center.
I like all of them, but I think the last one is my favorite. I love the alpha border with the bright strip center. Great job.
What a great solution to the letters! It's brilliant.
This is super cute. I want to make one just like it. :) I love the extra border plus the gray around the letters. I love the scrappy center. (And at least if you make another one, I have the calculations for you.)
This is so great! What a creative and fun idea. If I hadn't cut all my sashing and squares (at least I think I've cut them all!) for my two unfinished little letters quilts I might try this. Win!
all of your alphabet quilts are adorable, what a neat way to use scraps. Lucy www.crazyforpurple.com
All of these are lovely! Do you know Lynne Tyler's blog, Patchery Menagerie? She does free-form letters. Maybe another alphabet quilt in the future? :) Nice solution for the third quilt as well.
Great inspiration especially the third quilt. It totally works and looks great.
You've had great fun with these. Each is attractive in its own way.
I'll give you an A+!
Three quilts - aren't you a clever little quilter indeed! I still need to finish off the last few blocks for the one I'm making, then need to put it all together. Must admit, I had fun doing my little blocks, all from scraps, too.
Well done setting yourself a challenging and doing such a great job achieving it. You have three lovely quilts to show for it. I keep left over binding too. That's a great idea for using it up. Will store that idea in my memory bank. Visitng from FIUF.
Congrats! You met your challenge beautifully! And what a good idea for using up binding leftovers.
That was a fabulous idea and it did turn out fun.
Three lovely quilts!
But this is absolutely fabulous! What a great success with the third quilt. I really love it. The bits of Ash in there give it just the lightest touch it needs to make order out of the scraps. And you had some amazingly gorgeous left-over bindings to use up, by the way! I'll have to remember that trick, because I'm completely in love with this.
Fantastic finishes! My favorite is the third one made from scraps...just beautiful.
You made three great quilts here and so fun to see the different settings. Creative settings is an area I would like to get better at--thank you for the inspiration!
This is.a great quilt. I have already made 3 of these and doing another 2. I might just finish one this way. Well done.
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