Friday, November 13, 2015

A Collection of Scraps

The quilt I am sharing today, all started with a baggie of bonus triangles in a bag of scraps from a friend.
It doesn't take much to get me started on a new quilt!



For months, I collected leftover charm squares, scraps and leftover layer cake pieces to go with those triangles.  I even snagged a few orphaned 4 patches from a friend's scrap bin.  Once I thought I had enough for a quilt, I was ready to begin.



First, I had to decide how to use all those triangles.  Because I had so many charm squares, I decided to trim them to size so the pieces made these cute little bear paw blocks.


Here is a little trick I use when I am putting blocks together for a leader/ender project.  I pin all the pieces for a block together with a safety pin.  Then I can just grab them from a pile and sew the block.



 I don't normally work with tiny pieces like this so it took me a long time to get all the blocks sewn.  I decided to sew the blocks together into a 4 patch with a skinny red sashing.




Soon I finished all the blocks and I had a quilt top in no time.  I decided to sash the bigger blocks out with a medium gray solid.  For the border, I pieced the orphaned four patches, the last of the charm squares and layercake pieces and some more of the sashing fabric.  After sewing the quilt top, I had just two scraps of fabric left!




I really like how the gray and the red bindings work together.



 A light gray print from my stash was used for the backing.




 For the quilting, I decided to play around with a swirl variation.  It really shows up great on the back.



 Cute!  
It finished out at 52" square.  Not bad for just a bunch of leftover bits and pieces.



Linking Up:

Crazy Mom Quilts
A Quilted Passion


38 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this quilt!I think sometimes the best quilts come from a place of making do. I want to try out your quilting design as well. Brilliant!

gayle said...

It's beautiful! I love the red and gray playing together - such a happy pairing.

tisha @ quiltytherapy said...

Love how this quilt turned out. Safety pins are the best for holding blocks together, saves my sanity all the time.

Bernie Kringel said...

This is lovely and you make it sound soooo easy! Great colors and all from scrap. Awesome.

~Diana said...

I love this on so many levels...does NOT look like a "scrap" quilt...and the quilting...kind of steampunk...LOVE IT!!!

The Colorful Fabriholic said...

Very cute - love the quilting motif!

Turid said...

So cute, and with a beautiful quilting.

Vicki in MN said...

OOOh I think you just gave me an idea for all my 1/2 sq. tri's from the cut off corners that I have been collecting for a long time! So your 1/2 sq. tri's were trimmed to 2"? You come up with the best ideas for scrap quilts, now if only you could come up with a magic pill for more time and energy for us!!

Katie said...

what a wonderful scrapbin find

Andrea @ Mouse in My Pocket said...

I really like how this turned out. It's a fun block, and the color palette is great.

Catarina C said...

What a lovely quilt you have done with your scraps!

Cathy said...

That is an amazing quilt from scraps, and cute as heck! From the ashes rises a phoenix...!!

Jo Ferguson said...

It's beautiful. I love your eye for colour.

Heidi Staples said...

I love this!

Vera said...

looking good, you work with bits and pieces so well and I'm always amazed.

Deb R said...

tis lovely quilt and the love the quilting pattern!

wish2stitch said...

Wow! You've done such a great job. The red and grey look awesome as saching. Well done.

Lisa England said...

I would call this a big success! Just gorgeous.

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

That turned out fantastic!!!

Barb Neiwert said...

Lovely quilt - definitely a winner! The question now is: what will you do with those two leftover pieces???

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I love those colors too! Such a beautiful combination! But your quilting is really neat! I haven't seen a pattern like that before. Love the story of how you collected all the pieces for this quilt and put them together!

Rochelle aka Bella Quilts said...

Such a great quilt. Love all the fabrics and the sashing. You have a great eye for making scraps work together. I admire everything you post.

Michele said...

That is just great and so wonderful to use up all those bits.

M-R Charbonneau said...

Oh Cynthia, I so love seeing what you do with scraps. So beautiful and inspirational! Thanks for linking up to TGIFF!

Mary Marcotte said...

Just another voice in the clamor of what a stunning quilt! I do love the red and gray sashing. They really do make the entire thing work. Then I realized just how tiny those pieces are and I'm pretty much awed but it all. Fabulous Finish!

Lara B. said...

What a great quilt Cyndy! I love those bear paw blocks and it must have taken some serious time to sew all those little HSTs to the paws. The red and grey sashing is the perfect choice! Wonderful!

Unknown said...

Love it!

Gina said...

A wonderful quilt. I love the red and grey together. THat's a great idea to pin all the pieces together for sewing. I always end up losing a piece and spend more time looking for it than actually sewing xx

Ivani said...

awesome quilt! Love the quilting motif you make.
Hugs

Anonymous said...

Love this quilt. An amazing end to a scrap stack!

Linda said...

Such a fan of the gray sashing! Love this.

LA Paylor said...

it always amazes me what a bunch of throwaway tiny scraps can become when joined together. It's really like magic isn't it? I like this red! I forget to use a bold background color with scraps but my grandmother did it and I loved her quilts the most. Yours is fresh and sharp.
LeeAnna at not afraid of color

Carli The Quilter said...

Wow, that is one gorgeous quilt. I love using red colors and this one is a keeper. Beautiful job! I popped over from the linky party at Confessions of a Quilt Addict. Happy Sunday!

Jasmine said...

This turned out so neat. Your quilting is really fun, and I love how you collected the scraps. I would have probably ended up just making something small. Your patience sure paid off.

Zenia Rene said...

You've definitely got the magic touch. This is an awesome creation. Thanks for sharing your designing process.

Ruth said...

That is a brilliant use of scraps - love the red and grey together for the sashing

Muv said...

Hello Cynthia,

I love the colours, and the FMQ pattern looks brilliant, like lots of cogs in a huge machine.

Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks - your quilt is this week's featured project!

Love, Muv

Anonymous said...

Hmm. May be something to do with my HST leaders and enders that are adding up. Of course I still have to trim them . ..
Love the effect of the red on your HSTs and sashing as well as the gray.

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