Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #13 Part Four Finish

I am still marching on, trying to sew up my ever growing scrap bins.  This has been a really busy week but I still found time to get the Scrap-A-Palooza quilt on my longarm machine and get it quilted up.

To refresh your memory on how this quilt progressed:

The quilt started out with a quick sort to pull out just turquoise and lime green scraps.  Somehow, yellow made its way in the process too!

In Part Two, I shared how I make my improv blocks.  I made a stack of green and a stack of turquoise blocks.  Tiny bits of the yellow fabric went in each block.

I have been wanting to play with a two color backing for a bit now, so in Part Three, I shared how I used gray and white to set my blocks.  In no time, I had the quilt top finished.

 And because the sun popped out today, I was able to snap an outdoor photo of the finished quilt.  I find the gray and white background very playful.  

This will certainly be something I revisit in the future.

For the quilting, I chose to do a simple squared off swirl.

And for the back of the quilt, no turquoise and lime green fabric found in my stash was safe.  Whatever I could find went into this pieced back. It really cleared out some old fabric!

I like it!

And now for a few statistics:

Lap Quilt

Size: 55 x 68"

Large blocks trimmed to 8.5", Small blocks trimmed to 6.5"

Sashing and "stagger" pieces are all cut at 2.5"wide.

Remember, if you need some inspiration on how to use your scraps, the Scrap-A-Palooza gallery page has all the links to previous scrap quilts.

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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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Oh Scrap! : Scrap-A-Palooza Quilt #13 Part Two

Thanks to all who are linking up with Oh Scrap!  I have really enjoyed seeing the creative ways you are using your scraps.  There have been so many wonderful ideas that I have been inspired every week
- Please keep them coming!

Today, I am sharing the blocks I am making for this month's Scrap-A-Palooza quilt.  If you remember from Part One, I am working with my turquoise and lime scraps (okay, and a bit of yellow because I like how it looks).

For this block, I am essentially just making a "slab" of fabric scraps that I can trim up to a specific size.  I have decided to make 8.5" blocks and make lime blocks and turquoise blocks.  While I could keep the colors very monochromatic, I want to stretch the color wheel a bit and use varying shades of each color.

 I simply start with two scraps.  The secret to having nice flat blocks is I always clean cut the two pieces I am going to sew together.

Then I continue to sew scrap pieces together, building out the block as I go - Always ensuring I have a nice cleanly cut straight edge to sew together.

 Most of my scraps are rectangular or in long strings so using a log cabin type layout works great.  Once the block is larger than the size I want, I just use a square ruler to trim it down to 8.5".

You can use this method for odd shaped scraps too.  Once again, the key is to just always sew together two clean edges so your block stays nice and flat.

Just continue to build off the block as you go.

Once again, for my turquoise blocks, I am using lots of shades to give each block interest.

Once the block is big enough, I just trim it down to the proper size.

 The green blocks are all done and now it is time to sew more of the turquoise.  In a week or so, I will share with you the final plan on how I will use these scrappy blocks.

Now I hope you share what fun things you are doing with scraps this week.  Here are the details for linking up:

• This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
• You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
• If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
• If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
• This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
• Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!

<a href="http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54Z8EyMCoCg0j1sBoz_APBotiRQveh32vQoL2dCSO4nQFAi8du60IuUCQp3Hb18vGD8IrM0W6_vmuufImGcr4Pf2Ve2dNIWd5LbQJfyDTRjtcekT6coT7c2nSCOG_9dvjiKGVAnuTN70/s1600/Oh+Scrap+Button.jpg" alt="Quilting is more fun than Housework" width="125" height="125" /></a>

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!

An InLinkz Link-up




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 Linking up:

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If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar!

 Linking up:

Patchwork Times

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Freemotion by the River

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Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #13 Part One

I have been giving the first Scrap-A-Palooza quilt of 2015 a lot of thought.  I wanted to do something bright and very different from anything I have done in the past.  I also wanted to come up with an idea that could be used with "crumbs" (tiny odd shaped scraps) if someone had some they wanted to sew up this month.

I thought this month we would make some colorful fabric slabs and play around with a very modern layout.  And because it is always so gray this time of year in the Pacific Northwest, I want to use some fun, bright colors.

This quilt is probably going to have quite a bit of solid background, and because I have lots of white and ash gray, I wanted colors that would work well with both.  I was instantly drawn to turquoise and the limey green.  I also pulled some lemon yellows to add a small bit of interest to some of the blocks (I couldn't help myself).

I don't usually keep any scraps that are smaller than a 2.5" square but this quilt will work with any shape or size of scrap.

I will be back Sunday the 11th (which is the next Oh Scrap! link up by the way) to share how I make my slab or crazy blocks.  I hope you find some time to pull some scraps and sew along.

I made a rough draft of the quilt I hope to make.  You can see I don't get real fancy or detailed with my sketches - it is really just something to get me started.  Depending on the number of colors and the size blocks you make, your quilt might look very different.  

Feel free to sketch up some ideas of your own.

I'm off to sew!

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar! 

 

 

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