Purple Kool-Aid: Scrap Quilt Finish

Hello and happy Friday everyone!  This week's finish is another quick scrap quilt I made in response to my overwhelming selection of scraps. I try to think of my scraps as a gift rather than a burden :P

You may remember a couple of scrap quilts I made back in the Spring and posted tutorials along with. I'm going to do the same with this quilt toward the bottom of this post. I'm calling this one Purple Kool-Aid!

The quilt is made from purple, turquoise, blue, yellow, and grey scrap squares.  I cut squares to 3.5" and 6.5".  I lucked out with some great fussy-cut squares that make the quilt so fun! Girly, but not too girly.  The final quilt measured 36" x 48".

I wanted to try out a new free motion quilting design so I chose loops in alternating sizes that I've seen several places. I used a turquoise thread that worked really well with the variety of fabrics. I love this FMQ design because it was so fast!

I assembled the backing from some "ugly" fabrics I've had in my stash a while. I don't like to call any fabric ugly; I really think that every fabric would be perfect in some quilt.  But I am just not a fan of that purple, no idea what I was thinking when I bought it.

I machine stitched the binding down to both sides. I already had the perfect stripe in my stash!  This quilt is going in my "Emergency Baby Quilt" pile until it's needed.

As far as how to go about making a quilt like this for yourself, here's how to go about it:

Step 1, pick a color scheme and a medium-smallish size of square that you think you can easily cut lots of from your scraps.  For example, 6.5" would not have been a good size for me to pick because I rarely throw anything into the scraps bin until it gets to less than 5".  I chose 3.5" for this quilt.  Good sizes would be 2.5", 3.5", 4.5".

Step 2, halve, double, and triple your size to get your alternate size squares.  This is slightly tricky because you have to deal with the seam allowances, but you're just trying to figure out what other sizes of squares compliment the one you have.  The way to do this is to subtract the seam allowance, do the math (halve, double, etc) then add the seam allowance back.

So for example. If you picked 3.5" as your base size.  3.5" minus the seam allowance of 0.5" = 3" Divide that in half = 1.5"  Add back the 0.5" seam allowance = 2"  Four 2" (unfinished) squares sewn in a four patch measure 3.5", the same as your base size.  Likewise, one 6.5" block would be equal to four 3.5" blocks in a four patch and a 12.5" block would be equal to four 6.5" blocks.  I made my quilt with only 2 sizes of squares, but you could use as many sizes as you like.

Step 3, dig into your scraps and cut as many blocks in your base size as possible, (or until you get tired of cutting). Also be looking for larger scraps to cut your larger alternative sized blocks from and smaller ones to cut the smaller sizes from. I recommend not counting or trying to keep track of blocks at this stage. Just cut as many as you can and once you've laid out your quilt you can come back and cut a couple more if you need to.

Step 4, start assembling your blocks into two patches and then four patches. Combine four by four units made from smaller blocks with the bigger blocks to make larger and larger patches.  (Four 3.5" blocks = one 6.5" block, etc). I chose to assemble my blocks into 12.5" square patches and then assembled those into the quilt top.

Here is where, if you find that you are one block short of making a four patch from on particular size, you can just go cut one more.  Make the largest quilt you can (or make two smaller quilts) and you're done, no counting no measuring!

I'm linking up to Finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and the TGIFF OctoberQuest2 at Quilter in the Closet.


PS- if you are a scrap quilter go check out the 3rd Annual Scrap Challenge and link a finish by the 15th!

Short and Simple Design Wall Monday

It's a sleepy, slow Monday after working all weekend. (I borrowed my dad's pedometer and discovered that I get 14,000+ steps on a typical day!)

I am slowly turning this pile of strings into these converging corners blocks that every one has been making.  (Film in the Fridge tutorial here.) 

Fun, simple, and adorable.

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday.

Every (Scrap) is Sacred

If you're a Monty Python fan you know which song has been stuck in my head this week  :)

The crumb quilt I made based on Crazy Mom Quilts Bright Birch Trees pattern is done!  When I was making it I was thinking about Monty Python, which led to myths and mythical forests and, ultimately, this quilt found its name: Sherwood Forest.

The strings of color in this quilt are made from crumbs of saved fabric. They finish at 1" wide. These were all naturally produced scraps, I didn't cut a bunch of strips to make this.  The smallest scraps were 1.5" x 0.75"!  All these came out of my crumb jar, which was jam packed when I started. It's still full, somehow, but not all all stuffed after finishing this project. 

I love quilts like these because making and using them is like a trip down memory lane. These are all my scraps, so each one represents a past project.  I didn't fussy cut these, but I did luck into a few great cameos popping out of the fabrics, like these upside down sock monkeys.

See that strip above? The red piece at the top is from the Carpenter's Star quilt. The blue polka dot I got in a remnant bin and have used snippets of in many projects.  The teal was the back of my very first quilt. The green was in Counting Elephants.  The yellow with white sprinkles was sashing in the Seismic quilt.  More of that same red... The orange below that is from the kokopelli batik in the vertical borders of the Santa Fe wall hanging.  And that's just one short strip!!

The solid I used for this was Kona Fog, one of their new colors. I can't really describe it, and to be honest I'm still sort of split on whether I love it or not.  It's more like a light gray than a cream, and even looks a little purple in certain lights.  I was afraid when I first got it home that it would make the colors look muddy, but it worked out fine. Fog is an apt name for it, anyway.

For quilting I knew the pattern called for straight lines.  I decided to outline each scrappy chain and carry those lines all the way across the quilt. This made for dense, criss-crossing, vaguely straight and vertical lines.  The texture really adds to the whole "trees in the forest" look and I love the way it looks after a wash and dry.

I backed the quilt with the last of my 108" wide "Spot On" scraps, along with one block that didn't fit on the front and a strip of leftover sashing.  I stitched on a twill tape label just below the lonely block.

There was enough of the Spot On fabrics left to make a scrappy binding. As usual, I machine stitched it down to both sides.  I have to show off this mitered corner. It never works out that well!

I was aiming for (20) 15" blocks to make a 60"x80" quilt but ended up calling it quits with 17 blocks, 4x4 on the front and one on the back.  With 1" sashing between the blocks the quilt ended up just over 60" square.  It's a really nice lap size and I'm glad it wasn't any bigger because it was heavy, and difficult enough to quilt as it is!

This quilt will probably be given to a friend from work, but I haven't completely decided yet. I am just going to enjoy looking at it and reminiscing until then. 

I'm linking up to Finish if Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and the TGIFF OctoberQuest2 at Quilter in the Closet.

Weekend in the Sweat shop

One of my college roommates once told me that it sounded like I had my very own sweat shop operating in my room.  She was getting her doctorate in cultural anthropology and had been to the far reaches of the world, so she may very well have heard the humming of sewing machines in a sweat shop somewhere.

Anyway. The sewing machine has been running hard this weekend.  The crumb quilt is in the process of being quilted with many, many straight-ish lines.  I'm over half way done with quilting but won't get a chance to work on it again until later in the week.

One the design wall is a sweet little girly scrap quilt.  Last night I put away and organized all the scraps that had accumulated in my cach-all scrap basket and decided that I needed to do something with some of those scraps post-haste.  There are over (150) 3.5" squares in this quilt, but it made a pitifully small dent in my scrap piles.  Oh well, just have to make more quilts!  I am looking forward to layering this one and trying out some FMQ on it.

This is after the repair, I don't have a before picture

Finally I did some repair work.  I know we all love to quilt, but when someone else asks you to sew on a button or hem a pair of pants, you do it, because you know how much they'll appreciate it.  Today my dad asked me to repair his ferret's beloved squeaky monkey. As you can see, the monkey has been loved to pieces and his stuffing was coming out and getting stuck in the ferret's teeth.

I decided not to reattach the arm that was completely severed because the hole in the body was so gaping.  The other arm was hanging by a thread so I repaired it and secured it tightly.  I'm afraid the next time the monkey starts to hemorrhage fluff I may not be able to salvage him.  Most of the major seams are starting to go.  But for now, he's been stabilized and back in the cage with one happy ferret :)  Sewing: making the world a better place!

Linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Sierpinski Triangles

Today's finish is the Sierpinski Triangle wall-hanging. It's going to be a picture-heavy, light-on-words post :)

This was a quick afternoon project using some of the beautiful Hoffman fabrics batiks I won from the Pets on Quilts Show back in August. 

The entire quilt is batiks, even the white background is ivory tone on tone fabrics.  I love the elegant patterns in the white fabrics, but  I also love these adorable owls in one of the Hoffman fabrics.

I straight line quilted inside the boundaries of the triangle and stippled the background.

It's a small wall hanging, only 36" square or so, and currently hanging in our living room :)

Linking up to Finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Felted Soap {Wool Lovers Blog Hop}

Hello everyone! Today I am participating in the Wool Lovers Blog Hop hosted over at Pieced Brain. Be sure to visit her post and follow the links to all the other bloggers participating.

For my contribution to all things wool, I am going to show you how I make felted soap.  Felted soap is exactly what it sounds like: a bar of soap encased in a wrapping of wool felt.  The soap has its own built in wash cloth which shrinks along with the soap as you use it. When all the soap is gone you are left with a useful scrubbie!

The best thing about felted soap is how much longer your soap lasts.  Because the felt contains the soap you eliminate the problem of sloughing off huge chunks of softened soap.  Bars that I know from experience would normally last me no longer than 2 weeks last months when felted.

Step 1 to felting soap is to gather your supplies (and probably some curious cats).  You will need some wool roving (I found mine at Hobby Lobby), a bar of soap, an old stocking or panty hose, and a bowl of hot water (alternatively, you could just do this over the sink.)

Step 2 is to stretch and thin your wool roving to prepare it for wrapping around the soap.  Stretch it so you can just see through it.  You'll need at least 2 layers of thinned roving. Also, you can add strips of contrasting colors to make a more interesting design.

Step 3 is wrapping the roving around the soap. Wrap the layers, alternating the direction of the fibers, and tuck in the ends.  At this point it's not going to stay put very well, just wrap it and sort of hold it in place.  This is also a great time to add some final decoration to the outside of the bar with another color of roving.

Step 4: holding everything in place dunk the bar of soap in hot water and let it get soaked so the wool sticks to itself and the bar. Then, carefully stick the bar of soap down into the end of the stocking and tie a slip knot. The stocking will hold all the layers and colors in place while you felt.

Step 5 is to wash your hands! No really.  Scrub the bar as if your are washing your hands. The friction will help the soap to felt.  Dunk it back in the hot water every couple minutes to rinse and re-wet it.  As the roving felts it will become more firm and shrink down onto the soap. It usually takes me less than 10 minutes. When it is ready you will feel the roving become more taut and stop moving around.  Go for a couple more minutes after that, then rinse and remove the soap from the stocking.

Step 6 is to set the soap in the sun for a couple hours and let it dry.  Once it dries it is ready to use.  Each time you finish using the soap rinse it and set in a well draining place.

Enjoy!  And be sure to check out the rest of the bloggers in the Wool Lovers Blog Hop today:

A Quilt and a Prayer

Rosebuds Cottage

By the Bay Needleart

Sugarlane Designs

Sheila's Quilt World

Pieced Brain

Hump Day

I am still scrappy-stringing along on my crumbs quilt.  This is the one I am basing on a pattern by Crazy Mom Quilts.

I've finished a dozen blocks so far (aiming for 20). I just sewed together my third looooong crumb string. Hopefully this will be enough to finish out the quilt.

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. 

PS- Remember, this week is the Wool Lovers Blog Hop at Pieced Brain and I'll have a wooly post tomorrow (Thursday) about making your own felted soap!