A Quilt Top in Two Acts

 The quilt top I started and shared in my Scrap Happy Day post has been complete for over a week now. Life has been happening, as it does, and frankly, I forgot about posting anything. Let me show you what I've done.

I began with these pieces. The panel was new but the smaller bits were fussy-cut from remnants of previous projects.

The little star block on the lower right hand side measured five inches. The request was for a quilt about 48" wide and 75-80" long. I only needed to add about seven inches to each side to achieve that width. The first thing I did was to frame up the fussy cuts. A few random strips had to be inserted to bring the length up to where it needed to be. I'd purchased a yard of an orange print overlaid with black fililgree at some point that turned out to be perfect to fill in between the central panel and the sides. That completed the upper two-thirds of the quilt top.

The colors in the central panel and the sashing strips are a closer match in person than the photograph depicts.

 

I'd started the lower portion of the quilt top with the two skeleton panels. They only needed some framing in black. The strip above it was made of more fussy-cut bits pieced log cabin style.

That made up the lower third of the quilt top. And this is the assembled flimsy:

 I think it came together out of an abundance of disparate parts pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Scrap Happy Day in February

If you want to see a truly scrappy project - a quilt in this case - check out my previous post. 😊 The project I'm sharing in this post has begun with scraps but will be supplemented with new fabrics before it's complete. 

I had a couple of panels left over from making this quilt:

 And there were still bits from my Macabre Medallion quilt from 2017 (whose end product photo I can't seem to find) in the stash. James made a request for a specific size quilt. While he's certainly capable of making a quilt on his own he's not inclined to do so. He enjoys enhancing images in quilts with quilting though. So I decided to see what I could do with the leftover panels and pieces. 

I began with two skeleton panels. Of course they weren't exactly the same size.

I framed them up to the width we're shooting for and brought them up to equal heights with strips of a lovely black on black print I had on hand. There were a few fussy cut patches from my MM quilt; I built them up log cabin style to extend the "shelf" in the middle of the upper row. If you double click on the photo you should be able to see that more clearly. It was a piece I received in a scrap bag. I evened that row out with more leftover strips from previous projects. 

And now it's time build the upper two-thirds of the quilt. I have these fussy cut pieces to work with and some other odd bits. Not enough to go the distance however.

 

So, I have purchased another large panel (on clearance - does that count as scrap? 😉). This is the current proposed layout:

All I have to do now is frame up the fussy cuts and assemble the sections. While I'm doing that, you can check out how others are utilizing their scrap materials by clicking on the links below. Not everyone on the list is a quilt maker, you may be surprised by what you find. The link party is hosted by Kate and Gun on the 15th of every month. Participants live all around the world, which makes the journey even more interesting. If you'd like to participate just leave a comment with Kate or Gun. This month we're welcoming Karrin to the party! 😊

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jill, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Edith
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol,
Preeti, Debbierose, Nóilin, Viv and Karrin

Happy 9 Patches

 In my ongoing effort to reduce inventory here in The Magpie's Nest I pulled out all the blocks that would finish at nine inches. 

As you can see (top to bottom), there were Hole in the Barn Door blocks, Shoo-fly blocks, a few 9Patch blocks, and liberated or wonky stars. But not enough that I felt I could do anything useful with what I had. The obvious solution was to make more blocks of one sort or another. My tin of 3.5" scrap squares has been in danger of overflowing onto the floor for some time so I decided to make more 9Patch blocks. I was able to make so many that I had enough for a scrappy 9P quilt!

This flimsy at this stage would finish at 54" square. I chose to add a 3" border all the way around, bringing the top up to 60" square.

I was happy to find a use for this print that I love but that hadn't yet found a home. I think it ties everything together well. I was also a bit surprised to see how many other purples there were in the scrap blocks!

There were quite a number of juvenile/novelty prints in my scrap tin. They quickly became the focus of my efforts when choosing the patches for each block.

There are still plenty of 3.5" squares to use in another project or other blocks but at least I've made room for some new additions. And saved myself the task of tidying up the floor after a scrapalanche. 😉

I tried to build a back for this quilt out of yardage on hand. That didn't go so well. Why do I find it so easy to make blocks and build quilt tops but have such a struggle with creating the back for a quilt out of assorted pieces of yardage?! In the end I purchased a wide back in more purple. I figure this will go to a child somewhere, so I wanted to avoid lighter colors that would show dirt and wear more quickly. I expect there will be enough of the backing fabric to also bind the quilt. No doubt there will also be plenty of leftovers to cut into more scrap patches!

MAP for January

 When I set up my Monthly Art Project (MAP) I expected to make individual small projects, one a month. So far I've just kept adding to the scroll I began at the end of last year. I laid a strip of Tim Holtz's Eclectic Elements fabric over batting and have been hand stitching to secure and embellish the two layers. The red spiral was January's MAP element. I thought I would be adding the parrot stamp button from my box of elements in February.

Instead, I found myself stitching on the skeleton chart. And a very special piece of old lace.

I wish it were easier to photograph this long piece. You can see how it began in this post. I've done more stitching on the first section.

Now it's time to be thinking about what I might do in February. Add something more from the box of goodies or make an independent piece? Time will tell. 😉

Three Quilts and a Flimsy

 I've been having issues with Blogger the past few days. You'd have been seeing these results sooner otherwise! 

You've seen all of these quilts previously but they have now been bound and laundered and are ready to head out of The Nest. First up, a quilt begun for a Scrap Happy Day effort, Scrappy Strips:

This was quilted by James with a neon green thread in a meandering path. It finished at 58" x 76 inches.

Next up is the yellow and black quilt. It finished at roughly 60" square.

James quilted with a large, open scroll in yellow thread.

The third quilt also finished at just under 60" square.

This one gave James the opportunity to do some outline quilting in the panels. That made for a nice change of pace for him. 😊

Can you even tell he outlined the birds on a branch?

 And the flimsy? It's the quilt I started for Scrap Happy Day this month. You may recall that I'd built seven rows from my Parts Department and just needed to sash them. That turned out to be a bit more challenging than I expected but I got there in the end. 

I was determined to use more scraps for the sashing. There were plenty, it was just the math that threw me off at times. (I tried to calculate strip lengths ahead of time. Turns out that didn't work so well.) There are top and bottom borders too, so the finished quilt will be about 60 by 80 inches. 

The completed quilts will eventually head to Europe to be distributed among refugees from Ukraine. The Parts Dept. Quilt will probably stay local, for a youth in foster care. ❤️