the subtle quilt

Welcome to finish up Friday AND the final day of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour. I appreciate all of the kind comments that were left along the way. It's been fun to finally show the quilts I worked so hard on behind the scenes for months on end. (Secret sewing is not easy!)

Today my friend Amy, of Diary of a Quilter, is sharing her beautiful take on the subtle quilt. Amy and I have been long time blog friends and we've even been quilt market roommates a time or two. I had to chuckle when she picked the subtle quilt, because it seemed like it would be right up her alley. It's fun to see the quilt sewn up in a different color way, too! She's giving away a copy of the book, so be sure to visit her here.

There's so much I could say about this quilt, I don't even know where to start. It's definitely a favorite! In a lot of ways this quilt reminds me of my grandmother. She was a simple, hard-working lady who loved the color red. She was definitely a make-do-and-mend kind of woman. This quilt is an homage to her.

This quilt started out with the idea of making a scrappy Irish chain quilt, but completely scrappy, not focusing on just one color for the chain. This is really embarrassing, but this was the start....

It was a very rocky start, I might add, but I liked the idea too much to let it go. In the book, I shared the process of how I got from the photo, above, to the finished quilt, below. I thought it was important to include a section in the book about what to do when things AREN'T working. (Because I know that that's my reality a lot of times. ha!) Sometimes it's quite a process to get from the initial idea to the finished quilt.... but it's always worth it!

I used up a LOT of scraps for this quilt. Especially my low volume stash. I love that there is so much variety in the patchwork. One could look at it for hours. All of the chain blocks are red and white polka dots. A classic and a favorite. I have a feeling that this quilt will age very well.

Steffani did the beautiful quilting on this one, as well. I chose a simple daisy pattern, which finishes it off quite nicely.

This quilt is a generous twin size...66" x 90", but it would be easy to adapt to almost any size.

 

Today, I'm going to do a giveaway as well! I'm going to be giving away two copies of my new book! One winner, within the US, will receive a hard copy of No Scrap Left Behind. One winner, outside the US, will win a digital copy of the book. If you'd like to win, please leave me a comment in this post. In your comment, I'd love to hear what your favorite color (or combination) is at the moment. Be sure to include whether you are in the US or not, as well as your email address, so I can contact you in case you win. Thank you SO MUCH for celebrating my book release with me. I sure appreciate it!

 

edited to add: the giveaway is now closed. thanks to all who entered!

 

Ok, now it's time to link up your finishes for the week! Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday!

 

All Sizes

Welcome to day 9 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour. (Only one more day left!) Today's stop is Debbie of A Quilter's Table. Debbie is a very prolific quilter and from my vantage point, fearless. I love that she is willing to try a lot of different techniques. Her work always inspires me! Debbie is sharing the pillow that she made based on the All Sizes quilt. I hope you go check out her beautiful project and photos here.

I've made the all sizes quilt twice. The first version is bright and colorful, and is featured in the book. This quilt has been on loan to the publisher, so it's been hanging in the C&T booth at various quilt shows around the country. (It was hanging up at Quilt Con, which was fun to see.)

For that reason, and because I thought it would be fun to have the quilt made up in a completely different color way, I made the bruiser quilt. Same pattern, totally different look. I never get tired of seeing the variety that can come from a single pattern! I love the masculine feel of the bruiser quilt. Much like the quilt I shared yesterday, I pieced this quilt a little at a time. I would sew HST blocks in sets of 10, 20 or 50. Press, trim, add to the design wall. Repeat. Eventually the quilt gets finished!

Many thanks to the friends who have shared their not-so-bright scraps with me, that made this quilt possible. :)

chain of diamonds

Welcome to day 8 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour! Cheryl, my good friend (and co-author of Sunday Morning Quilts!) is showing her version of the chain of diamonds quilt today. She made her quilt top two weeks! That's pretty intense, considering that there are 1709 seams in the quilt. (She counted them, not me. Ha!) I love that she used some of her Tag fabric in her quilt and that she put her own twist on the pattern. That's the way it should be! Her post made me teary-eyed in the best way. Please be sure to visit Cheryl and check out her amazing quilt! Of course, she is giving away a copy of the book, too.

This is one of the more intense quilts from the book, but I have to say that it was totally worth it! This is also the smallest quilt in the book, finishing at 50" x 60", which is still an appropriate lap size quilt. I wanted ALL of these quilts to be something that I could snuggle under!

This quilt utilizes the binding triangles... you know, the triangles that are cut off after mitering strips of binding together. (You can go ahead and groan.... I'm used to it!) I used a variety of whites and creams from the scrap basket for the background pieces, because I wanted this to be a true scrap quilt.

I pieced this quilt a little bit at a time. After pressing the blocks, I piled them in a basket and trimmed them in the evenings or whenever I had a spare moment. It helped to break down the tasks into little, bite-sized pieces. As the blocks were completed, I put them up on a design wall so I could see my progress. As the quilt grew, the motivation to keep going increased. (That is a very good thing!) It also helped me to see what colors or values that I needed to add.



If the quilt is a little too intense for your liking, this pattern would make a great throw pillow. The blocks finish at 2", so you wouldn't even need to scale down the pattern at all. Bonus!

june quilt

Welcome to day 6 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour! Today my sweet friend, Katherine, who has been a long time blog friend, is sharing her take on the June quilt pattern. Katherine was gracious enough to pattern test for me and I love her final quilt! It's so bright and happy. She used a precious fabric from her stash for the background blocks as a starting point and pulled fabrics from her stash for the rest of the quilt. (See, these quilts aren't limited to scraps ONLY!) :) The results are AMAZING! She did a wonderful job on the quilting, as well. I hope you go check it out here. Thanks for sharing your beautiful quilt, Katherine!

When making scrappy quilts, it's really easy to default to a light background, like white or cream or white with red polka dots. I know that I do! This background was a bold choice, but I love it! I picked it out in the month of June, when my backyard was a similar brilliant green color. I have no doubt that it influenced my decision.

I made this quilt large... it's 85" square and I intended for it to be used for picnics. It's large enough to make a quilt fort on rainy day, too!

These string blocks are a great project to work on when you don't feel like thinking too much. In fact, I had started piecing the strings together before I had a fully formed plan for them. I was happy to have a stack of them ready to go when I made my final decisions on the layout.

When it came to choose a binding for this quilt, I had quite a time deciding what to use. I felt like I had painted myself into a corner! I usually default to some sort of red, but that didn't work so well with the green background. I auditioned several fabrics before I settled on this sunny yellow binding. I think it finishes it off nicely.

I sent it to Steffani for quilting and she did a great job on it!

 

I've been thinking about hosting a quilt along based on this quilt in the month of June. (That's next month already!) If you'd be interested in joining me, please let me know.

Happy Monday to you!

friday mash up

Hello, hello! Today's post is going to be a mash up of finish it up Friday AND day 5 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour. I hope that you were able to finish more than I managed to this week!

My friend, Erin, of Why Not Sew, is the featured stop on the blog tour today. If you aren't familiar with Erin, you really need to go check out her work. She makes beautiful things and she is as sweet as can be! She is sharing the ADORABLE pillow inspired by the mini nines quilt. I hope you go check it out here and enter her giveaway. Thanks so much for following along with the celebration of the book release. I sure appreciate it!

For finish it up Friday today, I had the grandiose idea that I would make a whole passel of mini nine pincushions. Like, 9 of them. (Are you laughing yet?) Late last night, reality set in, as it always does, and I only got the centers pieced. Those blocks are 2", unfinished. Eventually, they will grow up to be finished pincushions....at least that's the hope. :) Although, if I could figure out a way to piece them into a circle, that would be pretty cute, too!

I did finish one lonely little pincushion and I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway to wrap up the week, since this is a celebration, after all. I will be giving away this pincushion....

....and a bundle of scraps, tailored to your tastes. (That is, within reason and within the constraints of my scrap stash.) If you'd like to win a scrap bundle and the pincushion, please leave a comment in this post. In your post, I'd love to hear about your plans for the weekend. (We will be celebrating my baby girl turning 11! Sniff, sniff!) The giveaway for the scraps and pincushion is for US residents only. However, if you are a resident outside of the US, you are eligible to win a digital copy of my book. I will pick a winner for each, so in your comment, if you could please include if you live in or outside the US, that would be most helpful. Thank you!

edited to add: the giveaway is now closed. thanks to all who entered! the winners are posted here.

If you have a finish to share this week, it's time to link up! Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

No Scrap Left Behind blog tour

Today I'm excited to kick off a blog tour to celebrate my new book, No Scrap Left Behind! I've asked 10 talented ladies to join me in a celebration of SCRAPS! It's no secret that I find great enjoyment in transforming scraps into beautiful and useful finished objects. I sincerely hope that this blog tour (and book, of course!) inspires you to not only save your scraps, but to actually use them!

As a part of the tour, I asked everyone to share their scrap sorting/storing methods OR their favorite tips/tricks when it comes scraps. (You can see mine here.) These lovely ladies are sewing up some of the quilts and projects from the book, too! Personally, I am looking forward to seeing how others put their own spin on the patterns. I'm sure it will be very inspiring!

 

Here is the schedule so you can follow along:

Monday, April 24th Mary Kolb

Tuesday, April 25, Lee Monroe

Wednesday, April 26, Sandi Hazlewood

Thursday, April 27, Bernie Kringel

Friday, April 28, Erin Cox

 

Monday, May 1, Katherine Greaves

Tuesday, May 2, Tracy Mooney

Wednesday, May 3, Cheryl Arkison

Thursday, May 4, Debbie Jeske

Friday, May 5, Amy Smart
 

Of course there will be prizes, too! At each stop along the way, a copy of No Scrap Left Behind will be given away. If you are a winner and you live with in the US, you will receive a hard copy of the book. If you live outside the US, you will receive a digital copy of the book. Each participant in the blog tour will choose the length of time that their giveaway is open for entries.

 

Starting things off, is my dear friend, Mary, who is sharing the pincushions that she made from the book. She was my pattern tester for all of the pincushions and she did a great job on every single one. She was also a huge help to me behind the scenes. Last January, when it was time to send the quilts to California for photography, she came over and helped me de-thread, fold, tag and package up the quilts for shipping. She was a lifesaver! It was a HUGE undertaking that was so much easier thanks to the help of a friend. Be sure to check out her work here and enter on her blog to win a free book!

It is no surprise that I LOVE pincushions, so it was only natural to include patterns for several in the book. As much as I love big quilts made from small scraps, I also love small projects made from small scraps!

I also love polka dots, so I used all sorts of them for this pillow pincushion. This is a HUGE pincushion, but I love it because it's harder to lose under piles of fabric. (I speak from experience!)

This pincushion was inspired by my bright birch trees quilt pattern. I shrunk down the block into pincushion size, because we all know that tiny=cute!

This one is more of a needle sorter than a pincushion, but it is helpful for differentiating needles that are sharp and still suitable for sewing through fabric from those needles that have been used for sewing through paper and may be slightly dull, but still usable. I love this one to bits!

There are templates included in the book for making the word panels... you an either embroider them by hand or use free motion quilting. I've included printed and cursive words, or your can use your own hand writing, not mine. :)

And finally, I made a few skinny pinnie pincushions--perfect for placing right in front of the sewing machine. These are simple and straightforward, but easy to customize. The possibilities are truly endless.

Alright, that's enough for today! Now it's time to go sew something scrappy. Happy Monday to you!