A Winter Quilt

On this "Family Day" holiday,  I am sewing my latest scrap quilt.

quilt as you go assembly

I started it a while ago. I made it to show as an example during a scrap class I taught last November. It is a variation of the pattern I was teaching.

Heart fabrics for February's Valentines,
a bit of a Paris fabric since I was there in December,
some yellow for the sun I miss so,
fabric printed with words for all the emails
 I write to my Italian friends while I am here in Toronto,
a Christmas fabric.

Panels hanging on my design wall.
Even though the fabric reads as white,
there are so many colours!

Anyway, this quilt is about the snowy days of winter.

This is the binding fabric I bought.
It works nicely with the back blues.
The 1/2 inch that will show on the front
will add a gentle punch.

I did embroider a few cypress trees ....from Italy.

I should be done at the end of the week so I will post again to show you the finished product. I like this quilt.

Using Fabric Scraps

I love making scrap quilts.

When I teach, I impart the tricks I have learned over the years of experimenting with scraps to the students so they too can make a successful scrap quilt.

But that knowledge is compartmentalized ....in the quilt drawer. Whoever thought I could do the same with yarn!!

I have lots of 20 gram bits after making socks for the past years. Like with fabric, I just didn't want to throw those 'valuable' bits out. I also didn't want to do what many quilters do. That is bring a small piece of fabric (yarn) to the quilt store and buy $200 worth of fabric (yarn) to 'match' it so they can use their scraps! Makes no sense.

So I applied my knowledge of making scrap quilts and what do you know? It worked!

Medium values

I divided the yarn bits into the same VALUE groups- like I do with fabric.

This is the dark value group.
Yes, even the pink ball

Even though there are many values in this ball
 there are many strands that are dark.
I notice that the purple and blue strands are
repeated in the other balls.
I see the orange is light but as a colour
it is complimentary to blue.
There is some orange in another ball in the group.
The purple is visible is several balls. It will work.

I am knitting two rounds with each colour therefore spreading the colours out, exactly how I would piece a scrap quilt. My hand knit socks are looking great!!

Keep in mind that quilter's cotton keeps going up in price. Make an effort to use what you have. It is really rewarding coming up with a solution!!