– – – Scrap Quilt Challenge – – – – Persimon Dreams

– – – Scrap Quilt Challenge – – – – Persimon Dreams

So many months ago, Kim at Persimon Dreams asked if I would like to drop by her blog and talk a little bit about my favorite kind of quilting — SCRAP Quilting!!  in her Scrap Quilt Challenge 2016 Designer Showcase. Well I needed two reminders and even then I was late to get this post prepared, so please excuse any typos, or sentences that sound completely sleep deprived.

 

Talking about Scrap Quilting is easy for me as it is  my favorite way to design quilts. I often say more the merrier when discussing fabric choices in my patterns. Today I will be featuring two of my favorite patterns and then at the end I have a free PDF of a fun easy scrappy block for you to download and make 200 blocks or so!! Maybe even enter it in Kim’s Scrap Quilt Challenge!

 

The first pattern is Painted Forest. This is by far my most popular pattern so far!  I have taught this numerous times in various venues, and I just love seeing all of the versions of it! A funny story about this is when a few years back, I was teaching this and a student in a class that was going on next to my class came up and said “Oh, I love how you were able to take all of these ugly fabrics and make such a beautiful quilt!”  That cracked me because to me, all of these prints were some of my absolute favorites and I was happy to showcase them all together!

 

 

This next quilt is old and new at the same time. I could not think of a name for it at all when I first created it. My friend Sara named it Split Pea Soup for the colors, a name that I thought was perfect for it! This was my second quilt that was published in a magazine, Fons and Porter’s Easy Quilts October 2009. I just republished it as a single pattern. Currently it is available here at the Blue Nickel as downloadable PDF in the shop. I have re-named it Soup of the Day because I didn’t want people limited to the colors in the original. I will have another post coming up just about this quilt with some sample blocks in other colors. A very fun and very scrappy quilt that works well with the “control” of a set color limitation.

 

 

So I don’t know about you, but I seldom have a “plan” when it comes to fabric shopping. I usually am just adding to my fabric “palette” of textile “paints.”   Below is a sample of a little stack that I picked up at Circa 15 Fabric Studio in Kirkland, Washington, not too far from home.  I just picked up stuff that I found interesting. It’s funny, Red really is my favorite color…..but I didn’t buy anything with even any Red in it!  🙂  And yes, I usually capitalize color names – they are like personal friends, right?

 

 

Kim asked me in my mini interview with her about my scrap organization.  I think the two following photos pretty much summarize my plan. The first photo is a pile that sits by my sewing machine and I just improv stitch pieces together between other chain piecing for actual patterns. One day I will have a very nice, VERY Scrappy, very improv quilt from them!  The second photo is a drawer that started as a drawer organized by color……and well….. not so much anymore.

 

 

 

Now here’s the fun little block I created just for this post.  I had written down “Hen and Chicks” in my original notes for a pattern to make up for this post back in January or so. I have no idea what my original plan was. But this somewhat came from that one little phrase. As it developed,  I decided there was something fishy about this block. Look through the rotations in the following pictures and you will see what happened to the Hen and Chicks.

 

    

 

When I put the block on point at 45 degree angle, voila! Scrappy Fishes!   Click here for a free downloadable PDF of the the Something Fishy block and make as many as you want. I made these two blocks in a quick hurry Saturday night and they were quite fun to do.  (and yes all of my points aren’t perfect, and I am perfectly okay with that.)

The lower block is not as “scrappy” as all of its parts are from one line of fabric. Pretty, but not as scrappy. I will tell you more about that line in a future post. It’s a very fun line from Australia!

 

 

That’s it for today, folks!  Maybe you will make a whole bunch of Scrappy Fishy Blocks for Kim’s Scrap Challenge. Check out her site for the details on it. It sounds like fun!!

 

Keep Sewing,  Keep Happy,

 

Scott