Despite traveling and time spent working at the Western Idaho Fair, I was rather productive this year. I completed 13 regular quilts, 1 small wall-hanging, 1 big bag, 1 pillow, 1 placemat, 1 kitty quilt, and 10 doll quilts. Oh, and I completed 4 quilt tops (they are not completed quilts).
What I find interesting is that
out of 13 regular quilts, 7 of them were made from scraps. I have so much
lovely fabric, but I keep using the scraps to make the majority of my
quilts. I have done a couple things, in 2022, that are not typical of me:
1) I actually bought and used a pattern to make a quilt; 2) I watched a couple
of YouTube videos about quilting, specifically about using scraps. Karen
Brown has a YouTube Channel, and she did a tutorial about using the
"after-quilt." Every quilt you make has an after-quilt.
When you make a lot of quilts, you have a lot of after-quilt fabric scraps.
I find myself, once again, in a
fabric purchasing moratorium. I have tons of lovely fabric. I do
not need more. In 2023, I am resolved to use my lovely new fabrics, that
I have purchased, but not used. I am going to let the scraps stack up!
Of the four quilt tops, that I
made, but do not have backs and have not been quilted, three of them are made
from scraps. Let me tell you about the latest one.
Teresa and I made "Black and White Mostly" quilts in 2018. We had collected black and white fabrics for three years before we ever got started on our quilt tops. We each made one. To use up some of the yardage we bought, I pieced the backs from black and white fabrics. Still there is yardage in my cabinet from this project, which is perfectly usable in future projects. However, there is also a pile of scraps from two quilts: the after-quilts of two quilts.
I pulled out this black and white
pile of scraps and decided to use it all up and get it out of my quilt
room. I have found this activity to be enjoyable, but futile, in the past
and now. I made a 55" X 68 1/2" quilt, and still had a pile
left over. I guess that is to be expected, if the original pile was scraps
from two quilts. So, I am going to use the after pile, to make the
backing for the quilt top I constructed.
Following is a video, I made, showing how to use your pile of scraps (aka the after-quilt) to make a whole new quilt.
I love how the quilt top came out. I really hope you like my video. I am a novice in the video department.
I started by sorting the scraps into piles by size and shape. Then just started sewing them together. Then, I decided I could experiment with new block ideas as I go. One of Karen Brown's videos, was about "How to Make an Ugly Quilt". None of my big chunks were as big as hers: 14" X 14", so I found three darks and three lights that were the biggest of my pieces. The smallest of the six determined the size I would make my squares. It was 11 1/2 inches wide, so I cut my six squares to 11 1/2" X 11 1/2". When I finished, they were 9 inches square. You have to layer them dark, light, dark, light, then cut through all the layers on a diagonal. Then shuffle, cut again, shuffle and turn sideways, and repeat. You must watch Karen Browns's video, at Just Get It Done Quilts to believe how amazing this process of making quilt blocks is.
I will talk more about this quilt when it is actually all quilted and complete. See you next year!
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