I May Have A Scrap Problem... Chasing A Squirrel!

Hi, all!

Does it seem to anyone else that there have been some AMAZING scrap quilts on Instagram lately?  I guess people being shut in with only the supplies on hand has caused an upsurge in scrappy quilting, and I for one am loving it!  So much inspiration - which I'm going to share first - and then you can see what I'm working on at the end.  So let's get started!

Since it's the only pillow in the bunch, I'll start with Tracy's beautiful pillow made with leftover HSTs!

And then we'll go for the psychotically tiny with this super-tiny mini quilt.  I'm guessing those squares are about 1/2" across?  And it looks like most of them are fussy cut!

The next three quilts are all built on squares!  And each one, though simple, is stunning....

Feeling like you need to whack something?  Well, here are quilts made with "whacked" blocks...

 

 Sometimes, no matter how many scrappy quilts you make, you just can't get through all the scraps - but it's ok because you know there will be more beauties like these...

I love Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts (even though I've never done one myself) and this Wild and Goosey is beautiful!

 And you can't beat a rainbow, can you? 

And here's the photo that  inspired my current sewing project....

This little quilt is made with a technique called kawandi quilting, and I found a very interesting tutorial for doing one on Piece, Love and Happiness that used machine sewing rather than the traditional hand stitching.

In the tutorial, she talked about turning under the edges of each square.  I tried that - honestly I did! - but realized that (a) I wasn't going to be able to get enough done in time to take any good pictures for this post, and (b) it was going to drive me nuts!  So I grabbed my little used but very useful pinking rotary cutter and went to work whacking those squares!

Kawandi quilts are worked from the outside in, so I prepared a backing and batting, and choosing four fairly large pieces, set the corners of my piece.  I used glue stick to temporarily adhere the pieces to the batting (hooray for kids craft supplies!)

I kept cutting scrappy pieces out of my scrap basket, layering them over each other and working from the corners around the edges and towards the center.

It was fun to just keep adding little squares, trying to balance the colors and make it interesting.

And here's what I ended up with!  My next step will be to add quilting lines to secure all this to the batting and backing.  The writer of the tutorial did hers in a square spiral, going from outside to the center.  Because my piece centers a little off-center, I may do that from a point a little off center, working from the inside out.  Or I may do horizontal or vertical close straight-line quilting, mixing in a little matchstick quilting.  Oh the possibilities!  I'll dream about it tonight and get back to it tomorrow....  Updates on the blog soon!

Wish me luck as today I will be working in the quilt room at church, trying to get it cleaned up and safe for us to start meeting again in the fall.  At the moment it is a hot mess - fabric donations that need to be stored away, projects in various stages of progress lying around everywhere, and everyone's machines so close together that we are sitting elbow to elbow.  Lots of changes to be made, and it's going to take a lot of elbow grease!  Fortunately there will be several of us working, and that is good too, because it means more input on how to make it safe and comfortable.  Have any of you had a similar situation?  How have you dealt with it?  I'm up for any suggestions!

I hope you've found some inspiration in today's post - something that makes you want to jump into your scraps and play!  

Hugs!

Sarah