Sometimes I feel like these little quilts design themselves. They certainly have a way of telling me what to do, or more often what NOT to do.I have a hard time cutting into large pieces of fabric when I make quilts. I love to use my scraps. Last September I cut a large pile of two and a half inch strips from my collection of 1930's reproduction fabrics. I have been moving them from place to place in my sewing room and decided it was time to start something from them. The May/June challenge for the Doll Quilt Challenge group was the exquisite block. Yeah, I had to do it. I wanted to try something a little different from the others I have made. I used the print fabrics for the foundation squares and a solid for the triangles. I was hoping I would get a baby quilt out of this.So, P and I worked on cutting squares off the strips. As I cut three or four squares from each strip P collected them and made a pile on the floor. When finished, I asked her to put the pile next to the sewing machine so they would be ready when we had time to sew them.Well, a day or so later I sat at the machine with some strips of the purple fabric to cut into triangles as I sewed. Worked until each square had the two triangles sewn to them. I pressed them, trimmed them and laid them out. It was a small quilt. Just enough for a doll quilt. I guess those squares were just a bit to small to try and make a baby quilt. I didn't want to cut more. I was ready to sew them together.
When pressing the finished top I noticed a pile of squares on P's ironing board!"P, why are these squares of fabric over here?""Those are mine."So, that explains the small quilt. Moving on.I found the PERFECT thread for quilting in my thread drawer. I found this beautiful hand dyed perle cotton by Melody Johnson. I bought it years ago when she spoke at our local quilt guild.
I tried hand quilting in the centers of the squares but the thread was not visible. Then I tried machine quilting. That just made the whole thing look muddy. I picked that out too. That thread needed to be on the solid fabric. I just couldn't make that work. I ended up quilting in the ditch. I like the clear look of the fabric that way. I am, however, eager to use that thread on something now.Here it is. The scrap quilt not made from scraps. 18.5 x 22.5 inches.
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