Even More Scrap Quilting

Hi all!

I am seriously on a roll using up scraps lately and it really makes me happy :-) Maybe 2014 will be the year of de-stashing and using up for me.  Wishful thinking probably but I can always dream right?

I have been making great progress with my Scrappy Trips quilt blocks and it has made a serious impact on my 2.5" strip bin.  I am pretty happy with the way that it has been turning out.

 

What do you think?  I think it will make a great bed quilt that can get used and washed a million times.

I also plan on doing the Planet Patchwork New Years Day Mystery Quilt.  I did this a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.  If you haven't heard of it before the clues are released every couple of hours and you sew along with them and by the end of New Years Day you have a quilt top!  This year the pattern is scrappy so I jumped at doing this one as well.  Here is the link if you're interested in sewing along with me :-D

The pattern is written for rotary cutting but I converted it to die-cutting.  The top required just 3 dies: the 2.5" square die, the 2" finished HST die and the 6" finished HST die if you're interested in die cutting the mystery quilt too.  I was absolutely thrilled that I was able to use even more of the strips in my 2.5" strip bin and some random large pieces of fabric for the larger HST.

 

Everything is sorted and ready to go for New Years Day!!

I also made another purchase for my quilting frame.  I have tried to do pantographs; but, frankly, they aren't very fun and every little slip means frog-stitching - yuck!  i really wanted to be able to do some patterns like Baptist Fans without marking (because I don't like marking).  So, I did some research and found the Circle Lord grooved board templates.  They were an affordable way to do all-over designs without splurging for robotics.

 

They sit on the back of the machine, on the pantograph shelf, and a stylus drops down into the groove.  I played with it yesterday and I really liked the way that it made these patterns easy and without marking.  Since I am making so many scrap quilts lately I wanted to be able to quilt them in an overall design that would enhance the quilt without making it too busy.  I also wanted the ability to quilt these utility quilts quickly and easily without spending a million hours custom quilting them.  I chose 2 boards the Fan Clam (in the picture) since it has two different designs on one board and Swirls since it is so functional.  Now I can get quilting a couple of my scrap quilt tops that are sitting in my quilting closet.  I plan on using the Baptist Fans on my fall log cabin and maybe Swirls on my leaders and enders project.  So, what do you think?

Are you making any scrap projects this year?