Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Scrappy Charm Square Quilt

I needed to do some serious scrap busting and I knew I had enough to make a whole quilt. Truth be told I could probably make a couple more of these...


I had about 15 squares left over from various charm packs, and the rest I cut from scraps in my basket. While the quilters amongst you will say 'pffft, bigger than 5 inches is NOT a scrap', remember that many of these have come from fabrics used for garment sewing projects. Quilting is a relatively new thing for me, and sewing clothes always leaves you with bigger and odd shapes pieces of fabric.


It was deliberate to use as many fabrics as possible - I wanted this quilt to have really random scrappy feel - no pattern or colour palette, just a jumble of colour. I think the most repeated fabric has 4 squares.


It probably sounds a bit weird and obsessive to admit this...but I could name almost every fabric in the quilt or could tell you which previous project I have made using that fabric. I am a sewing nerd.

Quilting was pretty straightforward - diagonal lines through every square. I used grey thread which I was so pleased with - it was a great colour to blend through all the different fabrics - not as stark through some of the darker fabrics as white would have been.


I used white in the bobbin as it worked better with the backing fabric - this awesome large scale print from Ikea. Ikea fabrics are on quite wide rolls making them ideal for quilt backs.


To keep with the scrappy theme I made the binding out of scraps of solids I had in my stash. This quilt now lives over the back of our sofa and is very popular with everyone to cuddle under while watching a movie! I'll have to make some more so everyone can have one!

18 comments:

  1. oh wow - I just love this. It is scrappy but the blend of fabrics works so well together. Nice to be able to make a quilt without too much planning going into it :-)

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  2. "I could name almost every fabric in the quilt or could tell you which previous project I have made using that fabric"

    Not a nerd! I think that's normal (either that, or I'm a nerd too!) I love seeing fabrics re-appear from quilt to quilt. My first quilt was only about a year and a half ago, and I still have pieces of it popping up in current quilts. Maybe if we quilt long enough we won't be able to identify every piece as easily, but for now, I'm with you--I think it's really fun to see the interconnectedness of my little projects. :)

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  3. I love it! Great inspiration for me, thanks!! :-)

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  4. Looks great. Another really lovely quilt pattern that can use oddments is the Disappearing Nine Patch. Find it on Youtube.

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  5. Love the random scrappy feel, Ros and the diagonal quilting!!! Looks fabulous...

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  6. I can name where fabrics have been used before too! It's fun to see just how many times a particular fabric shows up in scrappy projects after its 'official' project is done. Your quilt is beautiful and would be like an 'I Spy' quilt, or a matching game.

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  7. I love it!! Such a great idea to do a simple scrappy quilt <3. I'm glad to see you on a quilting kick lately as I have been also "experimenting"!

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  8. I"m loving this Ros! Fabulous way to make your scraps work. I too remember each and every piece of fabric's use - even for clothing orders for customers ;)

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  9. Ros I want to go and cut my fabric scraps and make one now! I LOVE the backing, but I have no idea what any of it is called LOL

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  10. Looks great! Way to use up every bit. I just realized the other day that even 1/2 inch scraps can be used as little embellishments on my projects, so I'm really in trouble now! I might have to make something like you have here to keep the sewing studio under control!

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    1. Thanks Jamie - I'm terrible with scraps too, I only need really small pieces for quilt as you go and small patchwork zippys so I keep everything!

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  11. Awesome Ros. Im inspired! Im gonna make one like this too. Tell me, where do you buy your batting, I went to Spotlight the other day and they told me $29 per meter. WHAAAAT!!

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    1. I buy my batting at Spotlight usually. The displays are always messy and price tags are often missing, but they do stock a decent quality batting on the roll for about $18 per metre. I try to buy it when I have a discount voucher or when they are having a sale. Another trick - if you buy $50 worth you can pick up one of those 99c Get Creative magazines and use the $10 off voucher in the back. ;)

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  12. Waste not want not, I say. Beautiful quilt and it is so lovely you know where each square fabric came from. Good memories. Great tips as all ways, Roslyn.

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  13. so lovely and such a great way to use up scraps.

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  14. This is gorgeous Ros. It makes me want to go raid the stash and make one, but then I remember how much the top/wadding/backing moved on my last try and I think nah..... Have you ever looked into getting someone else to quilt it? (not that you need to.) Over in the US you can get it done pretty affordably, I have wondered if someone does it anywhere here. Eh, I'll just go and make another pair of jeans with a zip fly huh hahahahaha ;)

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