Sunday, July 19, 2015

"Round and Around"

Several months ago I saw a picture of a similar quilt on Bonnie Hunter's blog.  Someone (her name was not given) attending one of her workshops had brought it in for the show-and-tell time.  It intrigued me:  the use of small pieces, the movement, the randomness.  It seemed a great way to use lots of scraps.  This is the second piece I've made at E's.  I finished it last week.  It's about 46" by 48", composed of over 900 1" by 2" (finished) rectangles.  As I worked on it, I called it a Legos quilt because the pieces reminded me of the little blocks.  Most of the rectangles were cut from odd-shaped scraps left over from other projects.   The stitching began with two blocks side by side in the center then each round increased by one on a side till I decided it was large enough; the outermost row has 22 rectangles on each side.  As I approached the end of the pieces I'd cut, the quilt seemed to call for some kind of border or frame; I had enough of the bright blue to do the job.  I had planned to try a new quilting stitch, a spiral, but after 5 or 6 attempts, I just did stitch in the ditch, outlining the long rows.  The binding is a rainbow stripe.

It was really fun to make; I smiled a lot as I sewed.  I did not buy any new fabric for the project, using scraps I already had on hand.  It will live in my room at E's house.

I've already begun the next quilt, which is a mix of four-patch, 4" squares and 4" by 8" rectangles, again made from scraps and fabric I have on hand.  I'm trying to refrain from buying anything new until I make a significant dent in my stash!

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