Crumb quilt bound and washed

I have been meaning to post a picture of my crumb quilt.  This quilt was born out of a need to use up about two gallon bags worth of crumb pieces.  I had a basic idea of what I wanted and went from there.  Here it is!

The back has a story of its own.  For my birthday at work, several of my co-workers gave me each a yard of fabric that represented them.  They challenged me to "make it work."  Hah, they don't know me!  Regretfully, straight line quilting pushed the center strip off center, but I still love it.  This is a utility quilt and will see many a couch naps and quilt forts.

I am going to be linking up with JulieKQuilts binding blitz.  Her site is amazing in everything scrappy.  If you don't frequent her blog, you should start!

Just keep finishing...

This quilt has a special place in my heart. I started the quilt in 2012 at some point just before starting my doctorate in clinical psychology.  The pattern, Acappella, was given to me by Jamie of L'Fair Quilts and was a kind, thoughtful gesture of hers when she was just getting started in selling her patterns.  The quilt itself has been picked up and put down many times.  I was juggling grad school and a young family and quilting had to take a back seat.  The quilting stopped completely in 2013, but started again in the summer before I started internship.  I had to put it down again because it was time to pack everything up in preparation for my move south.

In the last half-year, my family has lived away from our home so I can complete my predoctoral internship.  We have certainly enjoyed Florida compared to our northern Pennsylvania home, inclusive of sun and heat.  In this time, we live in a smaller house and I just don't have room to do any stash building.  I have completed projects already started or have used up stash (like my crumb project....pictures soon to come).  It was natural that this gem comes out of hiding and gets a more prominent place in my home (or someone else's).

Well, here it is.  I am auditioning border fabrics.  I am thinking I will go with the fabrics in the top because the colors are bolder and the same fabric borders the inner star blocks.  It might tie all of the blue scrappiness together.

A closer pic.

Thanks for stopping by!

EPP finish

It always feels good to finish a quilt and send it on.  I wanted to share with you the end result of several years work.  It was made with 1" hexagons and civil war fabrics.  I worked on this in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine.  It certainly is well travelled!

I will soon post some pictures of my crumb quilt.  It is quilted now and ready for binding!

Hexie Part Deux: Ready for Binding

I have had a love hate relationship with this quilt.  I love the fabrics (civil wars) and the process of English paper piecing, but it was hard to love my overall design.  After I got this far, I knew it was time to wrap it up.

I quilted with a simple meander.  Given it was hand-pieced, I originally had plans to hand quilt, but even letting it side idle a span of time didn't motivate me for it.  This year is the year of finishing stuff, so it was time.

All done!

Then came the problem with the binding.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with all these edges.  It finally hit me that I could curve them.  Why not!?!

...and after cutting.

It seems to look alright.  I just have to dig up fabric for binding.  I have never sewn binding on a curved edge, but I think I can figure it out easy enough. I can't imagine a life anymore without YouTube.  Don't know how to do it?  There's a video for it!

I am gifting it as a table topper for a lovely lady who always shares her scraps with me.  She always does things for others, so it will be nice to do something for her.  I travel briefly to New York soon for a job interview, and this mini quilt will slowly make its way to its destination then.

Stay tuned!

A flimsy is born

I am trying to keep my momentum going.  This is the year of using up and finishing.  I don't have room in my temporary house to get more stuff or build my stash.  My scraps are overflowing.  This project was born out of a plan to reduce the stash of crumbs.  So far so good!

This was the original plan.

Somehow blocks were turned around in assembly.  But I kept going...

...and ended up with this.

Now I will add a small border.  I am thinking a black border with strategically placed flying geese.  As I sit here looking at the center, I even thing it would look good with a thin black border followed by a slightly larger burgundy red border.   Thoughts?

Putting the crumbs together

Nearly all of the crumbs have been sewn, and I am left with a pile of HSTs.  I seem to have enough for a throw quilt.

I first thought of laying them out in a zig zag format, but then tried an off-center barn raising pattern.  I made a few mistakes when laying them out, but nothing is yet sewn.  I just wanted to see what it would look like.

I am going with the barn raising layout.  I quite like how it will look.  I might use a border, but if so it would be small to set all those wonky edges before quilting.  I would love to make the quilt bigger, but I really don't have any neutral crumbs...I would be essentially made to cut bits of yardage down and then sew them back up.  I must resist the temptation and enjoy it as a smaller quilt.  The dark crumb blocks seen in the lower part of the zig-zag quilt can be used in a different project in the future.

Happy quilting!

Crumb blocks are done

Over the holiday weekend, I managed to finish over 140 crumb blocks.

There aren't many crumby pieces left after it was all done.  I was really working at the end to make the blocks.

The next step is to make a ton (240) of HSTs with these babies.  They will finish at a bit over 4" I guess.