Maverick Quilts, Using Large-Scale Prints, Novelty Fabrics, & Panels With Panache will be released mid-June, and I am excited to begin sharing projects from my book.
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A couple of years ago I began to explore free cutting curves. I took fat eighths and layered them good sides up and cut each one differently. This way you get a pair of curvy blocks in a mirror image. As the pieces were sewn together the most amazing shapes emerged. Using a monochomatic color scale, I made lots of cool green pieces. I worked without a plan and let the quilt unfold as the curved pieces were made.
I used a wide variety of motifs on the fabrics including apples, zuchini, cactus, dandelion weeds, batiks, stripes, and dots. I was looking for an ecclectic and interesting mix.
The Green Goddess quilt was the result of this work, and it was a wedding gift to my friends. (The photos in the book are much better- don’t worry!)
The second version that I made of the Goddess quilt was Goddess Flowers, and it is the focus of one of the chapters in the book. I used bright, cheerful Nicey Jane fabrics and combined them with a large-scale Amy Butler print for the border.
I want to share with you, dear readers, the process I used to create a scrap quilt from the left over pieces of the Goddess Flowers Quilt. I heave created a photo gallery of the steps. (the colors change throughout the photos – it is a mystery to solve!)
I needed to make a girl baby quilt, and I came across the fabric pile from the Goddess Flowers Quilt when I was cleaning up my sewing room. I found some left over strips of fabric used in the border and the blocks, and there were little scraps of the goddess curves pieces left over from the trimming stage of the blocks. I also had a bunch of 4″ strips of a gorgeous Heather Bailey fabric that I had auditioned for the border but ultimately didn’t use.
I began to sew the little scraps together and cut the extra strips and incorporate them into the process. I would make squares and long ladder-like pieces and place them around the wall so that each section had a little of everything. Then I began to arrange them on the design wall with some of the left over pink flowers and some ends from the border of the original quilt.
To make it easier for you to follow the process, I made a grid with some yarn. This way you can see how I developed the patchwork in sections that ultimately went together to make the quilt. You can double click on the first image and then click on the next image button at the bottom of each photo to view the sequence in a larger format. When you are done, come back to this page and see the second scrap quilt made from the same fabrics!
There were enough scraps to make a second scrap quilt. In this one I made a bunch of scrap sections all the same length and combined them with strips and more of the unused border pieces.
This technique would also work to make placemats or pot holders from left over quilt bits and fabrics. I hope this inspires you to make some little scrap projects. It is really fun and satisfying
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