A quick quilt update: cutting is underway

It's been a while since I've mentioned my patchwork quilt here, and that's mostly because not much has happened since I sorted out the materials from my stash back in January.  That's partly because life has been busy (when isn't it?) but also because I always find it hard to make the first cut. 

When I chose my materials I thought I probably had enough of each material, but I wasn't sure. Because I'm using a mix of materials, including some old clothes I've cut up, it wasn't that simple. But with a couple of hours, renewed purpose and weather that encouraged me to stay inside, this weekend my well used rotary cutter and mat and I became reacquainted.

I've started to cut the 2.5 inch strips, from which I'll cut thirty squares. And yes, I'm using the floor which has been tough going on my knees even with a cushion.  I've also learnt, or reminded myself that:

• there's a lot more cutting to do,

• I have plenty of material for this project, even from the clothes I cut up,

• sewing projects require ironing, and that's before I've even started on any seams,

• purpose bought material is easier to cut than repurposed clothes, mainly because it's already square.

I know that last one is pretty obvious, but using old clothes has meant more finickity cutting. I'm glad that when I arranged the materials in the basket by colours to see how they worked together, that somehow I also instinctively knew to mix them up so the upcycled fabric was interspersed with the purpose bought material. That's helped as after every more complicated cutting I know there's an easier one to come.

I'm about halfway through cutting the materials and my next task is to iron these ready for cutting them into the thirty 2.5 inch squares I need. I'm not a big fan of ironing and it comes to something when I iron more for sewing projects than for clothes to wear, although in my defence I purposefully choose clothes that need less ironing, I mean if you can, why wouldn't you?

Once I have the squares then it'll be a case of working out how to place them - the interesting bit - and cutting out the plain, background squares and I've a feeling there's a lot of those. I'm not focusing on that number right now though and I'm hoping it won't be quite so tricky as I've an old duvet cover to use for that.

But first, back to the ironing, and more cutting...

Thirty three materials from my stash

Last week I told you about my current obsession with scrappy quilts and how crazy my next project was and how I planned to sort out the material for it from my stash. I knew that I needed thirty three fat quarters, but as I didn't know what size they were I was none the wiser until I sat down and looked into it further. It seems a fat quarter is a piece of material approximately 18 inches by 22 inches, which was good news for me, as it helped me visualise the amount of material I was after. 

It turns out it also meant finding the material was much more achievable than I thought it might be. As you'll remember I plan to use material I already have, including some from clothes I've cut up rather than buy new material, so it will truly be a scrappy quilt. With my materials chosen I put them together to make sure the tones worked together and no one material, or colour, dominated.

I think it's worked out remarkably well, don't you?

THIRTY THREE MATERIALS CHOSEN FOR MY SCRAPPY QUILT PROJECT

As I looked at the materials together, my geeky-side came to the fore, and I wondered what the balance was on where the fabric originated. I wasn't surprised to learn that a third of these were from earlier donations from my mum. I was surprised to discover I could source the other two-thirds easily!

There's old shirts of both MOH and me, I haven't worn work shirts for many years but couldn't quite get rid of them so cutting them up seemed the next best option. There's old summer dresses, old skirts, part of a duvet cover and material I've bought either in the past or more recently.

With twelve pieces coming from mum, another thirteen are from clothes (and a duvet cover) I've cut up, leaving only eight from material I've bought.  And even that was a while ago; the green fabric at the top of the third column, I bought most probably in the nineties with a plan and a project that never materialised, and the V&A materials were from a trip there shortly after I took a break from working in 2014.

So for completeness, here's where each piece is from, top to bottom, starting in the left column:

1.  An old shirt of MOH's
2. Bought in a scrap bag
3. From mum's stash
4. An old summer dress
5. Bought from the V&A
6. From mum's stash
7. Bought from the V&A
8. From mum's stash
9. Bought online somewhere
10. An old shirt of MOH's
11. An old shirt of mine

12. An old summer dress
13. An old shirt of mine
14. An old skirt of mine
15. A childhood favourite
16. From mum's stash
17. From mum's stash
18. An old shirt of mine
19. From mum's stash
20. Bought from the V&A
21. An old shirt of mine
22. An old top of mine

23. Bought and never used
24. From mum's stash
25. Part of an old duvet cover
26. From mum's stash
27. From mum's stash
28. An old shirt of mine
29. From mum's stash
30. A childhood favourite
31. An old shirt of mine
32. Bought at the V&A
33. Bought at the V&A

Which means, it truly meets my brief of a scrappy quilt. Now for the next stage of actually cutting the thirty squares from each piece I need...

And then the hard work can really start!

My current obsession: Scrappy quilts

I've always had a thing for patchwork quilts. I've even made a few in the past; more recently that fondness has manifested itself in the patchwork bread bag I made.  You'll know I planned to make another one, but somehow I haven't yet, and that's because something else has been gnawing at me. And that something is bigger than a bread bag.

It's a full blown quilt.  Well, actually it's more than one.

I know, crazy huh? 

It's not like I have plenty of spare time, is it? But I can't shift the desire to make a quilt, or two. So I've been looking around for what type of quilt, and what pattern I want to make. I know I'll need something relatively simple, and something that grows quickly too. As I've a feeling that if the first one is too hard, or something I perceive to be too hard, then it'll likely get stuck.

I already have some material, well quite a lot in fact. I have a bundle from Prestigious Textiles of yellows, greys and white geometric prints that I always planned to make into a quilt at some point. And I still will but I've realised these will be my second quilt. As while the material is gorgeous, and will be perfect in our bedroom, it suits a more complex design, and isn't for my relatively simple and quick growing quilt.

The design I've chosen for this material is Lori Holt's picnic star quilt, which you can see on her website - scroll down on that link until you find the red, white and blue quilt, and you'll know why it's on my list, and why it's not in top spot, yet.

So what kind of quilt will I make?

The other reason for rejecting the yellow and grey star quilt as my first quilt, is that to me it won't be truly scrappy. I think scrappy quilts should be more, well scrappy. But coordinated scrappy, if I can. When I saw Lori Holt's Great Granny Squared book I knew this was the kind of thing I had in mind. There's enough of a design, enough fabrics repeated, but still scrappy enough to qualify as a scrappy quilt to me.

But how to make it happen?

I could buy the material to make this quilt, but again that defeats the point of the scrappy quilt.

I've material that has been amassing for some time now. Some I've bought, some left over from my earlier quilt making days, which is quite a feat as it's survived several clear outs and has hardly been touched since we moved here some fourteen years ago!  Some more material I'm sure has come from my mum, who is a big sewer. And more still has come from clothes I've cut up instead of throwing out. 

And so, the thing I'm wrestling with, is do I have enough material to do the scrappy approach justice. I'm hoping that by mixing in materials that hold memories the quilt will have that extra-specialness I'm after. MOH's initial reaction was that I couldn't use old clothes for this, but soon backed down when I asked what he thought the origins of patchwork quilts were. It was the easiest win I've ever had, I can tell you. He doesn't know yet, that the space freed up using material is only making space for future treasures, but then again perhaps he does.

I *think* I have enough scrappy material, but I need to work that out for sure before I start. I'm telling myself that "I only need 33 two and a half inch squares" as a minimum to make it work. I mean just thirty three squares, that's not so many is it. In fact I need quite a few sets of thirty three squares, which is where the doubt and uncertainty creeps in. So I think next weekend you'll find me looking for enough similar and contrasting materials for the main part of the quilt. And hoping I have enough. And if I'm lucky, actually cutting some of those squares, but we'll see.

I'm less worried about the background as I have that sorted. I have a king-sized duvet that we no longer use, that should be plenty big enough to at least provide the background for the top of the quilt. While it's cream (which I like), it's design is a bit too fancy and it doesn't look so good un-ironed (I'm less keen on those) and so it too has been relegated for another use. If it doesn't to the back, I've plenty of time to come up with a plan for that.

So wish me luck, acknowledge my craziness and definitely look out for some updates along the way!