Frugal Finishes

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to take a fun class at the Vermont Quilt Festival with Kimberly Einmo. The project was from her book "Jelly Roll Quilts and More" and is called "Chainsaw". (By the way, you can take a class with Kimberly on the Craftsy site -- I think this project is actually part of the class).

I made my quilt out of Martinique by Me and My Sisters for Moda fabrics (it is out of print, but you can still find precuts reasonably priced on Etsy and Ebay). It was a fun and easy project to make, but you do end up with a fair amount of leftovers (it starts with a jelly roll, layer cake, and background fabric).

I dutifully stored my leftovers in a basket in my quilting room, and last spring, in an effort to clear some much needed storage space, I cut up all of the leftovers and made a bunch of my Hip To Be Square blocks. I ended up.with enough for two quilts, so I put one together with my normal straight setting (please excuse the binding which still needs to be hand stitched to the back!)

I had a stack of leftover background triangles from the original project, so I decided to set the second top of blocks on point (diagonal setting) and use the background triangles around the edges.

The two quilt tops sat around for an entire year, even though I had purchased backing fabric for both right after I finished them! Last weekend, I spent a lot of time quilting through unfinished tops, and these two finally made it to the (almost!) finished pile (they just need binding).

I still have one small bit of leftovers from the basket -- a small stack of 2 1/2 inch squares that I will eventually turn into something. It feels great to clear out and finish things, and I am loving the "beach cottage" feel of these two quilts!