Week 1: Final Finishes

This summer, I am working my way through my fabric drawer storage system, trying to clear out space, and make some quilt tops. Today, I'll show you what I made in Week 1, and give you a preview of Week 2!

The designer of the week was Sanae (Moda Fabrics). I had three collections stuffed in three drawers: Panache, Oz and Arcadia. I started with Arcadia because I was also working on a commission quilt from this collection. For that one, I used my Hip to Be Square pattern (note: picture was taken before I assembled the top!)

One of the bonuses of this project is that it gives me a chance to try out some new patterns. Usually when I'm scrap quilting, my go-to pattern is either patchwork squares or a coins quilt, but I decided to flip through some quilt books and branch out. Since I had a bunch of leftover charm squares and honeybun strips, I decided to make the Square One quilt from Camille Roskelly's book Simplify. It was the perfect pattern for my scraps, and very easy to put together.

After making that quilt, I still had some miscellaneous pieces, so the blocks in this next quilt were inspired by another quilt in the book, Sweet Pea. I made the blocks a slightly different dimension, and changed the setting (the setting was actually based on Camille's Piece of Cake pattern!). This photo was also taken before the final assembly!

I had never made a plus quilt, even though I've had it on my must-make list for quite a while. This next quilt was inspired by the Dream Big quilt in Simplfy, except I used larger pieces. It worked really well for my Panache scraps -- I just kept cutting and building from the center out until it was the desired size. Then, I used most of my remaining fabrics to piece a scrappy backing for when I'm ready to quilt it.

I was a little stumped when it came to the Oz fabrics. I had a lot of partial jelly roll strips, so I used the Happy-Go-Lucky quilt in Simplify as inspiration. I decided to make all the block centers the same (or at least mostly the same -- some are orange, and some are red) and make only the A blocks.

For the final quilt, I used a basic snowball block (although if I'd made the quilt Coming Home from Simplify, I would have only needed two corner triangles per block!)

So after six quilt tops, I am down to a single drawer:

The two empty drawers now hold some newer fabrics that were waiting for an open spot!

So what's on the agenda for Week 2?

Two drawers of fabric by Chez Moi. I'll stop by mid-week with a progress report!

 

Summer Sewing Series Week 1 Progress Report

I thought I'd share some progress on my Summer 2015 Blog Series. Each week, I'll be tackling a different designer's fabrics with the hope of using up some loose ends and clearing up some space in my fabric drawers.

This week, I am working on three drawers of fabrics by Moda designer Sanae. I started with Arcadia and made blocks for three separate quilts. I hope to assemble those tops tomorrow!

Next, I worked on Panache. I had quite a bit of this line, even though it was not one of my favorites. I decided to make a plus quilt, since I've always wanted to make one!

Since I didn't have any large pieces for a backing, I pieced together the leftovers to make this scrappy backing:

I already have one drawer emptied out, and tonight I'll be working on the last collection (Oz) to see if I can empty out a second drawer.

I'm looking forward to sharing the before and after pics of the drawers, as well as the finished tops, on Sunday!