Sunday, May 06, 2018

Throwback Thursday - Colourful Scraps Quilt

I'm glad that some of our older quilts get a chance to shine in the blog spotlight in the Throwback Thursday posts. This quilt is still one of my favourites and although it was mentioned in a blog, I think that it deserves a little bit of time by itself.
Colourful Scraps Quilt

It's a hand-quilted scrappy quilt. The pattern is from one of the first quilting books I every bought, Better Homes and Gardens Quilt-Lovers' Favorites, Volume 4.

I remember being very intimidated in the choosing of fabrics for the quilt. I made sure that each fabric within a block had at least one colour that matched the other fabrics. That's now my formula for choosing colours in a scrappy quilt.

It took me one year to sew that quilt together, and another year to hand-quilt it.

This quilt was in the first quilt show I ever entered. It's also the largest quilt that I've ever shown. 

At the Quilts in Bloom quilt show, 2012
What I learned
  • This quilt taught me to not be afraid of working with fabrics of different colours. My rule of making sure that each fabric in a block had one colour in common has served me well.
  • I absolutely love using white as a background but for quilts that are used a lot, it's not very practical since it gets dirty so quickly.
  • To date, this is the last hand-quilted quilt I've made. As much as it's relaxing, it really feels like it's never ending. Now I tend to do embroidery or English Paper Piecing for hand-work.

Related Links
Linking Parties
I will be posting this on MMM!'s Throwback Thursday as well as many other linking parties. Let's see what everyone is up to! Slow Sunday Stitching, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Oh Scrap!MOP Monday, Moving it Forward, Monday Making, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday

Denise at For the Love of Geese asked us to post an older quilt - and it was featured!

Project Details


Colourful Scraps quilt
Pattern: Heaven's Stairway by Jill Reber from the Better Homes and Gardens Quilt-Lovers' Favorites, Volume 4

68" x 84"
Material: cotton
Technique: machine piecing, hand-quilting

20 comments:

  1. It is a gorgeous quilt. I love all the colours you chose.

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    1. Thanks! I remember being overwhelmed with the choice, so I decided that as long as both fabrics within the block somehow "matched", that it would do - and that turned out to be a great idea.

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  2. Fun, fabulous, COLORFUL quilt!! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks! After posting this, I took the quilt out and am using it - even if the white gets dirty!

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  3. LOVE this! Wow, the only thing I've ever hand quilted was a runner and it took years before I finally decided to get it off the UFO list and in use! That is a really good rule, and one I am going to keep in mind! Thanks for linking up Andrée!

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    1. Thanks Sandra. Although I'm doing hand-work with the hexies, I'm not sure when I'll get back to hand quilting, although I have 2 UFOs that one day will get finished.

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  4. It's gorgeous!
    I'm a hand-quilter by nature, but have finally admitted I'm going to have to start machine-quilting my quilts, otherwise I'm going to be up to my earlobes in quilt tops...

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    1. Thanks Gayle, I was certainly hesitant to start machine quilting but now I love it. It's just another skill that, thank goodness, lets me make more than one quilt every two years.

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  5. I understand why you like this quilt -- it's so cheerful! And I agree about white backgrounds, hand quilting, and the challenge-to-the-newbie about multi-fabric patterns. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Nann, since I wrote this post, I've started using it again. It's too lovely to be folded away!

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  6. I absolutely love this quilt!! I agree about white not being practical, but it makes all those colors just really sing. Machine quilting makes our quilting projects both fast and pretty, but I still do appreciate hand quilting so much, and always try to have a small hand quilting one in the works, reminding myself that it’s okay for it to be a long-term project.

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    1. Thanks JanineMarie. A white background is still my favourite but I've been trying other colours just so they can be a little more practical. It's great that you're still doing hand-quilting. I have a few UFOs that I will eventually get to but right now I've fallen for hexies, so that's where my hand-work comes in. And you're right - there's absolutely nothing wrong with a long-term project!

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  7. Beautiful quilt Andress, I giggled about the hand quilting as I did the same thing.....once.

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    1. Thank you so much Connie. Yes - once was enough!

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  8. That is one beautiful scrap quilt!

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    1. Thank you so much Susan. It is one of my all time favourites!

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  9. What a wonderful quilt! Love the colors! I hand pieced and hand quilted my first quilt. It just makes them so special to us!

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    1. Thanks Peggy. I think that the more time you spend with a quilt, the more special it becomes (unless, of course, you grow totally tired of it!)

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  10. Very inspiring and stunning. I love white for background also but I found I like a 200 thread count unbleached muslin best. It is so creamy and blends with everything and it looks vintage if that's your thing. Thank you for pulling this post out and linking up to Put your foot down.

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