Scrap Harmony

Thank you all for celebrating baby Elora with me!  Reading your comments on her baby pictures feels like being in a room full of women friends rejoicing over our healthy baby girl.  A room full of friends who understand why she is so especially a gift.  Oftentimes you thank me for being vulnerable in this space when I share my family life, but I see less that vulnerability and more a community who has carried me.  It's a true privilege to share your company.

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The day before my induction I felt compelled to start a new quilt, a scrap quilt.  I wanted something mostly mindless and very colorful, something I could just putter along with between things.  I started by making 3" finished hourglass blocks, using lots of multicolor scraps paired with solids or low volumes. 

Scrap Happy

I thought at first I might make big blocks of hourglasses arranged in a grid with tiny, 1/2" gray sashing.  Sometimes it's nice to have a project that's open ended.  Who knows what might happen?

A scrap quilt can easily become chaotic when colors and patterns overwhelm.  That's OK at times, but I realized with this quilt I wanted something more like my Sour Pickle quilt from December last.

Low Volumes from Westwood Acres

Here, as with Sour Pickle, my approach to harmonizing diverse scraps is to include lots of low volume.  I tend to buy rather plain low volumes:  just gray, white, black with no extra colors.  I've been wanting to get past that simplicity, so I requested a Inside Voices Bundle from Westwood Acres.  Here are the pretty fat quarters that arrived!  Clouds, flowers, foxes and dots - it's a great mix of shapes and a nice assortment of soft colors.  This bundle is more than enough low volume to anchor an entire scrap quilt (or two).

Scrap Happy

Once in my new sewing room, I arranged my hourglasses on the new design wall.  Now I feel like the quilt may go together in rows, with sets of same-style blocks arranged like patterns in a fairisle sweater.

Still sashed in gray?  Maybe.

Scrap Happy

My next batch of scrap blocks is an elongated 9-patch inspired by bathroom tile.  I'm enjoying pairing the Westwood Acres low volume fabrics with something that coordinates from my scrap drawers!

Scrap Happy

Here's where I've landed at the moment.  I haven't quite decided what style of block to put in between the upper and lower hourglass sets.  Perhaps snowflakes or large plus blocks?  I think I'll let this one marinate for awhile and redirect my attention to starting our bedroom quilt.

Sometimes it's nice to have a few balls in the air!