scrappy baby quilt – SewGoCreate

Happy Scrappy Day!

Here are some scrappy quilt ideas, including a quickie–read to the end!

After I finish a big project and am finally cleaning up, I get to curate the scraps. What fun! First are the largest scraps. If I have over a yard, I’m thrilled. I label and fold it and put it in the appropriate bin for that color. Likewise, even an 1/8th or 1/4th or so gets a label and is filed with other “under 1/2” yd. pieces. What do I label?–because I have a business, I record the amount, price, year bought and store where bought, which makes it easy to find on my inventory. Certainly, you don’t have to go that far, but knowing the amount can definitely be helpful. (By the way, I use scrap paper stapled to the selvedge).

Now for the bitties. You are probably one of three types of persons. The “clean-out” type will just throw scraps away and never bat an eyelash over it. The “keepers” will keep larger pieces for paper-piecing, applique, or scrap quilts. Then there are extreme “hoarders” for whom throwing away the tiniest piece feels like pulling out a fingernail. Those little bits I sort by color and put in plastic bags, and the teeny scraps I keep in a box and may never use, except for tiny paper-pieced brooches and necklaces. (That’s probably mostly in my imagination, but fabric is getting expensive, right? At least that’s my excuse.) Lately, though, I’ve been bagging them for a friend with young children. They make good collages.

So what do you reasonable type do with those medium scraps? One fun challenge is to make a “charm quilt,” where every piece is a different fabric. Here is my Apple Core quilt with about 900 different fabrics, based on decades of buying fabric.

My Apple Core is queen-sized, but you can certainly make any sized quilt you want (or have the scraps to do).

(Contact me for a free Apple Core pattern–it’s a traditional pattern available many places.)

For instance, the simple “pocket lozenge” block I’ve designed lends itself well to a scrap quilt of any size.

For this “throw” or lap quilt, I limited the colors to blues and berries and called it “Moody Blues.” One great thing about THIS pattern is that it uses both large and small scraps. <Pocket Lozenge Throw #CC2311 – SewGoCreate>

If you’d like to make a baby quilt, below is a possibility that used a bunch of my pastels: <Bouncing Ball Baby Quilt #CC2304 Fat Quarter Friendly – SewGoCreate>. It’s a bit complex, but fun.

Prefer a smaller project? How about a wall hanging?

If you like paper-piecing, try this log cabin. The heart could be reds or burgundies or even another color, such as white (different white prints on muslin tone-on-tones) and course, the background color could change to whatever you want. There are some VERY small pieces in this one! <“Love in a Little Log Cabin” #CC2108 Paper-Pieced Wall Hanging – SewGoCreate>

This kite pattern (also paper-pieced) is a little trickier. You work with a whole row; matching the corners takes some patience, but it can be a welcome challenge. Constructed done with strips of paper-pieced triangles. It, too, is a “charm quilt.” (Notice that I put Elvis in the puffy 3D clouds!) <Kite Charmer: Sleeping on a Cloud #CC2104 – SewGoCreate>.

Still too much work? Well, I have a great solution. READY?

I’ve been making “Meemaw Towels” for my booth in Poppy Layne Vintage, Wetumpka. I get 28″- square plain white “flour sack” towels (available at Walmart or on line). About 4″ up from the bottom I sew on a row of squares (yes, scraps!) I find that eleven 3″-squares work perfectly. I press under the top and bottom and use a buttonhole stitch to applique the row in place. Sometimes the squares are random and sometimes I get a few matching squares to work in–I just blend together some colors that don’t clash. In any case, they are fast to make and popular!

SEW…this has been an edition of “waste not, want not”–love those scraps!

Back at you soon–I have some big news coming up this summer. Stay tuned…..

Have you gotten gas recently?

If so, you’ll know that the extremely low gas prices invite fill-ups, especially if you have “monster machines.” Wait, no monster trucks? Well, maybe you need a few in your life. You do if you have a little big man on the way!

Monster Truck embroidery on “Stacked Baby Blocks” quilt by LJ Christensen

This “Stacked Baby Blocks” quilt is perfect to showcase embroideries of ANY kind, whether they be racecars or angels or little duckies. Alternatively, it can showcase 6″ pieced quilt blocks or just printed panels–your choice. It’s made with a simple stitch’n’fold method so that it’s ready to bind when you finish piecing, withOUT quilting. Or you may quilt if you prefer. The block above is actually gently stippled–it just doesn’t show here. But the Warm’n’Natural quilt batting doesn’t require a lot of stitching, so it’s fine. I chose cotton flannel (sometimes called flannelette) for the cute backing.

I decided to put all my baby quilt patterns on sale for just $3.50 each for the next 3 weeks. Get ahead of the curve! Click for “Stacked Baby Blocks”:

cc 1012 “Stacked Baby Blocks” –heavy metal edition by LJ Christensen

Just had a GREAT THOUGHT–how about putting PHOTOS of family members in the blocks so that baby can learn not just Mommy and Daddy, but grand-parents, aunts, uncles, cousins….even during “social distancing”!!! Now there’s an idea! You can order the photo print fabric, but be careful–some are not washable! Read the details.

Other baby quilt patterns on sale for $3.50: “Baby Basket Weave Blanket” made from jelly roll strips and lined with batting before weaving.

“Baby Basket Weave Blanket” by LJ Christensen

“Bouncing Baby Ball” , which can be flat solid balls or pieced and stuffed 3D balls (great scrap quilt).

“Bouncing Baby Ball Quilt” by LJ Christensen

“Goodnight Moon…and Stars” with 3D star points and a dark blue, turquoise or black background:

“Goodnight Moon and Stars” by LJ Christensen

and for those who prefer pastels, “Baby Butter Mints”:

I hope some of these inspire you because making baby quilts is really fun!

A Tisket, a Tasket…

You, too, can quilt a basket! Really, you can….well basket-weave a quilt, that is. This darling baby quilt is made from jelly roll strips lined with batting. After they are turned and pressed, you weave them just like those hot pads we used to make in primary school. Then “quilt” along the strip edges, and ta da! It’s read to bind with no backing, pinning, stretching. You’ve constructed back and front at the same time. People will marvel because it’s so novel, yet it’s easy!

So if you have a “little one” who needs an Easter basket but can’t walk yet, here’s the perfect solution, also perfect for a baby gift any time. On sale for just $3.50 for the entire month of March, get this pattern for your stash. Just pay through a credit card, and it’ll wend its way through the ether to you. It’s a great way to use up scraps, too, including scraps of batting.

Click here for more info.

“Baby Basket-Weave Blanket” cc2310
by LJ Christensen

My mother loved baskets. I think her love affair began when we lived in Austria and she learned to carry a basket to market like the Europeans do. Even the stores expected you to have your own. There were always a myriad of baskets to choose from.

Years later, back in the States, she was intrigued enough to take a basket-making class, and as usual, she’d teach me what she learned. Yes, I made a couple egg baskets myself. One time, when I lived in England, I even cut branches from my willow tree and boiled them to get the bugs out. They were stinky from being cooked, but I managed to make a basket. After I tried a few, though, I gave up the practice. I will admit it messed up my nails, and I’m vain about my nails (especially now that I spend $$$ on getting manicures!)

However, making a few baskets was a really interesting experience. My mother and I both bought a lot of baskets over the years, not expensive ones, but just interesting shapes and sizes. I’ve used them for craft table displays quite often. Now I have some special quilt patterns in one of my bigger ones, and this week I filled one with 2800 watercolor quilt squares!

Does anyone remember the beautiful piano watercolor quilt on the front of a book from about 25 yrs ago? I’ve wanted to make it for decades–literally! I’ve been collecting florals and plan to start soon. Remember watercolor quilting? You use florals cut willy-nilly and then piece them by gradations of shade. Coming up for the website, I have an idea developing for a watercolor background with a white cross for Easter. Stay tuned. It should be available soon. Start collecting your spring florals! Spring is close!

Play ball!

So, baseball or football….maybe eyeball? What’s YOUR favorite? At the moment, mine is “Bouncing Ball,” the cutest scrappy toddler quilt I’ve made. I spent today writing up the instructions for two versions–one is simple and straightforward. It can be made with 12 fat quarters if you don’t have a big stash. My sample was more complex with pieced balls (using up little scraps!) that are eased, stuffed, and piped to make them puffy and 3D! Now that’s what I call “playing ball”! On sale through the end of the month for $3.50, this one is a winner–can so easily be made for a girl, boy or an unknown. Wonderful gift!

Click for more info and more pics

“Bouncing Ball” Baby/Toddler Quilt cc2304 by LJ Christensen

I made my first real scrappy patchwork skirt in 1968. It was then that I really learned to appreciate scraps. I had played with Barbies like all girls of my time period, and I loved every piece of material my mother let me have, especially the glitzy ones. But my skirt was cotton, made of nine-patches. I gave it a navy background and then picked a solid color for center of every patch, which I then finished with carefully chosen coordinating fabrics.

That must be the thrill of quilting, getting to mull over the design and match up the colors and prints–these were precious pieces of my shorts and tops and first dresses I’d ever made, a few leftover from baby dolls and Barbie doll dresses. Every color is a revelation; every piece was a precious memory. I love that about charm quilts, but even if not every single piece is different, it’s still a challenge to pick and choose like an artist loads the color on her brush.

I’m working on my inventory these days and organizing my fabrics. It’s comforting and appalling–way too many, yet never enough. I love having the biggest box of crayons! Speaking of which, here’s one of my all-time favorite quilts. I made it, but I didn’t design it–it’s “Montana Cartwheel” by Quiltworx. It won the quilt top challenge at an Alabama National Fair a decade ago and was quilted for me as the prize. This is the design that made me WANT to quilt!