Braided Rug Quilt Block Alternative - Colour Focused Scraps

So I think I started a new quilt. I didn’t mean to, honest! It was just an experiment that I fell in love with!

There I was, teaching a Scraptastic class with a guild out of the Whistler Valley. We got to the part where we play with strips. At this moment I always give students a choice on what technique they want to explore. The Braided Rug blocks won out that day. While demonstrating the technique I decided to explore a square block. A change from my original. One pile of pink scraps and some sewing later, an idea was born.

It’s a been a few weeks and that idea has already evolved. I thought rows of blocks first, then placed four together like this. Okay, that works. let’s try another colour and maybe do a round robin, like the original again. I really liked that shape formed by the four together though so placed another colour that way. Yup, that’s the winner! I’ve already picked my next colour - green, for hope - and will make another set of 4. I’m thinking, only thinking, of making 9 sets of 4 blocks. We’ll see how the motivation lasts. That being said, moving to the new studio uncovered A LOT more scraps than I thought I had so there is no shortage of fabric options!

Just playing around with potential colours. This is a more random colour scheme, maybe I will edit it down, maybe not? For now, one block at a time.

Braided Rug Quilt Top

When in doubt, go bigger. Sometimes I like to say #gokingorgohome. Maybe not quite that big here. But once I had done a certain number of blocks it was clear this needed to be a bigger quilt, so I made more blocks. And a quilt that started, in part, because I needed to be able to close the bin of scrap strips is now ready for next steps. It finishes at 77” square.

The blocks themselves began life as a sample for the Scraptastic class that I teach. Every time I taught the class I made a block. Well, a few months back, I was teaching the class again and we also started playing with layouts of the blocks. That moment sparked something and I raced to make more and more blocks. It was a creative pull that spurred the action, but it was fuelled by that desire to clean up the scrap strips.

Did I use all the scrap strips? Nope! But I would say I used about 3/4 of what was in the bin. Great progress! Of course, I’ve already added back in to the bin. That’s how it goes with scraps. Unless you stop making any new quilts, you are going to make scraps. Just makes for greater opportunities in your quilts!

I know, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the scraps, or feel like using them is a futile effort. I totally get that. There are only two ways out of that:

1. Changing your mindset. Seeing scraps as a burden rather than an opportunity is very negative. I prefer to apply some girl math and think of it all as free fabric to play with!

2. Just use them. Kind of like writing a to-do list with tasks on it you’ve already completed just so you get the satisfaction of crossing them off, using scraps when they overwhelm you is the best way to quell the overwhelm.

That doesn’t mean you have to finish a whole quilt either. Just starting something with the scraps might be enough. So long as starting and not finishing a quilt right away isn’t another source of anxiety! Making a few blocks today may be just enough to calm down. And when the bin gets some more additions, you can always make more blocks. In time, enough blocks will be around to make a whole quilt. No rush. They are scraps, they will always be there!

My plan for finishing this quilt is to tie it. I’ve never done it before! I haven’t decided yet if I will use the bin of scrap yarn that seems to be hanging around or if I will purchase a single colour. I’m just going to let this marinade a bit while I play on some other things. The itch has already been scratched, the bin closes again, and the rest of my stash is calling!

Braided Rug Quilt Coming Along

There are a lot of different reasons folks make scrap quilts. And many for why they don’t! I go over a lot of them in my presentations and classes. I can say that one of the key reasons to make a scrap quilt is to clean up/use up scraps. There comes a point where the pile/bin/basket is too much and to avoid throwing them out you have to find a way to use them up while making yourself happy with the process.

That’s exactly what happened with these blocks. I have 3 more to make to get the quilt to where I want it to be. Have I used all the fabric yet? Nope. Am I sick of making these blocks? Yup.

Now I could just stop, set everything aside, and come back in a year or so. I do that a lot and have no problem doing so. But that itch to clean up/use up those scraps was strong. Very strong. So I did the math on what was required to get where I want to go. That is, after changing my mind. I’m so close now that I am excited by the finish.

Besides, my new studio is so very nearly ready and it will be great to go in there just a little bit lighter on the scraps.

Working Title for This Quilt: Happy Scraps

Barbie Pink became a trend right when I needed it. Hot pink is always a dopamine hit for me. I will seek out the colour on a down day, fixate on things in this delicious hue until I feel myself smile.

This particular quilt started as a mess on the flower. More than a decade ago my son was playing at my feet as I wrote. He pulled down the coloured scrap bins and had a grand time throwing fabric around. He was happy and I was sewing so it was a win win situation. When it was all over I had a mess of pink, orange, yellow, and a grey scraps all over the floor. Clean up got a lot more fun when I simply started sewing. That’s right, I grabbed two pieces from the floor, sewed them together, and repeat until all the pieces were picked up. A much more enjoyable way of cleaning up! A little while later I had a small quilt top.

Then it sat. And sat.

Last year, as I finally felt healthy after a years long depression, I embraced all the pink in the world. This quilt, then, came to mind. The top I made more than a decade ago was a small, awkward size. I generally don’t worry too much about size, but I wanted this joyous one to be big enough to snuggle with myself. Luckily, I never have a shortage of scraps. I simply sewed pieces together, making slabs to ‘border’ the original top. I assembled them log cabin style around the original in the hopes that it would blend more.

It gave me such joy to finish piecing her, to play with this colourful fabric. There are some treasures in here, some long time and recent favourites playing together. I will never not smile looking at this quilt top.