Scrap Quilts and Inspiration

I am a member of the Quilters Anonymous Chapter of the Arizona Quilters Guild. It was here that I first heard about Fave Quilts. They feature a ton of free quilt tutorials! This is where I found the inspiration for this beautiful scrap buster, Fun with Bricks.   It's a wip (work in progress). I've completed only the top.  I haven't yet decided if I'm going to add a border.

It is also here that I discovered Quilting in the Rain.  Quilting In The Rain, or QITR as I like to refer to it, is one of my favorite blogs of all time. Jera has so many A+ quilting tutorials. Thanks Jera!

I adore scrap quilts! When I have fabric left over from a quilt project, if it's a 1/4 yd or less, I usually cut it into strips so as to be prepared for the next scrap quilt on my list. I have a long list of "quilts to make". It easily numbers 1,000+!  Here are pics of  a few more scrap quilts I've made.

Liberated Log Cabin

Foundation Piecing. Quilting done on long arm.

Foundation Piecing mixed w/a  couple of cut up spinning hexagon squares gone wrong.
Inspired by Tie the Knot Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting Nov/Dec 2012

Not so long ago I went through a big bag of strips and scraps and separated the strips according to width. I now have 4 drawers of strips;  1", 1.5", 2" and 2.5".

As if this weren't crazy enough, after seeing all the beautiful and inspiring quilt tutorials on QITR, I started making homemade layer cakes AND charm packs! Well I haven't actually put the layer cakes or charm packs together, but I have been cutting 5" and 10" squares. My goal is to cut a few squares out of all my fabric, however, I just realized today this will be be a never ending feat, as I continue to accumulate fabric. But it's okay, this is the life I've chosen and I shall happily live it!

Two of the first layer cake quilts I make will be the Cuttin' Corners Quilt and the Four-Step Flagstone Quilt. I plan to get started on one of these two w/in the next month!

This is How I Sew

Meet Betty, also known as Ugly Betty or Back-burner Betty. She's a Baby Lock 1506 Denim Buster and the first machine I'd ever owned. I bought her for $40 on Craigslist about a year and a half ago. I'm not sure how old she is but I do know she wasn't nearly as smooth as the borrowed one I was using before her.

Betty

Shortly after I got her, I decided to buy the borrowed one from my friend. This is Wilma. She is my work horse! She's a Baby Lock Quilters Choice Professional.

Wilma

She came w/this quilt frame (expands to King Size) and I paid a mere $400. I have awesome friends!

A couple months ago, something happened to Wilma and she was out of commission. This left me no choice but to get intimate w/Betty. I used her until I could afford to get Wilma up & running again. After a new foot pedal and spool pin ordered from My Sewing Machine Parts, Betty wasn't as bad as I once thought. We spent many hours together and she made me proud. =)

How it All Started

In or around July 2011 I was invited to “Quilting”. The 3^rd Saturday of every month, a few of my sisters from church get together to make quilts for charity.  Now, I remembered going once before a couple years prior and I remember it was an okay get together, but there weren't any sparks between me and quilting.   Anyhow, one of the sisters kept bugging me about coming to “Quilting” so I gave in and went. This time around, something truly magical happened. I mean, it was more than a spark…it was full on fireworks baby!!!  I've been a quilting maniac ever since!

This is the 1^st quilt I made. It is a Brick Quilt called "flannel" (I didn't use flannel) from Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Magazine. It was in the November/December 2006 issue and it looked like the perfect “1^st quilt”.  I made it for a very special boy, my grandson Gainz.  I didn't start small either! It measures 70” x 84”. I quilted an “X” in each brick. It took me about a month to finish it. 

1st Quilt made August 2011

Gainz