Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Art of Making Do

I received my last two blocks in the mail for my Scrappy String Star (Let's Bee Together) quilt this past weekend, so I was super motivated to get the top completed.  Initially, I had purchased a couple yards of white on white fabric to be the background, but I was determined to have that be the only fabric purchase for the quilt - the rest was to come from my stash of scraps.

Great in theory, but I once I got the top together, it was 64" square, and I didn't want a square quilt.  I wanted a twin sized quilt, so it needed more length.  Unfortunately, I didn't have much of the background fabric left, and it was already cut into smallish pieces smaller than my blocks.  What to do, what to do??

First, I already had two left over scrappy HST blocks made, so I made two more with the biggest piece of background fabric, and put two pairs together to be the center of the top and bottom row.  Then, I pieced the rest of the background fabric together to finish out a top and a bottom row.
Can you see the two seams, trying to make the pieces I had fit the space I had left?
Of course, there wasn't quite enough.  Into the stash I went, and pulled out a piece of white on white that was close enough.
Swirls, leaves - what's the difference, anyway?
Voila!  It is a quilt top! 
I have to admit, it is a little hard for me to leave it like this - doesn't it seem unfinished on the sides?  But I didn't want a square quilt, so this will have to do.
64" x 85.5" - big enough to cover a twin bed with 10" of drape on both sides and the bottom of the bed.
Donald got excited and said, "Wait!  I get to have TWO quilts on my bed??"  I didn't have the heart to tell him I just put it there to make sure it was big enough and to take a photo...
Definitely big enough to cuddle up in on the porch as I look out on the morning rain.
I kinda wanted to just stay on the porch this morning, enjoying the cool and the wet, but alas, duty calls.
Hopefully, whoever is enjoying the quilt won't notice the way I had to improvise to complete the top and bottom rows.  If someone does notice, hopefully she will see it as part of the charm of a scrappy quilt.  After all, my favorite quilt book of all time and the one who got me started along this delightful, fabric-filled journey, is Roberta Horton's Scrap Quilts - The Art of Making Do!

8 comments:

Auntie Em said...

I was going to agree with you that the sides looked a little unfinished, until I saw the picture of it on the bed. It looks great! A colored binding all around will give it a nice frame and finish the sides.

When you make a fabric using only stash, I think that counts as a "free" quilt, right?

Char said...

I love it! Make do quilts are really the best, they been around for centuries.

Caz said...

What a great quilt,,

Shay said...

It looks amazing both on the bed and draped around your shoulders out there on your fabulous porch.

There is something so charming about scrappy quilts.

Cheryl Willis said...

looks great, I too suggest a colorful binding. Nice size for a 'free' quilt- lol

Julie Fukuda said...

Great solution! That's what scrappy" is all about.

Lisa C said...

A colorful binding will be the perfect finish. It's very pretty. However, I LOVE square quilts! I have no idea why. I might have to give that some thought!

joe tulips said...

I love the way it doesn't match. It goes with the scrappy-ness of it.
You can see it is different, but not really. How old is the book? I wonder if it is still available?