Eclectic Flower Garden Finish

Eclectic Flower Garden

It's a finish!

54 x 72

Inspiration  and a tutorial for the blocks from Den Seyende Himmel blog.

The last couple of years I have made an effort to use up my strings and have made a variety of different quilt tops. This one was the last in a line - full of the shortest and skinniest of strings. 

I used black waste triangles for the last "string" on each block. . 

I used a rather eclectic mix of five inch squares of floral fabrics. Most of those chunks of fabrics I had set aside in a little "what do I do with these" pile. A lot of the pieces were given to me over the years. Some of the florals are "vintage" and some I thought of as bordering on down right ugly. But really...can a flower be ugly? There is quite a range of textures - duck, dotted swiss, poplin, seersucker, nubby, polyester, upholstery...

Eclectic...all found their place together in this flower garden. 

I finished all of the blocks back in March 2021 and set them aside in the "Some Assembly Required" box for awhile. 

In October 2021 I figured it was time to assemble the blocks and a top was born. 

I quilted in some three petaled flowers in white thread on my DSM. 

Spring was on the front. Winter is on the back - leaves and twigs in the snow. 

The batting was pieced. 

The binding came out of the leftover binding box and is an eclectic mix of florals. 

Nothing goes to waste around here. 

And sew on...

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Wonky Log Cabin

Wonky Log Cabin

45 x 54

It's a flimsy!

Made with shorter strings it is string quilt top #5 to come out of my big box of strings. 

I used three inch red squares for the centers. Why? Because I had those pieces left over from making the Crossed String Top still on my cutting mat so it seemed to be a good idea to use them up. I almost had enough but had to dig a red solid scrap out of the box of red scraps so I'd have 30 squares. 

I decided to make 9 inch blocks with half in light strings and the other half bright/dark strings. Then I used the Fields and Furrows layout. 

 

Some Assembly Required

Eclectic Flower Garden

I've finished 192 blocks and they are now ready to be assembled into a top. 

I first saw these blocks at Den syende himmel and thought they would be a good use for my short and skinny strings.  I am not going to sash my blocks. For the backgrounds I cut 5 inch squares from an eclectic mix of florals.  For the black corners I used waste triangles. 

Now the blocks are going into the "Some Assembly Required" box of complete block sets.

 The "some assembly required" box now contains the following block sets: 

 Sunny Lanes

Animal Crackers II

Pastel Roses

Peacock Feathers

Wedding Rings

16 Patch

Double X/Snowball (vintage inspired)

Log Cabin

Eclectic Flower Garden

My March OMG (One Monthly Goal) is to assemble at least one top from the list above. 

Elm Street Quilts OMG

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Crooked; Off-Center; Askew = Wonky

Wonky Happies? Wonky Logs? Just Wonky? 

45 x 54

I used a pile of 5 inch (or were they 6.5 inch?) black & white squares I swapped quite some time ago...

...and framed them with some bright short strings 

I pieced together some leftover batting pieces and some leftover binding pieces...

...and pieced together a nice piece of cotton gingham I found at the thrift store long ago. 

I quilted it on my plain Jane Janome DSM with some free motion squares and rectangles. 

The quilting made it all poofy and cuddly. 

I improvised - used what I had on hand - leftover fabric strings, leftover batting, leftover binding, thrift store backing.    I get a good feeling using up what some others might give away or (gasp!) throw away. 

This quilt will go into the donation pile. I like to have a pile of donation quilts handy for any occasions that arise and at the end of the year I send any left off to their destinations.  This year I'm making some emergency car kits for Christmas gifts and including a small quilt along with some other survival items. So, some of these smaller quilts might go into those boxes.

Some Thoughts on Improv

 I'm afraid you will only see me doing what some others define as "improv" with scraps. Improv to me is short for improvise - use what you have on hand. (Well, on second thought...with that definition of improv alone most of my quilts then would be considered improv since I rarely buy any fabric these days and am using what I have on hand). I really have no desire to cut willy-nilly into my"good stash" paid for with hard earned money, to do without all the rulers and other tools I have at my disposal, to not do my best to match points or seams . I started out like that but now I love piecing - actually I'm starting to enjoy the more challenging blocks to piece more and more -  and have no need to go back to my old ways. I already feel "free" whenever I sew anything or work out in my garden or take off my bra and shoes and socks so no need to get liberated doing any specific type of quilting .  I'm happy just doing my own thing whatever that may be for the day.  But when there's scraps left over from doing what I want to do - then I might get a little wonky or do a little free piecing or some crazy quilting and I might even have some mismatched points.  I like it all. 

If you want to see some other improv interpretations and some Ad Hoc Improv Quilters you just have to visit Kaja's Sew Slowly blog  and Ann's Fret Not Yourself blog.  

Please note: I haven't gotten around to visiting my usual blog list lately to see what everyone has been working on or returned a thank you for each lovely comment because I have been feeling like the walking dead since Monday (as you can see from my Quilty 365 circle ) .  I'm hoping to be around to visit soon.