The past week has been light on the sewing time and heavy on the planning time. Perhaps it’s the promise of fall and thoughts chilly nights under a quilt (or ten!) that has brought on this onslaught of inspiration. Here are a few of my current projects and a few more that I’m starting this week:
Picnic Quilt
If you saw my weekend post, you got a sneak peak of my scrabble block! If you ever want a taste of losing it, sew together 225 1.5-inch squares into a board game layout. I have been not as motivated to work on this, but I need to just push through.
Here’s a ROUGH sketch of the quilt layout:
I’ve been itching to make some swoon blocks, but don’t really want to do a whole swoon quilt at the moment, so I’m throwing them in here. And I’ve really been wanting to try my hand at flying geese so they weaseled their way in too.
Mal’s Bridal Shower Quilt
At my sister’s bridal shower a few weeks back, I had everyone write marriage advice or well wishes on squares of white fabric to be put into a quilt for her to enjoy.
I wanted to use her wedding colors in the quilt, but I didn’t have much in my stash (lavender and yellow just aren’t my thing… sorry sis!!). So I placed a few fabric orders and I’m praying the colors will go together. Since it needs to be done in 3 weeks, I went with a quick (but hopefully cute) design:
EPP diamonds
Since I finished my first hand quilted project in May, I’ve really missed having something to work on in the evenings when I’m watching a movie with the husband. Sarah from Sarah Quilts posted about her EPP hexie project and it was just the inspiration I needed.
I fell in love with some quilts made with the diamond shape, so I decided to go for it! My goal is to incorporate at lot of my vintage fabrics into this one! I’m working with 2 1/2in diamonds so it should go together fairly quickly (for what it is :)).
Quilt blocks with scraps from finished quilts
Ashley from Wasn’t Quilt in a Day posted a while back about making a “fabric scrapbook” of sorts, with each block being made from scraps from one quilt you’ve made. Since I give all of my finished quilts away as gifts (so far :)), I love the idea of getting to keep a little piece of them with me. I definitely want to do some sort of star block, maybe this Seaside Star pattern?
Have a great rest of your week! This weekend we’re heading to Oregon to visit family so I’m excited to bring a bunch of my EPP diamonds along. Hooray for portable projects!!
-Michelle
Sarah says
A Scrabble block is an awesome idea! Can’t wait to see it.
mbartholomew says
Thanks Sarah! I’m excited too 🙂
snips says
Wow, so that’s what those little squares were for. This quilt is going to be awesome! I just love the layout for it. And your quilt for your sis is going to be lovely too! EPP… eeep! you know my thoughts on that!! And with vintage fabrics, can’t wait!
mbartholomew says
Yah those little squares tired me out so much I couldn’t even write words on that post. Luckily I’m starting to see the light at the end of that tunnel. And I do think it will really make the picnic quilt extra awesome. haha, eeeeep! I’m excited! 🙂
sarahschraw says
Awesomeness! Particularly can’t wait to see how the picnic one comes together. I like how those flying geese look between the swoon blocks. I haven’t seen anyone do that.
mbartholomew says
Thanks! I’m excited to see how the flying geese turn out as well.
Ashley says
Loving all of these different projects – especially that game board quilt. I need to catch up on my scrapbook quilt, that’s going to be my October goal so that I don’t get too behind! So easy to get behind. I especially love that diamond quilt!
mbartholomew says
Thanks for the inspiration for the scrapbook quilt, such a good idea! I agree it is so easy to get behind on that. I’m excited to see how yours comes together!
Eliza says
As I’m a fan of scrabble and the online game Words with Friends, I’m just loving your idea of a board game quilt, it’s a great idea!
mbartholomew says
Thanks Eliza! I’m envisioning going on lots of picnics just to get to play on my quilt 🙂
Willit Neverend says
Ah, so that’s what the little squares were all about. Excellent idea. Backgammon would make a pretty cool visual for the third game.
The other quilt ideas are great, too.
mbartholomew says
Oh, I like the Backgammon idea. It has great visuals. That might require learning to play it though. 🙂 Do you know if it’s a difficult game to learn?
Willit Neverend says
Not difficult, and fun, from memory – although I would have to relearn it myself at this point.
mbartholomew says
Yah, I think it would be fun to learn a new game. Get out of my game rut 🙂