Scrappy Quilt - Part 1

Here is the start of the scrappy quilt.  I bragged about my previous quilts in a recent post: Quilts - Brag Pics.  I got a couple of comments and a bunch of people viewed it.  It was great!  Now this quilt I'm making now takes a little bit from each one of the quilts, sort of like a memory quilt.

I am making another log cabin (they are easy and I don't need to learn anything new) and I follow the fabric needs and instructions in the Quilt in a Day book series.

This really is a great book, as you can tell in my previous Quilt post, I made several and had this book by my side each time.  This time I am choosing to make a Lap quilt size, which should be about 54" x 68".  I will need a total of 12 blocks.

Above is my collection of fabric.  Some are already cut into strips and some are still fabric that are whole pieces.  I tried to separate into light and dark.  The reason why I do this is so that you will see a distinction in the pattern when I put it all together.

I cut a bunch of strips, about 2 or three strips per fabric.

Those above are my "Darks."

Those above are my "Lights."

I chose the same fabric to be my center square.  I thought choosing the same fabric would give the quilt a focal point or points of reference that would give order in a chaotic array of fabric.  Now, I like the thought of scrappy, but I have rules to my scrappy.  They are:

1. Have to have separation from the Lights and the Darks; I could not let it be completely random
2. No two strips of the same fabric could be in the same block
3. No two strips of the same fabric can be next to each other once all together

I guess you could say this is an OCD Scrappy Quilt.

Here is the "Center."  It was one of the main colors in Alex's quilt. 

Once the center is cut into a square, you need another set of squares to be your first addition strip.  I chose two different fabircs, so they don't look that different yet.

Above is adding on the second strip.  You pretty much go around the square adding on either a Light or a Dark strip until your block measures about 14" x 14".

The beauty of strip quilting is that normally you make the blocks all the same so you sew them all at the same rate.  The challenge with this scrappy way is that I wanted each block to be unique, so I was dealing with having to constantly grab new strips rather than the same one.  Might not sound like a big deal, but it was a bit of a hassle.  A labor of love, that's all I can say.

Almost there...

Here is one finished block.  I have finished all 12 blocks.  You will have to stay tuned to see how it progresses.  I will leave you with that one block to fantasize how scrappy the other 11 blocks are.

Toodles!