Working Together

Once upon a time, a group of us in our quilt group decided to have an exchange.  We decided to exchange 6 in. squares of 100% cotton fabric.  Those were are only criteria.  Eight or ten of us participated, so you'd think the variety wouldn't be there.
But it WAS.
Here's the quilt top as a whole, spread on my queen sized bed:

All sorts of fabrics are in this quilt top.  Naturally, because I participated, there are reproduction fabrics, maybe a few too many.  I was a little heavy-handed with the yellow.

But look at all the other prints!  Wild dots, some that look hand-dyed, some that look like abstract art.

Did you notice this red one?  Takes me back to the 1980s!

The blue floral in the foreground may have come from further back than that.  It's a polycotton, but I kept it anyway.

There is just about every holiday fabric in here too--Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, even St. Patrick's Day.

I love the farm prints.  Because these were already in here, I added in scraps from my tractor quilt.  It does look a little weird.

My favorite fabric of all is the orange cat fabric, see below.  Wow! 

I have to admit, sometimes I stress out about scrap quilts.  I like to restrict them to one kind of fabric (pastels, brights, etc.) or, with reproductions, one time period (1880s, 1930s).  And that system works for me.  But pooling all our fabric and making something simple with it works too.
I don't think I would ever have chosen these fabrics to make a quilt.  But strangely enough, they actually work together.  Their amazing, crazy diversity makes the quilt better.  (Hmm--is there a metaphor in here somewhere?)
To make this block, which is sometimes called split patch, I cut my 6 in. squares in half on the diagonal, and sewed them together, dark with light.  I ended up with a 5 in. finished half square triangle.  I laid them out following a picture of an Amish quilt in a book.  There are 120 split patches in this almost-twin sized top, 10 across and 12 down.  The borders are 5 in. finished.  The top itself finishes at 60 in. x 70 in.  BTW, this size would work for a Quilt of Honor.  Wouldn't it be great in red, white, and blue?
This quilt will be finished and donated to a good cause.  One more project moving on!

Speaking of which, since last week I've been working hard on clearing away some of the mess and finishing a couple of small quilts.

I call this pattern Some Random 4 Patch, and the tutorial has been on this blog in the past.  Check out the link:  Some Random 4 Patch
This was one of the baby quilts on the table in the last post.  I didn't use sashing with it this time.

And one more!  I call this pattern Jelly Roll Bricks, and I've given the pattern for it here in the past also.  Here's the link:
Jelly Roll Bricks Quilt

You might notice I've got the same fabric on the back of both baby quilts.  When I see something suitable on sale, I like to buy at least 3 yards of it.  Three yards will back 2 baby quilts, with a couple of scraps left over.

My over-flowing projects pile in last week's blog was kind of embarrassing.  I tidied it up a bit, and it helped that I was able to take a few things out.  Here's what it looks like now.

Okay, not great, but better, right?  The stack on the left needs more piecing, mostly borders added.  The bigger stack in the box is ready to quilt.  Lots of potential here.
I'll be away from the computer (and the sewing machine!) for the next week.  But don't worry, I've got plenty of hand work to do.
May all your days be pieceful.