Nothing That a Bit of Scrappy Won't Cure!

I finished the quilting on Cherry Crunch!

The best part?  Giggling at all of the weird fabrics that went into it.  They span decades!

Amongst the favorites?  The Cat in the Hat in the reds, and some Kellogg's cereal prints in the neutrals.

There is even Pittsburgh Steelers fabric in here - not because I am a football fan, but because it came in a scrap box sent by a friend.

And I'm constantly continuing to test that whole "If it's still ugly, cut it smaller!" thing!

And Wonder of Wonders - I didn't make this one giant.

It's about 70'' X 77''.  A good couch size.  And while my first thought was that it would be a Christmas quilt, there is some patriotic, some florals, a lot of novelty, and whatever else fit the bill of either neutral or red.

There are music notes.  Red bandana. OLD Christmas. And some Halloween!

And what's this on the back?

Japanese Koi fish??

Don't worry, it rolls over to a red on black floral!

I spy Canada and cows in the border!

Anything red-on-black went into the backing.

The great fabric bin clean out of the 2020's continues.  I'm considering this as 5 yards gone and worth it!

Yes, there are sewing notions, Minnie Mouse, and Betty Boop and red chili peppers in there along with the Koi fish.  Why not?

Trimmed and ready for binding.

What a happy mess!

A cranberry binding to finish the edge just right.

I didn't choose a red that would disappear at the edge of that string border - I needed it to be just a bit bolder, so leaning toward the cranberry side of red will give me the finish that I want.  

Cherry Crunch will likely make its appearance as a PDF pattern after Quiltville Winter Mystery season is over.  In the mean time, start pulling those red and neutral scraps and set them aside with intent!

And now I am ready for some more nights of stitching binding down as darkness comes earlier and we snuggle in to watch TV in the evenings.

We are still plugging away on Scandal. (SO GOOD!) and interrupt that on a weekly basis to sneak in Blue Bloods and the NCIS's.  The NCIS Hawaii is growing on us, it's just taken a while to learn the characters.  

We are also chuckling greatly over Boston Legal, which we never saw when it was running in real time. Hysterical!

New Tricks still makes an appearance on occasion - and that is pretty much what you'll find on our playlist as of late.

In other updates - Click to Play:

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More info on Boxy Bow Ties!

I've had requests to show close ups of the fabrics I've used in Boxy Bow Ties.

I understand how hard it is to break away from playing the matchy-matchy game.  It can be a struggle for many.

In my own quilting, I pretty much stop focusing on the PRINT on the fabric, and just look at it as if it were a color crayon. 

ALL COLORS WORK TOGETHER.

I go for variety, the more variety the better.  Spread that variety around.  Pull in some things that clash - because that's where the magic happens.  The unexpected may surprise you!

When it comes to setting the block quarters into big blocks - look at the scale of the design on the fabrics so that you aren't putting all "small stuff" into one block - Perhaps one has a floral, one has a geometric, one has a novelty, one has a little ditzy print.  Keep it a bit jumbled up.

And don't forget to stand 6 feet away - because sometimes I think we can get too close to things and miss the whole picture.

I hope this helps!

We tend to think there is safety "in the box"  But it is this thinking that is keeping us from growing.

Step out of the box.  We need a larger space to play and create.  You can't grow if you are boxed in.

Are you ready to begin? Start here:

Have you entered the Gift-Away?

I'll be drawing for one winner who will receive the printable PDF pattern for Boxy Bow Ties for themselves AND a friend, along with this for both:

A This & That Fabric Roll from Cotton to Quilts!

Enter to win ON THAT POST.

Drawing to happen Monday 10/25/21!

You'll find Boxy Bow Ties in the digital pattern section of the Quiltville Store! And to kick this excitement into gear, I've placed it at 25% off through 10/31/21 at only $9.00, No coupon required!

Don't forget that my Punkin Patch Runner is also marked 50% off at only $5.00 through 10/31/21 as well!

If this is your first time downloading digital patterns from my store to a computer click HERE.

If you intend to download to an iPhone/iPad click HERE.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

How boring life would be if all of the same quilts were made with all of the same fabrics and everything was identical and perfect. ⁣

⁣

Dare to be the one that stands out, not the one that is exactly like the others.

I'm off to start a 3 day Midnight Flight workshop with the Scrappy Sisters who arrived from Tennessee yesterday afternoon.

Oh, and my "Make One Thing Better" from yesterday? It wasn't a big deal, but I trimmed up all of the backing scraps left from quilting Cherry Crunch and sliced them into Scrap User's System sizes and put them all away.  No piling them on flat surfaces.  It was a great feel good!

Have a lovely Thursday, everyone!