English Paper Piecing

I mentioned in my last post that I want to start a hand project so I have something portable or that I can work on in the evenings. I love English Paper Piecing and really want to do a hexie scrap quilt. If hexagons aren't your favorite, there are lots of other shapes too.

A Scrappy Finish

I'm sitting here all snuggled up under a freshly washed scrappy quilt typing up this post. I really wasn't that crazy about it as I was finishing the quilting part, but it is kind of growing on me. 

12 X 12 Backing Ideas

I finally finished the quilt top for our first scrap busting project! Are you with me - or getting close?

As I was mindlessly sewing these pieces together, I was thinking about backing. Here are some of my thoughts on backing:

12 X 12 Small Scrappy Rectangles

Oops! I forgot to post the construction details for the smaller versions of this quilt. If you are making this quilt in the smallest size - 39-1/2" X 48", you need to make 7 rows of 9 larger rectangles alternating with 8 skinny rectangles. (refer to the 1/11/12 post for more details, if needed) Then you'll fill in between those rows with the little 1-1/2" pieces - make 6 of those rows.

For the medium sized quilt (44" X 55"), you'll have 8 rows of 10 large and 9 skinny rectangles. Make 9 of the 1-1/2" rows to fill in between.

12 X 12 Scrappy Rectangles construction

Ready to start sewing these together? (For the background on this quilt-along, click here.) There are a lot of pieces, but it's actually a relaxing kind of stitching. You know - just a lot of straight lines, all the pieces are short and match easily. We just have to get everything together and then start chain-piecing. (Since we're stash-busting, this is a great time to let our minds wander off to how we're going to re-fill our storage bins with an even better stash!)

Valentine's Day Showcase

Our blogging friend, Melissa from Sew BitterSweet Designs is hosting a Valentine's Day Showcase and has asked us to participate! Of course, we jumped on it - it was a request too sweet to pass up!

Each day for a week leading up to Valentine's Day, she'll have a guest blogger (like us!!) post something fun. It may an easy project or a cool tutorial or maybe even something tasty. We'll just have to wait and see what's in store.

Meanwhile, get your sweetest fabrics ready for a really fun week!

12 X 12 Scrappy Rectangles question answered

A blog follower asked this question today:

"Question- is there any way i could cut this in half? like child/baby size I'm slowly learning quilting but have tons of scraps from sewing that i'd love to use up but I know not enough for this size. If there is a way -could you possibly help me out with the amount per each etc? thanks so much" 

Well, Jessica (and anyone else wanting a smaller size), we are happy to help!  Listed after the jump are options in 2 sizes so you can decide which you like. On a side note, the full-size project doesn't actually use up as many scraps as you might hope think it will!

12 X 12 - Scrappy Rectangles Next Steps

Let's get this show on the road! For anyone just joining us, click here to get the whole scoop! As you know, in our previous post, we had you get started sorting your stash into color groups. If you're still sorting fabrics, that's fine. I'm going to go ahead and get this first project started. Anyone can join us/start at any time. Here's what we're going to make with our stash scraps:

This quilt finishes at 59-1/2" X 69-1/2". It's made up of 3 different sizes of rectangles and one small square - super easy!

12 X 12 - Getting Started

Our twelve scrappy projects for 2012 will be detailed in posts tagged "12 X 12" throughout the year. Want to know more about our Scrappy New Year Quilt-along? Click here.

Today, we are going to start collecting and prepping scraps for two projects - a scrappy pet bed and a super simple scrappy quilt.