Positively Scrappy

Quilt #1 in the 2016 Year of Scrapfabulousness Series

Positively Scrappy, the first in my 2016 Year of Scrapfabulousness Series, is the ultimate scrap quilt. It’s made up entirely of 2.5″ blocks – 1,440 of them to be exact. You don’t need any yardage. It’s ALL scraps. And it’s so easy to customize the look and size of this quilt.

I used my Accuquilt to cut the blocks, but you could easily do this with a jelly roll, fat quarters, whatever. I enjoyed putting it together, from start to finish. Can’t wait to get it quilted.

Skill Level: Upper Beginner

This pattern uses only 2.5″ squares. Nothing difficult about that. Really, the biggest challenge is the layout. I worked in big sections of 12 squares by 12. I laid it all out to my satisfaction and sewed, row by row. There would be unfinished pluses along each edge, so when I moved to the next section, I had to reference the adjoining ones to complete the pattern. It was an organizational nightmare, but the sewing itself was easy.

Accuquilt Friendly: Very

This quilt is comprised entirely of 2.5″ squares. The Accuquilt made cutting a breeze.

Precut Friendly: Very

If you don’t have a huge tub of scraps like I do, precuts are the next best thing. You could use jelly rolls, or charm packs, or even larger cuts like fat quarters.

Fabric Requirements

• 3 Jelly Rolls – you would have about three-quarters of a roll left. Or…
• 9 Charm Packs – That doesn’t leave you any wiggle room, so you might want to pick up ten. Or…
• 26 Fat Quarters – Again, I would recommend a few extra to account for mistakes. Or…
• 1 heaping pile of scraps – Each scrap should be at least big enough to get 5 squares @ 2.5″ each.

This quilt is 36 squares wide by 40 squares long. The finished dimensions are 72″ x 80″. And of course you can make it any size you like. That’s just what I ended up with.

 

2016 – Year of Scrapfabulousness

After nearly 40 years of sewing, I have accumulated a LOT of scraps. You’d think I would have done something with them by now, but sadly, I have not. I might never have, except we recently moved to Hawaii where the houses are much smaller. I have hardly any storage space, so the scraps must go. I can’t bear to throw them away, though, which is why I’ve designated 2016 as the Year of Scrapfabulousness.

By the end of this year, one of my scrap tubs must go.

I’ve made some progress…

I used my Accuquilt cutter (which I adore) to cut 4 1/2″ and 2 1/2″ squares. I’ll keep doing that all year. But… one of my favorite things to do for those pieces that are smaller than 2 1/2″ is this…

This is such a low-stress sewing activity for me. When I don’t feel like doing anything else, I’ll grab a stack of scraps and start randomly sewing them together. Once I have something close to 4 1/2″ square, I run it through the Accuquilt. Aren’t they cute? I can’t wait to make a quilt with them.

The only problem is, the more scraps I take out of the bucket, the madder my dog gets.

TTFN.