The Scrappy Quilt of Joy

Yes, that is it's official name. Here it is!

The Scrappy Quilt of Joy!

After banging on about using up scraps for ages, and showing a few progress shots during my Sewvember post, I finally finished the Scrappy Quilt of Joy within the first few days of January, which actually turned out to be pretty great timing, because oh my word it suddenly got COLD after that!

One of the reasons this quilt brings me so much joy is that it was all either from the stash, and completely free. Well, apart from my sewing machine electricity, I guess, but I can live with that. Oh, and thread. I bought thread. I can no longer claim this quilt was ENTIRELY free, but, hey, it was pretty close to it.

Even the wadding (batting to some)? YES. Because it is actually a very old polar fleece blanket. Just one of those cheapie Ikea ones that has graced the back of our couch for about 5 years, and was all grey, a bit stained and generally sad-looking. But it was still warm. I have a really hard time throwing away something that is still useful, which is why I decided to make this quilt, and it worked so well. In fact, if you're quilting on a budget I would really recommend using a polar fleece blanket as wadding!

So, the quilt top is in lovely window-type patches of four with white sashing around the edge. You can see I even did some patchwork within the patchwork if you know what I mean. DEDICATED to using up those scraps! Even some of the white sashing is pieced.

And the back? Well, it is, er, perfectly imperfect. I went patchwork again (because scraps), and used an old bed sheet for the white strips, having run out of the white cotton I used on the front (and I was determined to not buy any fabric for this). The only reason I'm not completely thrilled with the back is because it's a bit (a lot) wonky, and the quilting makes it quite obvious. If you don't look too closely though, I actually really like the stripey back.

The lovely wonky striped back of the quilt

And how did I choose my fabrics? The test was: any colours which appear in the cow painting were allowed. The cow painting was my wedding present to Liam, and I really love the colours in it. You can see it in some of the "quilt with feet" pictures. I would hold up a piece of fabric, and if it seemed to "go" with the painting, it was allowed in my quilt!

I made scrappy binding as I went along, and I'm so glad I did. I love how it looks. I will definitely do this again with future quilts. I SAY future quilts, but I don't have any immediate quilting plans. It takes a while to forget just how annoying it is to wrestle all that quilt through my little machine. I'm sure I will make another at some point, but now I really want to get back to dress making.

This project was the first time I used my new walking foot (which I bought ages ago). Yep, I love it!! Such a great purchase! Beginner quilters: if you don't have a walking foot though, don't worry! I made my first quilt without one and it turned out pretty great.

The Scrappy Quilt of Joy does bring me a lot of joy, whether it's folded up on the back of the sofa or (preferably) when I'm wrapped up in it with a nice warm cuppa. Especially whilst I rid myself of the cold I seem to have picked up! Time to grab the quilt and hibernate for a bit!