Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Easy Piecing

I've been thinking that sometimes a person just needs an easy project. Just a little mindless stitching to allow our brains to rest. Here are some quilts that would fit the bill.

If you're new to quilting, any one of these quilts would be easy enough to begin with. Take you time, ask questions, and lay the blocks out on a flat surface or design wall. Feel free to email me at mary.marcotte@gmail.com if you need help. I'll gladly try to help.

Quilting teaches me.... Simplicity

Introduction
I've been quilting for a lifetime, literally, and have come to the conclusion that we do what we love in part because it challenges us to learn. Anyone who quilts can attest to the idea of learning about fabric and supplies, blocks and backings, sewing and making. 
I'm exploring the other things that quilting teaches.

Erica's Hot Pink Girl

Simplicity is not something that may quickly come to mind when we think about quilting. After all, there are those fancy quilting motifs and, yikes!, those itty-bitty block pieces. What about this EPP business? Is there anything simple about quilting? I didn't think so.

Jack jumped over the candlestick

Well, I didn't. You know, way back when I started quilting. That first quilt was actually very simple, but I certainly didn't think so at the time. Let's fast-forward a couple of ten years. By that time I'd made many quilts, some for no reason except that I wanted to. I'd get an idea for a quilt and that quilt just had to be made. It didn't matter how difficult--I just convinced myself to study and figure it out. 

Always though, I'd come back to an easy quilt. It's a great way to quilt while my brain rests and thinks up new quilts. Funny how that works. 

The simplicity part. There are times when a simple quilt is the only way to go. Four-patches and nine-patches--straightforward, easy, controlled or scrappy...none it matters except the quilt. 

Sophie's Quilt (with 5 Babuska babies)

Simple quilts have their own kind of beauty. Those matching corners, which are okay even if they don't quite match. The straight lines and open areas. Perfect for a simple girl--one who lives in tee-shirts and flip-flops. Perfect for a new baby who just wants to be snuggled and warm. Perfect for almost anyone, almost anytime.

Don't get me wrong, I love dreaming up new ideas and creating quilts with hidden meanings. Art quilts are my current rave. But I always come back to simple. 

Quilting teaches me...

Perseverance

Charity

Simplicity

Patience

Why

Authenticity

Courage

Contentment

Pretty Maids All in a Row ~~ Finished!

One of the kits that I put together to sew while we were on vacation is this set of pink bricks. It was easy, straight-forward sewing with no thinking necessary: sew two together until all the pairs were done; then sew up the pairs and so on until all the columns were finished. Press and sew the columns together and in no time I had a quilt top folded and put away in my "sewing room" cubby in the camper. 

I think I enjoyed sewing this quilt top precisely because it was so easy. Who wants to work on a difficult quilt while unwinding, right? I think that there are enough variety that I didn't worry about whether the same fabrics were close to each other. 

 The quilt is very pink, perfect for a girly, girl, so I quilted it with an all over feather motif. Where the feathers didn't quite meet, I added some pebbles. And that's it!

Kept it very simple and easy. Can you see the feathers? They are pretty big, but I wanted to cover lots of space so that the quilt will be soft and cuddly. 

 A couple of new teachers at work are expecting babies or just had a baby! So I thought I'd replenish the pile of baby quilts that I've already begun to give away. 

	Quilt Stats
Name	Pretty Maids All in a Row
Size	41" x 42"
Fabrics	Scrap fabrics—pinks (entirely from scraps/stash)
Backing	Stash fabrics in gray
Binding	Moda light pink from stash
Pattern	2½  X 5 bricks
Quilting	Free motion feathers with pebbling  between feathers
Completed	June 2016

Linking up with

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Baby Dolls and Quilts

Know what you can do when you don't have to go to work?  Anything.  Anything at all. Anything you want to do.  Anything, even if it's useless.  That's what I did today.  Anything useless.  I made a couple of baby doll quilts.  For the little granddaughters, of course, but it's not as if they asked for the quilts, and the baby dolls surely didn't ask.  But what the heck....I had an idea.  And, since I don't have to work, I chose to play.

Baby dolls need quilts, too, don't they?  Can't have those babies getting cold.  Especially since they got strollers and beds and bouncy seats for Christmas.  It only makes sense that I make a couple of quilts to add to the hoard.  

Ta da!  Three little quilts: a red, a purple and a pink.  I decided to up the ante and set some rules.  First, I wanted to use leftover scraps and strips.  No cutting into the real stash and absolutely no purchasing.  That could not happen.  I did use some white from the stash but I tried to use up scraps and pieces when possible.  

It worked well, but it didn't make much of a dent in the scraps stash.  In fact, I don't know that it shows at all, but I had fun with the charge, anyway.  The little quilts were easy enough to make and once I made the first one, I decided to make the two other tops and quilt them together.  
That really moved things along and, obviously, I finished them up in no time.  Now they are just waiting for a visit from some little mommies.  That should happen this weekend.  I'm pretty excited to share these little quilties.  

What are you working on during the break?  Big or little projects?  Fun or difficult projects?  Anything unusual?

Lola Modern Finished

Little Squares Quilt

I've been working on a little modern quilt that I call "Lola Modern."  Lola because the fabrics are bold modern fabrics that I picked up at Lola Pink Fabrics in Lafayette.  I've had them for a while and had the idea for this little quilt while working on "Little Squares" which was way back in March.  Ahh well, sometimes a quilt has to wait.

The thing about this quilt is that I started it on a whim and finished it in less than a week.  It really is fast and easy.  A block has only three pieces and because it's a large baby quilt, there aren't many blocks.  In fact, I didn't even get to use all the modern fabrics that I had planned.

Can you see how easy it is?  I started cutting the fabrics a couple of weeks ago but got sidetracked with the hummingbird quilt.  All I had to do was handle those hummers and I was smitten.  Then I had other things going on, so the five or six squares that I had cut out just sat and waited patiently until I came back to them.  I cut a few more and before I knew it, I had enough to start sewing.

I loaded the quilt on the long arm Wednesday after school and when I came in from the studio, the quilting was done!  I know, right?  That was fast.  I wanted to play with these allover feathers, which I saw on Pinterest, and I do love the speed and ease of this technique.  To start I stitched some big loopy centers on so that both ends landed somewhere in the middle of the quilt.   Then I dropped in the feathers.  When I had that side of the quilt finished, I moved to the other side but made sure I could still get to the two open ends.  All I had to do was start with one open end and make big loopy centers working my way to the other open end.  Drop in the feathers and voila!  I did go back and look for open spaces so that I could fill them with extra feathers or scrolls, but even that took only a few minutes.

I really like this little quilt!  If you're looking for a quick, easy project, this could be the one.  Just cut some six inch squares of your favorite fabrics, some 6 X 4 inch squares of white,  and some some 5 X 12 inch rectangles of white.  One of each will give you a block.



Happy Quilting, 
Mary  

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Easy Quilts

Ever just want to work on an easy project?  Something that your hands can do while your brain is fiddling with something else?  I've found that straight line sewing with scrap pieces is the best for easy quilting.  

from Cotton Quilters Guild Show 2013

Using the paper bag method, which is just tossing all the pieces into a bag and pulling them out as they come, allows the brain to work on a different problem than which color or piece is next. 

from Cotton Quilters' Guild Show 2013

Plus, there's the added benefit of strip piecing.  Square pieces of any size works, as do thimble/tumbler blocks and strips.  Just sew as it comes and don't over-think the process. 

These are also called one-block quilts and generally don't take very long to make, especially if they are lap or baby quilts, but even the larger ones are pretty fast about coming together.  

And the best part is that there are so many easy shapes and blocks that you can make several before you get tired of them.  Stick to a color scheme, or don't.  That's part of the fun of easy quilts.

All photos from Pinterest unless otherwise noted.

Another bit of the fun is that you can churn them out while your brain is multi-tasking.