Evolution of Strip Tops?

If you have read for any length of time, you have seen the various color strip donation tops I have been working on.

I am really liking the way they are coming out, the slight variations I have explored and the way the shift in colors makes the top look different. Also, Tim’s quilting adds a whole additional dimension.

Julie Sefton's Inspi(Red) quilt
Julie Sefton’s Inspi(Red) quilt

My mind was slightly blown the other day when I looked a a post from Quilt Diva Julie. she covers a lot in her posts and I was just about to click away when I saw her quilt, Inspi(red). I love the little sparks of color that show up against the red. This quilt gives me another idea for these color scrap quilts on which I have been working.

Julie was kind enough to give me permission to post her quilt here. She writes “INSPI(RED) is the red quilt on the blog today with inserts that are the trimmings from the center strips of Luminous.   Inspi(red) is my own interpretation of a pattern named Bright Birch Trees by Amanda Jean Nyberg (Crazy Mom Quilts)”.

N.B. Crazy Mom Quilts is no longer being updated and some of the links no longer work, including the link to the Bright Birch Trees pattern. 🙁 If you are patient you can see the Bright Birch Trees image, which uses a variety of different colored backgrounds.

Thin Orange Strips
Thin Orange Strips

I never really know how images out on the web will hit me. I am so grateful that people are still posting on blogs and talking about their work. This quilt made me think of the thin strips of piecing that come out of the strips quilts after I trim. I can add them to larger pieces to make them useful, but they are little gems on their own and get lost, to a certain extent in the improv piecing of the larger donation tops where I mostly use them. Julie’s quilt makes me think of add them to larger blocks as a featured element in the block.

I don’t have enough in scraps to make the blocks as she has done, but I do have yardage that would be well used by people in need.

I don’t think I have enough orange to make a whole quilt in this design after I finish the Improv version. I’ll have to see. I have a lot of blue and pink scraps so those colors might be my test bed.

Apparently, I now have about a million more ideas for donation quilts. It is so great to have that outlet as I can try as many quilts as I want without my house being floor to ceiling with unused quilts!

Stay tuned!

Author: JayeL

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

4 thoughts on “Evolution of Strip Tops?”

  1. I like seeing your quilts all together like that. So similar and so different! I think my favorite is the orange and teal one.

    That is a spectacular quilt Julie let you share. I love the little sparkles that show up on it.

    I am also embracing making donation quilts because I only have room for just so many quilts in my house too. I am doing a variation of a strip quilt for my quilt guild’s mystery quilt next year. (I am the Challenge Committee Chair). I am calling it “Scraptastic 101”. I am really looking forward to making several quilts, using the same method. It’s nice to have an ‘end game’ in mind. To have a person to gift a quilt to, even an unknown person, makes it more fun to make the quilt. 🙂

    1. Making donation quilts allows me to try new ideas in a more relaxed environment. I don’t know why that is, because nobody ever tells me what to do. Still, that is how I feel. Perhaps I need just a little structure (like the postage stamp blocks) to let my creativity loose.

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