After years of hunting & gathering and months of piecing, Scrap Dash is ready for quilting. I have a date soon with Colleen to hand it over.
I really like the way this quilt came out. If I am diligent, I can see making a baby quilt, or small child quilt, using a smaller version of the pattern. It is really easy to modify the size.
Finished: Scrap Dash Back – June 2021
I tried to go with a sea/water/ocean theme. I bought the fish fabric for some idea I had. Now I don’t remember the idea and I, clearly, never executed it.
I decided that, although I really like this quilt, I will give it away. My house is overflowing with quilts and I have to give more of them away. You’ll have to wait to see who receives it.
I spent most of Saturday working on Scrap Dash, though I also worked on the Yellow Strip Donation quilt as leaders and enders. I continue to be pleased with how the piece is progressing.
I cut a bunch of pieces for the borders during the previous week. I had sewed some of them together in snatches of time also during the week. On Saturday, I stitched many more together. I also started placing them in their spot on the wall. I now have sections of 3 sides of the borders sewn to some other piece.
I didn’t want to sew the entire border strip together then sew it to the quilt top as one piecing. I am chunking all the pieces and I am glad, because I have to fiddle with some of the border pieces to get them to fit. I am not sure why as my 1/4″ looks good and the pieces are cut accurately.
I have started, in a small way to sew the chunks together. I am not seeing much shrinkage yet as that depends on quite a bit of sewing the chunks together.
I spent a lot of time on Saturday working on Scrap Dash. I am pleased with my progress and feel like I can see a glimmer of the end of the project. I am still far away from it, but I see a glimmer.
I am getting more of the border on the wall and will soon start to sew it together. I need space so I can get the rest of the right hand column up, too.
I really made good progress over the weekend. I figured out what I need to do to finish this quilt, e.g. how big it is going to be. I also cut more of the 1.5×2.5 inch rectangles. I need a lot of them, so more cutting is coming.
I am at the point where I really want to start sewing blocks together, but I am trying to restrain myself. As I moved the blocks around to make more space on the left, I moved blocks to different positions in order to make them stand out more. Sewing will also give me more space on my design wall, so restraint or no I might need to sew to gain the space I need to finish putting all the pieces on the design wall. I suspect I will never have a large enough design wall.
While you might think the cutting is the hardest part, the actual hardest part is getting each fabric in the quilt to shine. Obviously, each one can’t stand out when the viewer looks at the whole thing, but I want each fabric to stand out when someone looks at it up close. I don’t want fabrics to blend together.
I made a little progress on Scrap Dash over the weekend in between parts of the UCAB and Triple Zip Pouch. I am still using it as leaders and enders, so I can’t help but make some progress. There was a lot of machine foot switching while I worked on the Ultimate Carry All Bag.
What I really need to do is figure out where the edges are in this quilt. I am not sure if I will add rows and columns or what. Once I figure that out, I will be able to work towards finishing it. Somehow this quilt reminds me of the Corner Store quilt.
While I was making progress on the Rings quilt, I was also making progress on Scrap Dash. As I said before, I am using the Scrap Dash blocks as leaders and enders for the Rings quilt. I get more done, which is great.
I started in the middle, because I couldn’t really reach the top row without a stool. You can see that the middle has shrunk up quite a bit.
I plan to put another column of blocks along the right hand side. The quilt is supposed to have the Churn Dash blocks around the whole exterior of the quilt and I plan to follow that advice.
Scrap Dash Progress – mid-April 2021 (detail)
I think the section where I have sewn the blocks looks nice. I like how the 1.5×2.5 strips create a path through the quilt.
I worked quite a bit on Scrap Dash over the weekend, using the project as leaders and enders while working on my Latifah class project. It didn’t look super before class, though i was making progress. By the end of class on Saturday I had made progress with which I was happy (photo, left). The pattern was really starting to emerge and I was getting excited about putting blocks together. I was able to do bits and bobs in between the Put a Ring On It rings. Every little bit helps.
Scrap Dash, Sunday afternoon
I continued working on Sunday, a little more on Scrap Dash than on the rings. I feel like I made really excellent progress. While I don’t have all of the pieces for Scrap Dash on the design wall, I do have a significant number.
I have also started to put some of the blocks together.
Sadly, I found out I don’t have enough of the 1.5 x 2.5″ rectangles for the border. I need to think about whether to cut a million more, leave off the border or do something else. I haven’t yet used the rectangles in blacks, whites and greys for the center of the quilt. I might try and see if they look good as a border. I don’t think I have enough for a whole border, but it would be a start.
I can’t even think about fitting a border on the design wall, so I’ll have to see once some of the blocks are together and the seam allowances have shrunk up.
Scrap Dash Churn Dash
Speaking of which, I have sewn a block or two just to see what they look like and to shrink up the seam allowances so I can fit more on the wall.
You can see the background, which I think really makes the quilt look bright.
Yes, I think I am calling this quilt Scrap Dash instead of 30 Something.
Scrap Dash (30 Something)- April 7, 2021
I spent some time on Wednesday standing in front of the design wall and rearranging various units. The more I do this the better it looks.
I can also tell what I need to work on next. In this case, I need more half square triangles. I prepared a bunch for sewing at Craft Night, but haven’t actually sewed them yet. The process in this quilt was: 1. cut squares; 2. draw lines; 3. sew; 4. cut apart; 5. square up. I don’t really mind this process, but I wish they had chosen a better system like using the Simple Folded Corners Ruler. I wasn’t able to find a tutorial using the size pieces I had already cut, so I just went with the drawing method.
One of the reasons I wanted to finish the HST Donation Top/Back was to free up space on my large design wall.
30 Something/Scrap Dash- early April 2021
I have a lot of pieces and part ready to sew together for the 30 Something top and I was having trouble envisioning how the whole thing was going to go together. I needed to get it on the design wall.
I have to say that I was kind of regretting cutting all the pieces for this quilt. Once I saw it start coming together, I got really excited. I think my fabrics look a lot better than the 1930s vintage and repro fabrics in which the original was made.
My background is an Art Gallery black on white called Raise the Volume from the Capsule Collection. I love the look of a background the doesn’t change amidst all the vibrant scraps.
I have been thinking about the title of the quilt. 30 Something just doesn’t cut it and I don’t like it anyway, but the quilt was not speaking to me in terms of a name. As I put the parts on the design wall, I realized that some of the blocks were Churn Dash blocks and I thought of the name Scrap Dash. I’ll have to see if it sticks.
I have been using my 30 Something project as leaders and enders while I work on my quilt class presentations and the UCAB tutorials. It is slow going, but I can see light at the end of the 4 patch tunnel.
There are 4 Patches at the center of some blocks. I decided to use some black and white in those 4 patches, so the quilt had a tiny bit of structure. We’ll see how it looks.
Also, it the photo, you can see that I started making random 4 Patches. Those may end up somewhere in the quilt or as a basis for a super tiny Spiky 16 Patch. We’ll have to see.
I finished all of the 16 patches I need for the 30 Something* quilt.
16 Patches n.1
16 Patches n.2
This isn’t all 42 of the 16 Patches – just a sample, but I am pleased with the way they came out. The next step is to make a bunch (30??) Churn Dash blocks. I am working my way through the various units that make up that block.
I have tons of the various patches leftover. I cut way too many, but will be using them for something, possibly donation blocks.
I haven’t decided if I am working on this as my main project or if it is still a leaders and enders project.
*I’d really like to link to this quilt so you could make it as well, but it doesn’t show up on the AllPeopleQuilt site. 🙁
Years ago, I saw a pattern in a magazine called 30 Something. It is called 30 Something, stupidly IMO, because the maker used 30s prints. I saw beyond the 30s fabrics and began cutting out various pieces I would need for the blocks.
30 Something 16 Patches
Recently, I began sewing some of the pieces together as leaders and enders.This means I get quite a bit done, but not on donation quilts.
The first step is to make 16 Patches out of the 1.5 inch (yes, THAT small) squares I had been cutting. I need 42 of these and have 24 so far.
I am happy with the progress I have made. As you can see, there are no 30s prints in my 16 patches. I need to think of another name for this quilt, but nothing comes to mind so far.
As soon as I move the X Quilt off the design wall, I moved all the HSTs leftover from the X Quilt on to my large design wall. I wanted to play around with layout a little bit.
I had to squeeze it on to my small design wall to show it to you before. I wanted to see how it would look with a little space between the columns, which is what you see above. I am not sure I like it. I kind of like the way the pieces look right next to each other.
It is also a little bit of an odd shape in this configuration. I need to think about whether it matters or not.
I have been looking at these HSTs as I sew other projects.
I think this piece looks a lot better in these fabrics than the X Quilt. Don’t get me wrong, I like the X quilt. I just think it would have looked better if I used larger prints.
I think I will probably sew it in this configuration. Perhaps I am just used to it, but I do like how the eye moves around the piece.
