Tuesday 9 February 2016

AHIQ - a little bit of scrappy inspiration

I thought this week I'd pull together some inspiration for anyone thinking about working with their scraps.  Here are quilts made with quilting scraps, with recycled clothing, with limited palettes and with a vast range of different colours and textures.  As is always the way with scrappy quilts, the longer you look, the more there is to find. I hope everyone will find something to excite/inspire.

If you click on an image it should take you to the original post, and details of the makers and their websites/blogs are given under each image. 

As always, huge thanks to all the talented quiltmakers who so generously agreed to let me use their images here. I do encourage you to go and visit their sites - especially if any of them are new to you.



This  beautiful log cabin is by Nifty Quilts.  You can read her post about making it is here and it's worth checking out the backing fabric too.  There is a real skill to getting that seemingly random look, and bringing so many fabrics together in one piece.  If you don't already know her work, have a good look around the blog: there are loads of fantastic scrappy quilts.



This beautiful  baby quilt was made by Ruth Mowray at Birds of the Air. I love the soft, pretty colours and all the tiny details (birds, teacups, little flying geese) and it's worth reading her post, both for the close-ups and to see how many different fabrics went into the top.  



Harriet Quilt # 1, by Kate Graves,  whose website is  www.kategraves.com . This is one of a series of "Moving Blankets", which were made in a collaborative way.  In this piece the checkerboard pieces were made by Harriet and then given to Kate, who combined them with her fabrics.  I love the idea of this way of working. You can read more about them on Kate's blog.



This is one of the daily circles being made by Stephie Boon at Dawn Chorus Studio - here's the link to the gallery where you can see all her circles. Again, it's well worth looking at all of them: each one is different and they are a great source of ideas/inspiration.


Cortelyou by Zak Foster.  I chose this particular quilt because the palette is not one I would have thought to put together, but I really like how it works.  You can check out his website here and his blog here. I never thinking of tieing my quilts but I like a lot the way the white of the ties makes an extra layer of pattern over the coloured blocks here - it makes me think I should look for opportunities to try this.  


Ice Cream by Heidi Parkes.  Heidi's website is www.heidiparkes.com. Heidi uses a variety of recycled fabrics: this piece includes vintage prints and floral fabrics from her grandmother. I like the way her horizontal strips are much longer in the middle of this quilt, shorter at the top and the bottom; the balance between the plain blue and cream fabrics, the prints and those little snippets of red with white dots.


Striped Shirts was made by Lynn Dysktra, who blogs at klein meisje quilts.  It is made entirely from thrifted shirts.  Look how cleverly Lynn has worked with the stripes to create different motifs.  I like the changes of scale and the way there are recognisable blocks (especially the ones with concentric squares) mixed in with less structured bits.  I wish I had made this one.


I thought I'd wind up by showing one of Ann's quilts.  This Spiderweb is unfinished, but I thought I'd show it anyway: I am always full of admiration for the way Ann is able to use scraps in her quilts but still make it look completely deliberate and thought-through.

On a side note, some of my comments from the blog are no longer turning up in my email inbox; I'm guessing it must be something to do with Gmail/Google+. Now that I know, I will check to make sure I don't miss any, but if you don't get a response, this will be why. It all worked beautifully; now they've 'improved' things and it doesn't.  Ho hum.




15 comments:

Libby in TN said...

Thanks for the inspiration!

Nifty Quilts said...

I'm honored to have my quilt shown with so many other beautiful creations! I look forward to looking up all the other makers. Thank you!

heidiparkesart said...

Such a wonderful opportunity to learn more about quilting. I thoroughlly enjoyed seeing the connection between my quilt, and the other quilts posted. Shout out to my pal Zak, those ties rock!! -Heidi

Ruth said...

Thanks, Kaja! I am honored to be featured here with these other great quiltists.

Ann said...

Thanks for including mine among the many wonderful quilts. I will be following all the links the rest of the day. Their work and your information have me intrigued.

audrey said...

Fantastic use of fabrics. Love the simplicity of each quilt!

Cut&Alter said...

What a feast of scrappy delights!! I think I am just going to get a drink and explore a bit more!

Cathy said...

Inspiration indeed! I especially love Ruth's baby quilt.

Mary Marcotte said...

Oh, the inspiration! How will I ever get off the computer? I have to visit and see more of their quilts. These are a delicious appetizer!

Mystic Quilter said...

Wonderful quilts here - thanks for sharing them with us and I just love the last one by Ann!
By the way I have been having the same problem with comments not showing up in my mail box, been going on for a number of weeks and like yourself have to make sure I don't miss anyone.

September Violets said...

What a great selection of scrappy quilts! I've always had a fondness for log cabin, so the first one sang out to me :) Thanks for sharing all the links to these marvelous quilters.
Wendy

judith lockhart said...

Thank you for sharing these inspiring quilts and links. Not sure I've ever visited any of these. I especially like the 365 day circles you've been making!

Soma @ inkTorrents.com said...

These are great, Kaja! The colours are so well balanced. Thank you sharing these inspirations in one post.

-Soma

Lara B. said...

Lots of wonderful inspiration here Kaja! Now I want to make a low volume scrappy like Ruth's and Spiderweb like Ann's and a circle like Stephie's and a ..... well you get the idea!

Ruth said...

It took this long for me to come and thank you for sharing my scrappy quilt. Somehow I am not getting notifications, so I'd better check on that! Wow, more than two years ago. Thank you!