Scrap Cabin

a finished quilt

Last week, while I was starting a new Pas de Deux quilt, my longarm machine was humming happily over Scrap Cabin quilt.

It’s moments like these that make up for how difficult it is to house this machine! I love the freedom to choose just the right quilting design. Plus, there’s nothing like finishing off a quilt so quickly and neatly while moving on to something new.

Ta da, my finished Scrap Cabin quilt! She’s bright and warm and made from so many, many scrap fabric strips, folks. It truly boggles my mind that I have this many scraps, given how many scrap quilts I sew. Where are they coming from?

It’s as if sewing one non-scrap quilt generates scraps for two more? That can’t be right, but I don’t get it.

Anyways, this particular quilt has loads of playful scraps on light backgrounds, plus vivid-colored scraps for the clusters and border shapes. It’s a real I-spy kind of quilt. Can you find the watermelons? VW buses? The princess and the pea?

Because the quilt has a laughing, frolicking vibe, I opted for a novel quilting style: a leafy lemon plant motif! The quilting’s organic lines and shapes jive with the organic, improv-style patchwork.

I love how it all works together.

I know that whoever takes this quilt home is going to be a real fan of color and of playful shapes, so I combined two great contrasting fabrics for the quilt back. Both of these wide backs are available now at Dragonfly Quiltworks, my go-to backing shop. And they’re leftovers from backing other quilts, naturally.

And for the binding? Multicolor fabric scraps create a funky, colorful edge finish.

I photographed this quilt nearby our new home, in an area that was completely rebuilt about twenty years ago, so the homes are modern and chic. Sandwiched in between the residences is this gallery with an amazing glass-front and cascading brick steps. It looked quite inviting for this shoot.

So while the sun set in Enschede last Friday and the temperatures dipped to freezing, you could find Aart, Elora and I taking these photos along the main bicycle street in our neighborhood. I am that crazy quilt woman who runs around town with my fancy camera and trusty quilt-holders. Yesiree, that’s me!

Scrap Cabin quilt is listed now for sale in my Handmades shop. She’s hoping to coming home to you soon.