Leap Day Scrap Happy

Surprise! What better time to jump back into posting than Leap Day! :D I'm of the opinion Leap Day should be a national holiday, so having it on a Saturday has been quite nice. Thought it was a perfect time to finally share this quilt with you.

This is Scrap Happy my version of the National Quilt Museum's Block of the Month Club Round 1 and it's currently hanging in the National Quilt Museum! Eeeee!

Part of my job is coordinating this Club, which includes making the blocks & full quilt - so cool. Round 1 ran April 2018-March 2019, and each month featured a new pattern, by a guest designer, inspired by an exhibit at the museum. I pulled fabrics from the scrap bins at work, and a few favorite bits from home as well and had fun testing and stitching these all year. {the purple was really hard to photograph consistently!}

crack in the wall inspired

Definitely learned some new techniques: sharpie dying, in-set circles, bias stripes, and pinecone (pine burr) quilting. Each block was fun and a creative challenge in choosing fabrics to keep them looking like they belonged together with a color scheme.

 

In September, I was able to design a paper pieced pattern and loved seeing how everyone in the group interpreted the design in their own fabrics! It's called "Gliders" and was fun to create.

Gliders before quilting

Gliders after quilting

The purple is Moda Grunge, which I chose after a bit of debate on which color to use that would coordinate with the blocks themselves, and am really pleased with how it works. I really wanted to add a piped edge with the binding, so even though I was pressed for time, I'm proud that I could work it in, because the pink flange pops so well against the polka dot grunge binding.

Quilting was a different challenge - each block was in-the-ditch stitched first to stabilize it. Then I could go block to block and quilt each one individually depending on the design. Some favorite ones were the Van gogh inspired block and the outer space Moon - I quilted in a tiny Apollo capsule! (hard to see it in the image, but it's on the way to the moon)

Then I free-motion quilted in a spikey-swirl design in the purple, with 3 bees added in for good measure. I used Aurifil threads for all the quilting and love how smooth it is when free-motion quilting!

Having it hang in the museum gallery last Fall with the Block of the Month Club mini exhibit was an awesome feeling. It's been fun when visitors or tours ask if I have a quilt here, or 'where's your quilt?' and I can say, "Right over here!" So cool.

I'm still working to finish up the blocks for Round 2, which finishes this March, so I better get back to sewing those up and turning them into a full quilt!