Quilting In The BunkHouse: April-One Monthly Goal

My OMG for April is complete.

The final seam was pressed last night.

Scrappy Arkansas Crossroads 61x77 (weird size, I know...)
I was inspired by a similar quilt on Pinterest, by Victoriana Quilt Designs.

Now that I am Not Afraid of Scrappy Quilts, my goal for 2018 is to make as many different quilts as I can, using up as many of my scraps as possible.

Every inch of this quilt top came from these scrap bins.

For future quilts, I also plan to "shop" from my fat quarter and yardage stash.

...and extra yardage for backings.

When tasked to use up what is available one is forced to think in creative ways that might not have occurred otherwise.

The colored X blocks were pretty slow to sew, as each one required a layout: then piecing, pressing, matching, sewing, pressing, etc. Mind numbing.

However, the alternate neutral 16 patch blocks were a no-brainier chain piece project.

I even kept a pile of neutral patches by my side and used them as leaders and enders, so I was able to piece several neutral blocks while I was sewing the X blocks.

Notice the purple strip markings on my machine? Those are Q Tools by Marci Baker. I have used these for about 7 years and can't sew without them. The right one is 1/4 inch, the left one is lined up with the needle. This way I can sew half square triangles without ever marking them. Learn how I use them here:

Q Tools

It was strange to make, I just picked a couple of colors for the first block and then it grew outward from there,

When I got the blocks all done and on the design wall, I decided to add the border to the blocks and then sew the rows.

There were so many seams, I didn't want the edges to all come apart if I handled the entire top too much. I also stay-stitched all the border edges as I went.

So, since my 2018 goal is to use up my scraps; as I stitched the rows together and assembled the quilt top, I started feeding through (leaders and enders) to use up the leftover 2.5" pieces for my next quilt.