Scrap Quilt in Progress

First, I want to say thanks for all the encouragement and well wishes during my blogging break.  We had a lot of fun spending time together at the end of summer with less time on the computer.  My boys are now back in school and we are trying to settle into our routine.  I am looking forward to blogging as part of my routine.  :)

I have been saving up my scraps of light 2.5 inch strips for a few years.  The plan for these scraps has changed many times.  Some ideas included a string quilt, a granny square quilt, a scrappy trip quilt, and a jelly roll race.  At first I wasn't going to do a jelly roll race, because I already made one with some of these fabrics.   However, I just felt like doing some simple sewing and using up all these scraps in one project.

So I fluffed up my strips and set them by my sewing machine.  (They took up less than half the tub when they were laid nice and flat.)

I just randomly sewed them all end to end in one great big long strip.

I found the two ends, matched them up, and started sewing... and sewing... and sewing...

I measured the strip after the first seam and it was about 55 yards (1,980 inches).   I had to change the brand new bobbin of 50 weight Auriful partway through the seam.  Evidently I can't fit 55 yards of Aurifil thread on one bobbin.  This was the longest continuous seam I have ever sewn.  Previously my longest seam was about 800 inches for a jelly roll race (22 yards).  Before that my longest seam was only 114 (3+ yards) inches for a large border.  Please note that is one seam, not chain piecing.  Ironing a 55 yard strip was not nearly as much fun as piecing it.  ;)

Once I knew how long my first seam was, I used my calculations for jelly roll race variations to figure out how big my quilt would end up.  I decided to continue sewing until I had a 16 strip wide section.  Then I divided it in thirds, and used my design floor to determine the placement for the last three sections.

In one day I had a simply pieced full size quilt (about 80 x 96 inches).  Totally love it!

One of the most fun things about this quilt was thinking of all the other quilts whose leftovers I was using.  There is even one scrap from my very first quilt.  It is the light pink calico near the bottom left corner in the picture below.

I used some larger scraps plus yardage for the backing.

I can't decide if I like the back or the front best.

Here is the quilt basted and ready to quilt.  :D

Monkey had a lot of fun watching me baste this quilt.  Once I finished I asked him what he thought.  He said, "It's cool.  I like it.  What's it for?"

I told him it was just for fun.  There's nothing wrong with making a quilt just because you already have the fabric and it sounds like fun, right?

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar.  Check them out to see what other quilts have been doing.

P.P.S.  I'm sorry if anyone is receiving this twice.  I had a small operator error.  :)