Playing with Scraps

After finishing my Modern Farmer's Wife, such a large project, is it any wonder that my next project would be a mini quilt?  It was so satisfying to make this mini start to finish in one afternoon.

I had been saving all the scraps from my Big Red Project since I finished it last year.

After I cut all the five inch strips from my string sections, I trimmed down whatever was left to the same width.

The mini sections ranged from 1.25 to 2 inches wide.  As it was my first time experimenting with improv piecing, I just sewed pieces together until I had about a five inch square.  Then I added strings around the sides like a log cabin.  I think it looks really neat, but Cheetah has let me know (more than once) that he doesn't like it at all.  It is much too random and not symmetrical enough for him.  ;)

Once I had used up all my little pieces, I used some larger scraps to add borders.  The first border finishes at one half inch, and the outer border finishes at 1.75 inches.

I have always wanted to try matchstick quilting, and thought this mini would be the perfect place to give it a shot.  I totally love the texture, although it makes it very stiff!  I quilted it on my small Pfaff using red Aurifil thread.

I just went up one row and down the next about an eighth of an inch apart.

It even looks really cool on a solid backing.  (Some random red fat quarter from my stash.  Probably left over from a pirate bandanna.)

The only thing I had to cut from yardage was the Kona Chinese Red binding.

The outer border was already a little bit of a tone on tone stripe, so the matchstick quilting blends in quite nicely.

Quilt Stats
Quilt Name:  Little Red
Pattern: Improv with strips of crumbs
Fabric:  Red scraps and Kona Chinese Red for binding
Amount Used: .75 yards
Batting: Frankensteined Warm and White
Size: About 16 x 19 inches
Date Finished: January 2015
What I learned:

• I can do improv if I have a plan.
• Matchstick quilting takes a long time (75 minutes for a mini!)
• I can use tiny scraps (as long as they are already sewn together into strips)

All in all, this was a fun little project which I am now using as a small table topper.  Finished just in time for Valentine's Day.

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I am linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and Oh Scrap at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.