Scrappy forest quilt in progress

All my readers will know how obsessive I am about fabric, and keeping my scraps. I make a big effort to use them too, keeping an eye out for patterns that are particularly good for using up scraps but still featuring my favourite prints. Painted Forest by Blue Nickel Studios is definitely one such quilt.

 

 

This pattern, purchased as a PDF via Etsy HERE, is described by the designer as an Urban Folk pattern and I think it’s a pretty apt description. It’s colourful, fairly simplistic in design without being repetitive and the variety of low volume fabrics used in the background raise it from modern and maybe a bit plain to something with more variety and depth.

 

As you can see the original design is about 60″ square, however I think that I will be expanding it, possibly with a low volume border all the way around before a bright scrappy binding. We will see how I feel when I get that far!

 

 

Of the 14 trees in the pattern, I have finished 6 so far. There is quite a lot of cutting and patience required for each one, so I’ve been making sure that I batch each process. I will cut all the background pieces for a tree, and all the leaf pieces, then place them together in a sandwich bag. The solid branch/trunk fabric is then cut and added. When I have a spare hour or two, I can then sit down with a single bag and make the next tree. There is a lot of double checking needed for the sizes, making sure the right square/rectangles are attached, however keeping the pattern next to you will help keep it all straight.

 

 

I have a LARGE collection of Riley Blake fabrics in tubs at the moment, from the pieces that came with my All Over the Octagon kit, to pieces of Bittersweet that I have left from the quilt I made from that, as well as the fabrics that I have been pulling from for my Project 48 blocks. I will never use all of these up in regular quilting, and they are often odd sizes or are down to quite small pieces now, so this seems like the ideal project to use them up. The bright colours and clashing patterns just add to the naive and bohemian effect of the finished trees. I am trying to stick to smaller scale prints for the most part as they seem to be effective, however I love the look of the geometric prints scattered about.

 

 

This isn’t the finished layout, but I am really excited to watch this all go together over the next few months as I keep making a tree at a time. I definitely wont be running out of scraps anytime soon, so we will see how big my scrappy forest might grow!

 

Share with me your favourite patterns for using up scraps, especially those of odd sizes!

 

 

 

 Happy Crafting - Cassie.

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  1. Anorina

    Your trees are looking wonderful. Loving your fabrics and colours. Thanks for sharing this pattern too. I have so many fabric scraps that I know i’ll never use all, but would struggle to get rid of.

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