… for scrappy backs.
Sorry the focus is a bit varied, but I had to stand on a stool to get all them all in the shot, and the ones running off to the right have lost their sharpness.
These aren’t as pretty or varied or intricate as the fronts, but I’m pleased to say I’ve fairly quickly achieved backs for all 20 blocks out of my larger scraps. By which I mean pieces a fair bit smaller than a fat quarter, many with chunks cut out of them or wonky edges, or several smaller pieces of the same fabric, and all left over from prior projects. And I definitely haven’t been precious about how I mixed them up. Many of the scraps were unlikely to find a home in other quilts: a too-large or bold pattern, a not quite right colour balance, a fabric I no longer liked or had grown tired of, or which was too specific to a particular project. This way, they have a valuable role as part of this rainbow-hued quilt rather than leading “lives of quiet desperation”* in the back of my cupboard.
I’ve made the same number of blocks of each colour for the backs as I have for the fronts. Effectively, the quilt will be virtually reversible, but complex and bright on the front and simple and blocky on the back. I’m going to have a rootle through my scrap jelly roll strips for sashing for the back. The selection will be heavy on the blues, as I eliminated a lot that were the wrong hue from the selection for the Bonnard quilt, but it should still be interesting to look at.
So, nearly ready to start sandwiching and quilting. I reckon it’ll be ready in time for the show… 🙂
*Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
talltalesfromchiconia 
Cracking on nicely there to finish in time for the Show.
I’ll get some blocks sandwiched in the next couple of days, ready to start quilting. It’s interesting how peaceful the process becomes when you don’t have a real deadline. The show, yes… but I don’t have to put the quilt in, it’s up to me. So of course it’s going really quickly!
Love this mix! Especially the flowered bit with the red and blue edged posies. It was one of the too large themed prints? No matter, it’s working very well as it is.
It does work like this, but it’s a very bold print and stood out too much in other contexts. Glad you like it!
A reversible quilt! ♥️ You’ve created a home for wayward scraps, just so they don’t start multiplying! This will be a double dose of beautiful when finished.
One side will be beautiful and one side will be less so, but both will have done their job 🙂
That’s a great use of less-loved fabric chunks. I have a large drawer full of reds and greens that probably won’t become what I originally intended. I don’t like piecing backs, particularly out of smaller pieces, but that could be the disposition for that drawer’s contents.
As a general rule I dislike piecing backs too, but this is a scrappy quilt, and called for the principle to be carried all the way through. I won’t *love* the quilt back, but then I generally don’t have any kind of feeling about the fabric I use for backing.
Still looking well worth 11 dollars to me!
This is definitely the cheapest quilt I’ve ever made if you look at the dedicated fabric purchase, but if you consider how much fabric I’ve had to buy over the years to generate the right amount of scrap, maybe not so much….!
A fun way to avoid buying backing fabric! I’ve got to try it.
… and also a relief to use some of those poor orphan fabrics, and give them a purpose in ilfe!
How are you going to line up the back and the front? That sounds like a tricky exercise to me!
Ah, not tricky at all. It’ll be another QAYG, so I’ll be trimming chunks off the backs when the blocks are quilted – to be recycled into more scrappy blocks, naturally!
Ahh! QAYG, yes, that would be the sensible way to do it.
It lets me control the quilting better, too.
I like the idea, having a scrappy backing! Let the theme be: Get rid of all the scraps (or as many as you can 🙂 ). I have soo many ideas for my scraps, but so little time 🙂
I have very little ‘big’ fabric in my cupboard now, and very many scraps, so it makes perfect sense to make as much with the scraps as I can… It really pleases me to see all those boxes get emptier and emptier!
Yes, that is my goal too 🙂 Though somehow I never seams to get near that goal!
On the day I run out of scraps in one particular colour, I’ll allow myself to buy fabric…
🙂