Something from nothing

The best kind of quilts for me, the ones that have their own personality, their own individuality, are most definitely scrap quilts.

There is a certain freedom when starting a scrap quilt. No need to measure for the right amount of fabrics, no need to ponder colour and fabric placement to any great degree.

A scrap quilt to me is a chance to take scraps and make something from nothing from them, all the while making it up as I go along.

This one was a looong time in the making.

It's paper-pieced and is the Spider's Web pattern which I changed by making the two measurements either side of the central tip unequal. I realise that may not make any sense to you, so if you look at my side bar you'll see it's mention number two under 'popular posts' if you need further details.

With the traditional equal marking of the two lines either side of the centre tip, you'll end with Spider's Webs all the same. The way I do it, you'll end up with two different shapes. Dependent on what measurements you go for, you can make quite interesting and original second designs.


It's a long and (at times) tedious process to paper piece a quilt of any significant size with this pattern. You need eight triangles to make a Spider's Web. On the plus side, you can use up the most teeny tiny scraps of fabric and (in my opinion) it doesn't seem to mater what you place by what - it all seems to work.

Absolutely every single piece of fabric in this quilt was a scrap, so to see the scraps reinvent themselves in this way feels quite spectacularly special.

When I'd pieced the top, I decided to send it to Krista who long-armed it for me. A couple of years ago she worked her magic on what remains one of my most favourite ever quilts. I gave her absolutely no direction, other than to stretch herself and think outside the box.

It came back a few weeks ago and I've just finished sewing the binding down.

Krista's quilting adds another layer of movement to the quilt that I don't think I'd have had the patience (nor skills) to achieve by myself on a domestic sewing machine.

There is something very accessible about scrap quilts.

You don't need a whole line of the latest 'must have' fabric to make a great quilt. You can use cotton from old clothes (I have in this quilt) - just about anything works. The uglier and random all have their place.

I love this quilt so much that I made a last minute decision to enter it into next year's QuiltCon.

That meant I had to come up with a title for the quilt.

I never name my quilts. It's just not me.

But name it I must so it's called 'No yardage was harmed in the making of this quilt.'

Hello, in my opinion of course, rather gorgeous husband

I've seen quite a bit of chatter on Instagram the last few days as quilters stress about meeting this week's QuiltCon entry deadline and wondering if they are just making something to fit within the constraints of the definition of what 'modern' quilting is.

I have no idea if this quilt will be accepted into QuiltCon as 'modern' enough, especially as one of the definitions is 'graphic areas of solid colour.' Clearly I disagree with that definition but maybe I am in the minority.

I shall continue to make quilts that are visually exciting to me, regardless of whether they are perceived as 'modern' or not.

Perhaps I should have called this quilt 'No solids were harmed in the making of this quilt'?

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday