Detour: Scrappy Celebrations Sprung Out of Prison, Back On the Design Wall

Hello, and Happy 250th Anniversary Independence Day to all of my friends here in the United States.  I have been hanging out alone in my studio all day,  fiddling around with bits of fabric and trying not to dwell on memories of past Independence Days when we would take our young sons to my parents' house for a family cookout by the pool, with my mom and the boys splashing around in the water while my dad cooked burgers on the grill and played patriotic music on his outdoor speakers, wrapping up with neighborhood fireworks once it got dark.  I miss my parents, and I miss having family holiday celebrations even though we never did anything fancy.  Ah, well -- gotta enjoy the seasons we're in while we're in them, as this too shall pass and then I'll be missing when I used to be able to have a whole day all to myself in my sewing room, right?  Bernie has been traveling all week and I always get the blues when he's gone, but he'll be back by tomorrow night.  I get to go sing in church tomorrow morning, too, which always puts me in a good mood.  

So, after all of the annoyance and frustration of the last two appliqué blocks for my Stonefields sampler quilt project (left side of the design wall below), I decided I needed a palate cleanser with some instant gratification.  I remembered the Scrappy Celebrations project I abandoned a little over a year ago (read about that here) -- just what the doctor ordered.

Stonefields on Left, Scrappy Celebration on Right

I made eleven new 9" blocks for this quilt today, six of them four-patch with plusses:

Chain Piecing Six Blocks at Once

To try to make this quilt a little more interesting, I used three different background fabrics with this block so the six of them are almost identical, but not quite:

Three blocks with solid white backgrounds, two blocks with the yellow and white print background, and one with the daisy print background (I only had enough of that scrap for one block anyway).

The next block was super simple, just a plain old nine patch, and I made five of them.  Again, for interest, I went to my stash and my scrap bins for these blocks instead of using any Tildas.  When I started this project, my entire studio was packed up for moving house and I was limited to working with a couple of fat quarter Tilda precut packs, which was making for a boring quilt.  The Alice in Wonderland print has been in my stash for ages and I might as well use it, right?  I varied the background fabrics again, making one with the little dots, two with stripes, and two with big polka dots:

Here's what they look like up on my design wall with the others.  I haven't decided how big this will be or what I'll do with it once it's finished, but it would feel good to have a finish, I think!  If I make it Twin size with a 7 x 10 layout, I can donate it to an organization like Sleep In Heavenly Peace.  If I make it a throw size or smaller, I can donate it through the Charlotte Quilters Guild (no, I have not rejoined the guild since moving back to Charlotte, but I can still donate quilts through them if I want to).  Lutheran World Relief would be trickier, as their donation quilts need to be strictly 60" x 80" and the math doesn't work out with 9" blocks unless I start messing with sashing or borders.  And no, with very few exceptions, I don't gift my quilts unless someone (someone very deserving!) specifically asks for one, which rarely happens.  My quilts are just byproducts of fabric therapy -- if they are ever completed at all.

Scrappy Celebration In Progress On the Design Wall

I think this quilt needs more ORANGE, and maybe also another novelty print or two in the mix with Alice in Wonderland.  I used to have a Red Riding Hood print that might work, if I can find it.

And now it's bed time for me, so I can get up and sing in the morning!  Looking forward to dreaming that I'm cowering in the rubble of a war zone due to the constant exploding fireworks that I can hear from inside my house.  ;-)

I'm linking up with some of the following linky parties:

MONDAY

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs  

TUESDAY

To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt  

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

FRIDAY

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre

Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty

 TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday

SUNDAY

Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework