Fun and simple FREE Foundation Paper Pieced Quilt Block Pattern. This is a fun scrap fabric quilt block and a great way to learn FPP!

New to string or strip piecing blocks? Check out video tutorials to see different ways to do the string piecing technique as well as some ideas for patterns and information to get you started.

Here it is – the finished, bound quilt (just a label needed – I’ll do that later this afternoon when I get back from some errands). I did the quilting from top to bottom in line w…

Make these fast and fun scrap quilts with these free scrap quilt patterns. Read our best tips for creating a cohesive modern scrap quilt.

This is our first-ever post about scrap quilts, although we've been collecting inspiration for years. Our favorite scrap quilts are those w...

This winter I'm in a bit of a sewing slump. I've decided instead of buying more fabric--I want to use what I have on hand, but use it differently. I don't have lots of solids, but I do have lots of fabric. Research: I've been gathering photo ideas to build Modern Scrappy Quilts this year. I'm looking for random--unexpected color combinations and simple construction. Here are some quilt photos from Pinterest that caught my eye. This first one I like. Its simple, simple construction. Take an oversized square, slice it, add some skinny strips, slice it again, and more skinny strips, and then square it up with a 10.5" sq. or 12.5" sq. acrylic template. No rules, just slicing and sewing. No sashing. 📷 The quilt below is so do-able as far as construction. Random. Improv. Beyond the white-black-gray bits for contrast, I see ORANGE dotted with this and that accent colors. Going shopping out of my own stash is fun. Using up lots of sub assemblies already sewn and ready to modify and use in another quilt. I am aware "stash diving" makes a huge mess in the studio. 📷 📷 Calling all Squares . . . calling all squares . . . come in squares. Above is the perfect solution for using up a half yard of this and that. Anything goes . . . but I'm drawn to the use of green, red, and papersack colors in this one. Works for me. 📷 Certainly I've collected lots of silly themes and strange patterns fabrics like this quilt shown above. What is most interesting? Look at the use of red and white fabrics paired with those weird fabrics. Liberally repeating red and white fabrics pull it all together, making sense of all the other weird fabrics that were added. It could just as well be blue and white fabrics paired with the weird fabrics. What I like most about this scrappy quilt is its simple construction, no sashing, alternating four patch. This light airy quilt is so pretty. I think I'll try this quilt concept right away!

Marny here... The forecast in this morning's paper says it all. "Be prepared to deal with hot temperatures again today. Our highs will...

Find a home for your scrappy strings with this foundationless string block tutorial. It's fun, easy and no paper to rip off.

Sew the scrappiest quilt ever using your smallest scraps and a roll of calculator receipt paper! I first saw this idea on Pinterest and I didn’t believe it could be done until I tried it myself. Here’

Improv quilting. The modern scrap quilt?

Do you love scrap quilts? Do you wish you could create your own? Today I share time tested tips and tricks for scrap quilting success.

It's the first day of summer and here in Arizona and it is HOT, HOT, HOT! It's definitely time to hole up in my studio and make new things until cooler weather is with us again. This year I got back from my latest trip and started studio clean up. Usually that process begins with putting away my scraps from recent projects, but this time I was confronted with this image. What a wreck! Not only can I not find anything in my scrap drawers, but I also can't fit any more in those drawers. As yo

(Edited to add: see the finished quilts HERE) Back in January I cut my string scraps that were less than 2.5" down to a uniform width of 1.5". Since then they've been aging in a couple of large ziploc bags. This weekend I decided the time had come to do something with those scraps! As many scrap quilts have made I remain amazed by how many quilts can hide in a scrap bin. Scraps are irresistible to me. Much more so than yardage. I had an idea in my head for what I wanted to do with these strings and I decided to photograph the process for a tutorial. I started by sorting out the cool colors, which probably constituted half of the strings. (I *might* have a problem with the color blue... the "warms" pile was pitiful by comparison.) I sewed the strings together at their short ends to make one looooooong string. Locate both loose ends, put them rights sides together, and start sewing down one long side toward the middle. When you reach the middle it will probably be all twisty. Cut it and complete sewing the two strips together. Press your string pair, then repeat the process. Find both loose ends and start sewing your pairs into a four. Press and repeat, sewing your 4-string string into an 8-string. This takes a long time if you started with a lot of string like I did. The bright side is that every time you fold it in half and sew, it ends up half as long, so as you go it gets easier. Keep going until you have a long panel 16 strings wide. I considered stopping at this point and just making a quilt top out of horizontal strings, but I decided to continue with my original plan. I sub cut the panel into squares, each 16.5" square. I put these up on the design wall alternating directions, this would make a cool quilt, too. Then I did the same process with my neutral colored strings. I took the neutral and cool colored squares and turned them into HSTs. I marked the line with a sharpie and pinned the blocks so they didn't shift while I sewed on either side of the line. If you put the squares together with their strips running the same way, then in the HST they will turn. If you put them together with their strips perpendicular then in the HST they will run the same direction. I chose the first method so the two different colors run at different angles. With my blocks turned into HSTs the options are limitless... Any layout that can be made with HSTs. I haven't sewn these together yet, still auditioning layouts to find my favorite. Which do you like best? Linking to Oh Scrap!

Since we are all stuck at home madly sewing every last scrap together ;) hahaha! Impossible I know! I thought I would post this scrap binding tutorial from a little while back… just in case you can’t get to the store to buy binding to match all those newly finished quilts! Here is a great way to use every last scrap no matter how skimpy the size. I have the hardest time throwing away odd sized strips… you know the ones left at the end of your yardage once you’ve cut all your 2½” strips (or whate

Tutorial on how to use scraps of fabrics to make a magic quilt that sews itself as you are making another quilt.

This sewing tutorial will focus on bargello quilt patterns.

This is how I made a modern scrap quilt without a pattern. This is a quick controlled improv style quilt you can make in less than a week!

I am so excited to introduce you guys to my favorite, most meaningful quilt pattern yet, Interwoven! I designed this quilt as a gift for my husband. He's been asking for a quilt of his own for the past several years. I've been hesitant to get started on such a project because well, I wanted it to be perfect. The colors, the design, the quilting, everything! If you've seen our home decor, you'd quickly pick up the fact that we love neutrals. Little pops of color here and there are nice, but overall, I love calm and soothing color palates for the majority of our decor. Sometimes grays feel a little too cool for me, but I really love the soft and warm tone of Kona Doeskin. I'd maybe call it more of a tan gray. I paired Doeskin with Kona Snow (always my go-to white), and I knew that I wanted his quilt to contain only these two colors. When brainstorming designs, I wanted to create something timeless. Block-based patterns are nice, but I just didn't picture that kind of quilt on Peter's recliner. I wanted something with depth and movement. Something that made you stop and stare. I love geometry and playing lines and shapes this was a fun challenge for me! I played around with these lines on my computer for several months before I was happy with the overall aesthetic of the quilt. I then turned my plans into action, and I ended up loving it even more than I originally did! And most importantly, he loves it too. :) While I am a huge fan of two color quilts, I know that many of you love color and gradients. I do too, in the right context :) So I decided to introduce a fun color option for this quilt. I toyed around with how to incorporate colors into the quilt. Alternating colors between the lines was an option, but that seemed too busy and circus-like to me. I finally decided on doing a gradient across the horizontal axis of the quilt to give it a entirely different look. Not only do your eyes move with the lines, they also move as the colors fade from top to bottom. Love it! This is such a fun quilt to use with color gradients! The throw size uses eleven colors while the crib size uses nine. I suggest choosing 1-3 colors, then build your various shades from those colors. Both the two color and multi-color versions include instructions for two sizes, Crib (42

Hello hello! I've been lucky enough to have had the chance to play with Tilda's new fabric range Harvest over the past few weeks. It's such a pretty collection of colours and prints and today's the day I get to share what I've been making as part of the Blog Hop 2 Green

Dart Modern Quilt Pattern by Amy Ellis - The simple rectangle pieces make it fun to play with color and print in each block.

Improv Wavy Strips Tutorial is my method for sewing improv wavy strips together in a simple, easy method. Take a look!

Dana Jones teaches you how to prepare a binding for attachment to a quilt.

How to quickly stitch up a randomised panel of patchwork squares.

Tilkkutöitä

Skinny Strips Quilt by ialwayspickthethimble Stitch an easy-to-sew quilt using a variety of precut 2-1/2"-wide strips. Blue prints from the Clermont Farms collection by Minick and Simpson for Moda Fab

FREE QAYG ALONG PART 11We’re obsessed with string quilts! And they are super easy, super fun and beginner friendly, so we thought you might like to make one too. This week we were invited to make some short videos for Spotlight’s Quilting Expo, so we went totally over the top and made a 3 part series on how to make a quilt as you go string quilt from start to finish. This series is perfect for the very beginner or for those that want to try their hand at making a quilt as you go quilt. It’s full

Adjust the Size of the HSTs by Changing the Width of the Strips! Most methods for making half-square triangles start with square pieces of fabric. You can make two, four and even eight identical HSTs at a time starting with two same-sized squares. But, have you ever wanted to make half-square triangles from 2 1/2″ …

How to use scrap fabric in quilt patterns! Use these tricks to make Suzy Quilts patterns with recycled fabric and make a scrappy quilt.

Sew the scrappiest quilt ever using your smallest scraps and a roll of calculator receipt paper! I first saw this idea on Pinterest and I didn’t believe it could be done until I tried it myself. Here’

quilt-as-you-go, QAYG,

Good morning Summer Scrappers!I hope you enjoyed last week's project. This week we're going to do anotherblock that is easily adapted and makesa great small quilt, lap quilt, or go bigand make a bed quilt. In going through my scrap drawers this year, I discovered that I had a ton of black scraps that really needed to be used, but a lot of them were skinny strips that were less than2 1/2" inches which made them no good for anything finishing at 2". Now I'm going to confess that I haven't really

It's been a year since the Crosscut Quilt-Along, and high time to host another. Oh and yeah, I've been getting some prodding about that...

Nantucket Summer Happy Stripes quilt by Quilty Love. Sew up this fast and easy stash buster quilt pattern using jelly roll strips.

Here is an easy way to make 45 Degree Angle Strip Tube Quilt Blocks with a long straight ruler for fun quilt projects.

The Sugar POP quilt pattern is a PDF download that includes throw, baby and a pillow size. This modern design works well as a gradient or with scraps.

I'm all about saving time and money. When I first heard of chain-piecing, I really latched onto it. I discovered that not only did it prevent the little bird's nest knot on the underside of the fabric when starting and that it saved thread, (Have you ever noticed how much thread is thrown away as you sew? You could stuff a doll with it!), but it also kept a whole line of pieces together so I didn't have to get up and down as much as I was sewing. I could get into my groove and go. I then learned that if you used a little scrap of fabric - about 1-1.5" wide and sewed over that at the end of the chain, you had all the benefits of chain piecing indefinitely. Cool. I was converted to the method. Then as I was reading a quilting book (Cut the Scraps! by Joan Ford, pg. 35), she mentioned how she always had 2 projects going at once. The main one and a secondary one that was done over a long period of time. Here's how it works. You are sewing along and come to a place where you need to remove your sewing from the machine. You reach into your little box of pre-cut pieces and sew a couple together, using these as your holder while you remove your sewing project. When you begin sewing again, remove the secondary project and put it off to the side. This first photo is of two scraps I am sewing together to make longer strips. When I have sewn these together, I can remove the black thing behind it that I was sewing. The second photo is of a little plastic container I use to contain my secondary project. In this case, I began accumulating 1" strips - things that others were throwing away and I thought, "Surely something can be made from these!" I think that it's much easier to do this if the secondary project is purely scrappy in design. You don't want to have to keep two projects in mind and remember which one you are working on. One inch strips may not be your cup of tea, but choose some scrap project - especially if it's a "grab bag" style, and you can put those scraps to good use. What I am doing is sewing 1" x 9" strips together, or if the 1" pieces are smaller than that, I am piecing then together to make longer strips which I then cut down to about 9" strips. I sew them together, little by little. When I have 16 strips sewn together, I iron it (I know, I'm waiting until the end), and then trim the square to 8.5" x 8.5." When I get enough of those squares made, I can make them into a quilt. I've been working on this for the last 2 years and have 15 squares out of the 80-120 I need to make a full or queen, so it will be a while before I have it complete, but, I love that I can be wasting nothing - no fabric, no thread. See finished quilt here.