ScrapHappy October 2024 — A Quick and Easy Group Quilt Project

This past weekend our little town had a Quilt Walk, and I volunteered to run a table to create a group art quilt.

In preparation, I fused very simple face shapes to background squares, and gathered up odds and ends of trims, buttons, silk flowers, crocheted motifs, and handkerchiefs.

A basic blank face.

I had a great location on the porch of a quilt shop.  I set up my table with a sewing machine, iron, and the boxes of supplies.  On one side, I hung up one of my quilts, with the regular side facing out, and several of my little art quilts pinned to the backside, facing our work area. 

Disappearing 9-patch facing out to the street.

Art quilt examples facing the work area.

The group quilt was facing the people as they walked into the shop.

All the Quilty Ladies group quilt project, Day One.

It was all very informal; I just pinned various squares to this painted tablecloth, and let people choose what they wanted to work on.

Over the two days, I probably had about 12 participants, ranging in age from about 9 to 70, and I had delightful visits with all of them.  Sometimes a woman would leave her grandchildren out to work with me while she shopped in peace, sometimes a mother/daughter or grandmother/grandchild would work together.  I gave everyone the choice of doing their own fusing and stitching, or of just designing and making me their assistant in finishing.  I also gave people the choice of taking their originals home with them — I just snapped quick pictures that I will print on fabric to include in the finished quilt.

I would say that most people spent about 30 minutes on their creations.  Some people who didn’t have time still took a photo and said they would love to do this at a church group or family reunion.

Mother/daughter team named this one “Stefy” after their friend.

“Patricia”, created by a 10-year-old.

I loved the way “Rose”s creator made a bow out of trimming.

This unnamed creation is definitely the most glamorous.

When no one was working on a face, I had time to fuse more faces, or cut ribbon into lip shapes.  I also enjoyed just sitting peacefully and doing a little stitching of my own.  Sometimes people looked at the small art quilts and I could briefly explain how I try to use a new material or technique each time I do one.  The shop was crazy busy so it was nice I was outside to greet customers, chat with people who just wanted to sit and rest in the shade, and direct people to other quilt shops and restaurants.  

All the Quilty Ladies, at the end of Day Two.

I even took an hour to walk around and see some of the quilts myself.

A big house in town.

Quilts in the chapel.

All in all, this was a fun and stress-free project using scraps!

ScrapHappy Day, the 15th of each month, was originated by Kate and Gun, the first two names in the list below.  We are always celebrating the use of scraps, even if we don’t post every single month.  You can visit the others to see what scrap-happiness they have come up with this month!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, 
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, 
Lynn, Tierney and Hannah

 

 

 

Category : Happy Textiles, Quilting
Tags : , ,