Improv Scrappy blocks

The past few days have been a wonderful scrappy quilt-a-thon. My sister and I have been sorting through a multitude of fabrics scraps accumulated over several decades of family garment sewing. We decided to use them in improvisationally-pieced blocks to make at least 3 throw quilts, one for each of us plus our mother.

We got together on Sunday and began working our way through a basket of scraps, cutting strips and piecing the first few blocks. We each continued working on more blocks the next day, then got together again today to join forces again. We decided to finish 36 blocks today, 12 for each quilt. Once we got them all done, we laid them all out on the floor to admire our work. 

We all agreed that we preferred the blocks with spacing between, and will probably go with a medium grey sashing similar to the color of the carpet. Unfortunately, when we reduced the layout to our planned 12 blocks, the effect was rather disappointing. However, when we switched to 20 blocks, the result was much more satisfying. That means more blocks to make, but it's worth the extra effort.

Most of the scraps and strips will remain at our mother's house, although my sister took some pieces home to continue making blocks. Our original plan of 36 blocks has now been bumped up to 60, which may require another trip to Wisconsin and mini quilting retreat. It's been a wonderful few days visiting with family and quilting together.

I am linking up to Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs Sew and Sow and to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Check them both out for tons of amazing ideas and inspiration. 

Julie in GA