Pages

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Playing with Little Purple Scraps

The past week was one of those times that an unplanned quilt project (squirrel!) snuck into the sewing room and wouldn't let go until it was done with me, or rather, I was done with it. This is my Pretty in Purple quilt top.

Pretty in Purple, 36.5" x 48.5"

It all started with a collection of 1.5" purple squares sent to me in 2017 by Jennifer who blogs at Life's Little Adventures. Here's what she sent me way back then.


I sorted all the little squares into matching stacks, then started making 9-Patch blocks with no plan for how I would use them. Every once in a while, I would run across the box with all the pieces and make a few more blocks, but there were still lots of squares to use.


One day last weekend I was having a hard time deciding what to work on after finishing the top of another quilt (see that one
HERE), and ran across the box of purple squares while doing a little cleaning up in the sewing room. It was the perfect mindless project--no cutting to do, no planning needed, just sit down and sew 9-patches.


After a couple days of making blocks, I had used up most of the pile of purple squares and had made about 100 blocks. The photo above shows the squares that were left over at the end. The blocks measure only 3.5" unfinished, so I worked up a design adding HSTs to make a bigger quilt.


This photo gives a closer view of some of the fabrics. It's so hard to get a good photo of these purples! I did discover in the process of making this quilt that most of the squares I was sent were purples that lean more towards blue, and the purples in my stash tend to be more on the reddish side. However, I think they all worked together just fine, and it sure feels good to have emptied out that box of little purple squares! 

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday, and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday.


Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

16 comments:

  1. Doing a happy dance here in NC for you, Julie. Awesome use of Jennifer's PURPLE fabric scraps!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have days like that too - how pretty

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh! thanks for the email reminder; i had forgotten all about these! you did a great job using them up- the quilt you designed is wonderful! (and don't leave those leftover little purple squares too long... they'll multipy, and you'll have another quilt to make. ha! i'm still sewing along with RSC (hoping to get up to the sewing room today to work on purple AND green) but i don't blog too often... congrats again on a wonderful finish!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You definitely made good use of all those purple squares. Love the layout in the final quilt top. I struggle with mixing the redish and bluish purple scraps, but I think you are right. They all look great together.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's a fun squirrel! I love what you did, combining the 9 patches with the HSTs. Beautiful design!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think using the red purples and blue purples together makes a livelier quilt. Mindless sewing is the best therapy, so calming.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my goodness, Julie, that is just the cutest little quilt ever! The combo of warm and cool purples is great, and happy mindless sewing (for hours on end) seems like just the therapy we could all use right now! Great job (as always!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. It doesn't matter whether they are on the blue side or the red side of the purple spectrum, I think they are all playing well together here. You did a great job! Kudos! ;^)

    ReplyDelete
  9. That's turned out beautifully. I especially love the design the HSTs make.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I struggle with red-purple vs blue-purple all the time. I think your mixture is a nice balance of both.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I just love this design! And using up gifted squares is the icing on the cake! Great job tackling this squirrel!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh that is so pretty!! I can see a baby snuggling with it:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow! What a gorgeous finished top!!! I love how you mixed the red purple and the blue purple hues!!!--TerryK@OngoingProjects

    ReplyDelete
  14. being able to make a quilt without buying fabric is always a win win! the purple quilt is lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a fun project - the finished top is great! (Jennifer in Indy)

    ReplyDelete