Wednesday, February 22, 2012

the Scrap Hoover Quilt Top


Phew! It's finally finished! It's sort of a bittersweet ending to piecing this top - I'm happy to move on to new, shiny projects but at the same time I'll miss scrap bin diving and coming up with wild, random fabric combinations for this.
So here it is. I wish I could have gotten better photos but the grey Seattle weather is not going to cooperate. The whole thing measures in at a nice 80x80 size. If you haven't been following any of my progress on this, the quilt is a pattern from Sarah Fielke in Material Obsession 2 called the Maple Leaf Rag. It is essentially a spiderweb with crazy-pieced "kites" instead of the traditional solid for the background of the webs, making it the perfect way to use up all those too-tiny scraps. It really has made quite a dent in the old scrap bin, although I think I may be in the minority when I confess that such a lack of scraps on hand makes me nervous.


As long as we're on the subject of confessions, I must also confess that my piecing of this thing is atrocious. If you look closely, you'll see that almost none of the rings on my webs match up. As soon as I started sewing blocks together and I saw that this was going to be a problem throughout the quilt (most likely due to my inaccurate cutting, trimming and then stretching of the bias-cut muslin triangles) I threw a miniature internal tantrum and walked away from it for a day. After calming down I then realized that it really didn't matter - it's such a riot of color and pattern it hardly detracts from the whole thing once all together. But, if you're a bit anal in your piecing and want to attempt this pattern, consider yourself warned. 


This quilt, even with all it's imperfections, is going to be very, very loved. And I'm happy to say, it will be shipped off next week to the most talented of quilters - my very first professionally quilted quilt. So look for it again in a few weeks after Angela works her magic on it. I can hardly wait.

41 comments:

  1. What an accomplishment! It's beautiful and I don't see a single mismatched seam. ;)

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  2. I think we are all guilty of stressing over minor imperfections that become barely noticeable once the quilt is quilted. Will we change?? Probably not! Beautiful quilt by the way.

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  3. Amazing! I love this quilt. It may be from scraps but you did a fabulous job with contrast to make the shapes pop.

    Jennifer :)

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  4. SO amazing Megan!

    Worth all the time and effort - gorgeous x

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  5. What an amazing quilt top. If you had not pointed out the non-matching webs I wouldn't have even noticed. Such a fun quilt and so full of color. Congrats on a wonderful finish :)

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  6. Stunning. I can't even fathom the amount of work this took, but every seam is worth it. This will be a treasure. And the name is golden!

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  7. Stunning quilt! Look forward to seeing how it is quilted :)

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  8. It really is a gorgeous quilt. I can't wait to see it quilted.

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  9. Megan,
    Your quilt is fantastic! I just found your blog... Going to take some time and read!

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  10. Megan this is EPIC! What a treasure your family will have. I'm envious and in awe all wrapped up together in that quilt!

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  11. Just the sort of scrappy quilt that is right up my alley. LOVE IT!
    Susanne :)

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  12. Wow! That is such an amazing feat! Look at all those tiny scraps! I am so glad you are treating yourself to some extra special quilting after all that work. It is gorgeous, Megan.

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  13. This is flippin' amazing! Well done!

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  14. HOLY POOP!!! THAT IS AMAZING Megan!!!

    x, H

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  15. I'm in awe! What a beautiful quilt and an amazing accomplishment. Have you decided what pattern of quilting you'll have done?

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  16. I loved my Park Slope Stars quilt that I sent out to get quilted it is making me send the mermaid one for Gwen out now too! This is such an exciting quilt finish. I hardly ever use my scraps I tend to forget they are there LOL

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  17. It's absolutely beautiful. I'm not a fan of busy but this doesn't even seem busy. It reminds me of those beautiful Italian beads... millefiore, I think they're called...

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  18. An amazingly beautiful riot of color! I LOVE it and I'm sure the unmatchy parts just add to the splendor. Can't wait to see the quilting.

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  19. Wow I saw this on flickr...stunning composition! I like it a lot.

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  20. This is magnificent! Great work

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  21. It was love at first sight when I seen this way back when. And because if this beauty I've started one myself :) (You can see her at http://robineggbluegirl.blogspot.com/ she is my WIP Wednesday) Thank you for the inspiration!

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  22. This is amazing. Wow - what a project. I love the looks of it, and I totally think you're right. If your piecing isn't perfect and things don't match up, it's not at all noticeable. Gorgeous! How long did it take you to piece it?

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  23. That is amazingly beautiful! What a great accomplishment.

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  24. Well Done! This is beautiful! Ahh!

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  25. That is so awesome!!! Great job!!!

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  26. imperfections? i don't see any, it looks gorgeous and apparently lots of people on pintrest agree i have seen it many times floating around. congrats on a great finish.

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  27. Congratulations! I love it in all of its scrappy glory. What a huge accomplishment of fun!

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  28. Your confessed fear of being without scraps really made me crack up! Anyway, good for you for not worrying about the seams -- I'm basically the same in wanting it all to be perfect, but having to come to the realization that it probably won't be. But it really is true that only we notice these things because of the way we engage with them (throughout the creating process, I mean). Anyway, congrats on finishing the top! I bet the backing will be just a whole piece of fabric, LOL!

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  29. Oh WOW! This is stunning. The imperfect piecing doesn't matter at all. I love to see "real" patchwork - made of genuine scraps (or old clothes). And well done for facing your fear of using stuff up - it is a big one, that keeps us all hoarding fabric instead of sewing beautiful things, I think.

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  30. Megan this quilt is just amazing...good on you for persevering with such a difficult pattern. The results are so one of a kind.

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  31. It's gorgeous. I've made blocks of this pattern, but I'm too chicken to attempt a whole quilt. Turned out beautiful.

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  32. This is the great designs project.It look so beautiful with different shape of strips.It look so colorful and amazing.It can use in the pillow covers.

    myob training

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  33. This is the great designs project.It look so beautiful with different shape of strips.It look so colorful and amazing.It can use in the pillow covers.

    myob training

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  34. This is so fun---I see bits of so many favorite fabrics! I agree, no one is going to notice any imperfection because they'll be too distracted by all the fabulous colors.

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  35. Wow, this is just stunning. Nice work.

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