Scrap quilting with acrylic templates

I recently received some acrylic templates (From Marti Michell, Perfect Patchwork Templates) and have been thinking for the last couple of days what to do with them.  When you have as many scraps as I do is it any wonder that I decided to use them in a scrap quilt?  But what about the design?  I don’t want to purchase more fabric this year unless I really need to for a background or backing.  So I decided that whatever pattern I choose it would have to have a background fabric of off white/white/cream ect.  I have a bit of those on my shelves and boxes.  After contemplating several hours while I spent time quilting on the frame I decided I would do a flying geese pattern.   I will use many different colors for the larger patch and off whites for the background.  This quilt pattern depending on how you design it can be called “Dutchman’s Puzzle” or just plain “Flying Geese.” I’m not sure right now which it will be. Right now I will just start cutting and going through all my scraps – it won’t be ready to work on for days unless I decide to start stitching while I’m going through my collection of scraps.

Here are the templates – nice sturdy easy to cut around with a rotary cutter.   Some more colors that I will be using.  This set is called “The Perfect Patchwork System” Volume 1 Set B.

When you make a scrap quilt it isn’t always possible to stack several layers of fabric on top of each other to cut. Sometimes you have to do one piece at a time because your scraps are all sizes.  The off white piece that I am using here I was able to stack several layers together to cut.  The color pieces will be mainly one at a time unless I find pieces in my boxes that are close to the same size that I can work with as is or cut to the same size.  The problem is that sometimes you think you have stacked them well, then you cut and look at your pieces and find that the one on the bottom has an edge cut off  because the fabric was not the same size as the top layer.

I only worked at this for about 30 minutes or so going through the box looking at scraps and cutting  a few as I went.  These are the colors I have so far.  Right now I am not sure if this well be a charm quilt in that not two of the bright colors will be alike or if I will just cut as many as I feel like and use colors over and over again.  We will see as I go along.

Question from yesterday was “Which quiltmaking technique has always been done by machine? The answer is Seminole Patchwork although I question that and wonder why they say you can only make it by machine.  Mathematics of Seminole Patchwork can be found here.  Here is an article about the Seminole Indians and it clearly states in paragraph three that the Indian woman made patchwork by hand.  Here is another link to the patchwork, while clearly on this example it would be easier to use a sewing machine, doing it by hand is not impossible.  Now maybe that is because I do a lot of hand work and work with tiny pieces (Dear Jane for instance).  I’m sure some think doing Seminole Patchwork by hand is nuts! but I think it is possible and no I do not plan to work on one – not right now anyhow

Question # 16

What characteristics are associated with Folk Art Quilts?

A- They are made by people who have had no artistic training.

B- They are made for visual impact, not quilt making excellence.

C- They have a spontaneity about them, often containing whimsical elements.

D- They have crudely shaped design elements.