What's Next?

 

Now that the PRIZM quilt and its backing are all ready for the longarm quilter, the design wall is empty.

EEK!

My studio has been a real mess, with fabric strewn about everywhere. I spent some time over the weekend folding up what could be folded and putting it back in the stash, but there's a lot that's just piled up. I wasn't in the mood to make slabs, but I did want to do something, and a dear colleague of mine has just become a grandfather for the first time. A scrappy baby quilt would be just the ticket to clear off my worktables and get me busy.

I decided to make a slashed squares quilt - but in minis. This is practically the simplest quilt anywhere. Surround a square with fabric, cut that apart and rearrange the pieces. You can see pictures of the various slashed squares quilts here. You can get the tutorial for them here. 

Over the last couple of evenings I cut squares and strips and paired them up. I used only what I had lying around. I did not cut into yardage from my stash, nor did I go rummaging in my scrap bins. I just took what was lying around in a mess, and cut from that. 

(True story. A couple of weeks ago as I was FaceTiming with my California family, I showed off a quilt I was working on in my studio. On my way to the design wall, I walked past my stash. "Oh Memere," my DGD exclaimed, "You have a lot of quilts." I paused. "Oh no, honey, those aren't quilts, that's just my fabrics. I use those to MAKE quilts...")

When I got bored with cutting I ran the pairs through my sewing machine, 

then I pressed them. Next up will be adding fabric to the opposite sides. Then I'll trim them down and add fabric strips to the other two sides. This stack has about 35 sets. I haven't calculated how big I want this quilt to be, or how many blocks I'll need just yet. 

BTW, it's my best pal Julie's birthday today. Swing on over to her blog and leave her some birthday cheer. This picture was taken last year when she came to New Hampshire for a visit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!