Blossom Heart Quilts

Modern quilt teacher and patterns

The Happy Scrappy Quilt QAL

So. This is quite the time going on, hey?! Never has this world felt so small than when we are globally dealing with the same crisis that is COVID-19. We are all dealing with the cancellation of big things in life – school, trips, birthday parties, concerts, etc. Life feels full of The Unknown, not quite sure what’s happening next and where our next roll of toilet paper will come from! When there is lots of The Unknown happening, it causes anxiety and a lot of restless, nervous mental and emotional energy.

Last week, I took all that restless and nervous energy and channeled it into making a scrappy improv quilt – grabbed some Alison Glass charm squares and just sliced and diced and stitched them together to make a baby quilt. Fully finished in less than 24 hours.

And I felt good.

Scrappy baby quilt with charm squares

This past week, I’ve deliberately made time each day to sew something scrappy, although, this time with a bit more of a plan. I came up with a quick design that makes a 51″ x 51″ quilt from a variety of 9″ quilt blocks that are super quick to cut and sew. I wanted to be able to make them within 15-30 minutes or so.

You see, 9″ quilt blocks are very scrap friendly, but are also big enough that you don’t need too many to make a usable quilt. As such, I wondered if you would like to make it too?

I have been wondering what I can do as a quilter and designer in the midst of this chaos, and providing a (free!) way for you to join me in daily quilty therapy is what I thought would be fun.

I’ll keep the final quilt design a mystery for now, because I want you to focus on just cutting and sewing and making, and not stressing about fabric placement and choices.

I KNOW. It’s scary for many to consider a mystery scrappy quilt, but hey, if I can do it, then anyone can, ha!

Happy Scrappy QAL scrap quilt

The Happy Scrappy QAL

Here’s what I will tell you about the Happy Scrappy quilt:

  • There are 25 quilt blocks in total, and a pieced border. These will be divided up to make a couple of blocks each day, and there’ll be a few repeats of designs.
  • The quilt finishes at 51″ x 51″.
  • Happy Scrappy is 100% beginner-friendly – it involves sewing squares and rectangles together, and a few easy corner triangles.
  • The largest size scrap you will need is 3 1/2″ x 9 1/2″.

The Happy Scrappy QAL was going to be run by email, as I’ve “done my neck” over the weekend (a wry neck – it’s getting better), I’ve had to adapt and change my plans to what is more feasible considering my limited ability to sew or spend time on the computer. As such, I will be posting on here every 2-3 days with the next installment of blocks to make. The first post will go up tomorrow!

If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything, you can sign up for my weekly newsletter that always includes links to my latest blog posts. And you’ll be able to find all the posts on this page here.

There’s no race, there’s no hurry. This is something to help distract us and give us something fun and creative to do each day. Think of it as a perpetual QAL – join in at any time, and quilt along with everyone else. We’ll be sharing our progress on Instagram using #happyscrappyqal and in the Blossom Heart Quilts Facebook group.

Happy Scrappy Quilt Along Rules

  1. Family comes first.
    Yes, this QAL is about making time for yourselves. But if you don’t get to make a quilt block each day because you need to spend some extra time loving on your family, that is ok. Hopefully you can find some time somewhere anyway, but this is not something to add to your mental load if it just doesn’t work some days.
  2. Sew at your own pace.
    Yes, the posts are going up, but don’t stress about HAVING to stick to the timetable. See rule no. 1!
  3. Focus on quilting mindfully.

Quilting Mindfully

What makes quilting (and other creative pursuits) so therapeutic is the mindfulness aspect of it. What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of being present and fully engaged with whatever we’re doing at the moment — free from distraction or judgment, and aware of our thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them. – Headspace

Mindfulness quiets our brains and calms the anxiety; it stops us thinking about the negative by focusing on the current task wholeheartedly. And when it’s craft, it’s turning that negative energy into creating something positive – a quilt!

Moments to lose yourself in during the Happy Scrappy QAL:

  • the colour play of sorting scraps into piles of background fabrics and prints
  • the satisfaction of pressing the wrinkles out of your fabric
  • trimming the fabric to remove loose threads and squaring it up; bringing order to that chaos!
  • the hum of your sewing machine as you chain-piece fabric into pairs
  • the soothing repetition of sew, press, sew, press
  • that productive satisfaction of finishing a quilt block or two

So who’s in?! I’m excited to go through this process together – I’ve nearly finished my own version, and I still have plenty of scraps left in my scrap bin, so maybe I’ll make another! We’ll see… today is the start of our own school shutdown…

 

Comments

  1. Fran Flanagan says

    What a lovely idea, people from around the world sewing together. Perhaps if we joined the quilts together we could wrap the world in love!

    Reply

  3. Kathy E. says

    This sounds like the perfect scrappy, happy project for me! I’m all signed up and ready to get my sewing machine humming!

    Reply

  4. Judy says

    Looking so forward to this….I love to turn my quilt projects into interesting wall hangings, and I think this might make a really cool one. I need a baby quilt too. Can’t wait!!

    Reply

  8. Dora says

    I don’t have a stash! I LIVE IN PORTUGAL stores are closed!Can’t buy any fabric. I REALY need a scrappy!!

    Reply

  9. Sabra says

    Even though I have tons of quilting projects lined up to do while sheltering this will be a fun addition – glad I organized my scrap bins a while back!

    Reply

  14. Sigrid Reinert says

    Warmly thanks for this great idea!

    „not stressing about fabric placement and choices.“, „no race, no hurry“
    Perfect for me, because I have (only) one free week since yesterday till next Tuesday and my eldest son is at home, lives in „ma chambre“, where my sewing place is. So I ´m not able to sew many hours.

    Letś go, as you said keep mindfully and healthy!

    Sigrid (Germany)

    Reply

  15. Camille Davies says

    What a wonderful way to spend some down time for ourselves. I will call it “My Creative Corona” Quilt. I look forward to seeing the blocks we will be making. Thank you for taking your time to do this for all of us. Have a joyful and blessed day!!!

    Reply

  17. Elizabeth says

    Hellooooooo
    I am late to the game, just found your blog, and the SAL. Right now I am working on a mystery quilt that is not my cup of tea, so I was quite please to see that your SAL is much more my style. ALSO, I LOVE LOVE LOVE your rules, I will be keeping those posted where I can see them!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Always Was, Always Will Be

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which I live, who are a part of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging, and the Aboriginal Elders of other communities who may be here today.

On The Blog

Copyright & Disclosure

All images, text, and content on this site are the sole property of Alyce Blyth and may not be reproduced, copied, derived, displayed, sold, republished, or transmitted without my permission. I reserve all exclusive rights. In addition to providing blog sponsorship and paid advertising, I may also occasionally include an affiliate link or a product review withing blog posts. At times I may receive compensation for these, but I promise you will always get my honest opinion, for better or worse!

Please see the latest blog post to explain why you can't find certain links or products anymore.

Got it!
X