Finishing a scrappy quilt top quickly (Quilt studio diary)

In my previous studio diary post, my scrappy quilt top was starting very slowly. Then it happened: after the first, slowest-to-make blocks were done, the rest of the quilt came together in just a few days. The four-patches in squares were particularly fast to sew.

I’ve noticed that after the first 25 blocks, the process usually becomes much smoother. There are fewer mistakes in cutting and trimming, for example. This is very noticeable in my way of working – I cut pieces for a few blocks at a time, not everything at once.

With all the blocks done, the only thing left was to design them into an orderly layout and sew them into a quilt top. This time it was not easy to identify dark, mid-value and light blocks because almost all of them were mid-value. They also had the white corners in common (except for the bunny block).

Well, I ended up identifying the very darkest ones and the lightest ones and decided to organise the rest by colour somehow. I did think carefully about the positioning of the bunny block: it felt like the one that could bring a fun twist to the whole quilt.

Here you can see the surface closer up:

Looking at this photo, I almost wish I had made more X blocks using the fun Tula Pink fabric with diamond shapes! (I believe that all X blocks feature a different fabric.)

I like to use leftover pieces and blocks when I can, and this time I found one block left over from the Witness/Todistaja quilt from 2025. The block seemed to have light enough corners, so I included it in the surface. However, the longer I looked at it, the more irritating it became. It just did not fit.

I had sewn it into a long diagonal row and the row was already sewn into its neighbour when I made my decision. This is rare! Most of the time, I just make do, but now, it was ”hello, seam ripper” time.

With that block gone, I had to make a new one. Lucky me, I had some pre-cut squares left over and I used those – which is why the block doesn’t show quite as good a contrast as most of the others. That is ok with me though.

Because there is a lot of white/white-ish between the colours, I was worried that it would have an effect on how the colours looked. I once made beautiful green/purple blocks for a quilt, but the white sashings somehow made the finished "Michaelmas Daisies" / "Elokuunasterit" quilt look powdery. All the deep colours in the blocks were subdued.

What a relief: the colours did stand out:

When the surface was in one piece, I just had to take a photo right away. The colours never look quite right though when the picture is taken inside my sewing room. The look in the previous photo is ok –

But won’t you look at the colours in the sun!

This is how the colours should look. There was sun but luckily no wind – and the flimsy stayed put while I took the photos.

The approximate size of this surface is 180 cm x 220 cm (71" x 87").

The one above and this one ase are currently the only pictures where the edges show a little.

You may not be able to see it properly, but the outermost blocks in the quilt are different from the others. The colourful “squares” with white corners are not squares, but rectangles.

I’m thinking that after this has been quilted, I will be able to trim and bind the quilt so that the outermost shapes look square. If these edge blocks featured squares, the binding would fold over them and a part of the square would disappear from view. Let’s see how this idea of mine pans out.

This quilt top is now finished and waiting for my trusted longarmer Soile to return to her workshop in Töölö in May. And it’s ok for me to wait because I’m already working on my next project - but this quilt will need a name.

If you have an idea for the name of this quilt, please let me know in the comments!