Crappy Scrappy Quilt

(Let me preface this post: I don't want to offend anyone. I'm going to call some fabric ugly. If you happen to find the fabric beautiful, or you designed the fabric, please do not take it personally. Personal opinions for the win!)

It all started innocently enough .. Before unpacking all my fabric, I wanted to clear out my stash of a lot of fabric I have deemed ugly (there, see, I said it). It's fabric from various projects in which said fabric worked well with other fabrics, but I was left with scraps of fabric that no longer match other fabrics in my stash. And/or I love the fabric, but didn't have anything else to match it. Also, I once bought a jelly roll that looked way cooler online, but turns out the fabrics were all pretty lame calico prints. And leftover blocks from strange projects. You following? 

So everyone knows the transitive property of quilting states if you throw enough ugly fabrics together, they will merge into one glorious quilt that is so ugly it is cool. You know, like that old painting in your grandma's house.  

I started sewing together random blocks, using all that fabric I didn't see myself using in other projects. And yes, a  little bit of fabric I actually love to offset the ugly. There are log cabins, nine patches, flying geese, half square triangles, and lots of improvised blocks. 

I laid them all out into a size I liked, adding blocks here and there where necessary. 

After getting most of the spaces filled, I started sewing the blocks together into larger sections, adding sashing and extra pieces to bridge the gaps. My goal was to make the chunks random sizes so there is not an obvious block layout in the finished quilt.

When all was said and done, I had most of the quilt sewn into large chunks with the exception of two little holes (see arrows above). At that point I had to face what I'd been avoiding and sew a few Y-seams. It went surprisingly well and the finished top has the random feeling I was aiming for. 

This quilt will be a picnic/concert/grassy knoll quilt because I won't feel bad about getting all those weird fabrics a little dirty. 

The back is comprised of large pieces of fabric I did not purchase, but they landed in my stash anyway. A pinky calico print, a dark green calico print, a golden dyed-looking fabric, and that awful green striped fabric which is more of a seersucker with glitter stripes. Yes, glitter. 

Finally, I rounded up all my 2.5" strips of less-desirable fabric and sewed them into binding. This ugly sucker is really to be quilted as soon as I can get my hands on some batting. 

How about a winner for the My Memories Suite giveaway?? Congratulations to Kim! Kim, I will email you shortly with more information.