Dorky Homemade How-To: Scrap Quilts

Today, a lesson in Dorky Homemade Quiltmaking.

As you know, I am a die-hard scrap quilter. Nothing thrills me more than to plop a hundred different fabric prints together and watch them duke it out for dominance. I am fearless. Yes, sometimes my adventurous side gets me in trouble, but I don't care. I never met a busy quilt I didn't like.

Yes, sometimes funky things DO happen in scrap quilts, but that's where the magic lies! Timid scrapsters are usually too cautious their first time out. They just can't stand it. They make one scrap block and hate it. They make another and want to give up. After all, every block just HAS to be pretty by itself, doesn't it? A case in point: look at this horribly ugly single block I made:

What was I thinking?

Hideous, right? The background/foreground contrast is terrible--and the background print fights with the block pattern. The orange totally makes you lose the block visually...and the cats? With Fall vegetables? And a paisley? And a dot? Shudder. And how about this dog:

Woof!

Ugh...calicoes, paisleys, repros, batiks, and another Fall print? And is that actually a giraffe print and a gingham in the neighboring blocks? Horrid!!! Is Lisa on drugs??

But let's zoom out a bit on those blocks and see the whole effect. What do you think of the quilt blocks now?

It's okay if you still hate it...but many people don't. As a matter of fact, it's one of my favoritest quilts ever. It has thrifted pieces, salvaged clothing scraps, stash rejects, Woolworth bargains, and some of the ugliest blocks I've ever made. But see how it shimmers? See how the blocks flow into each other like ripples on a pond? Isn't it amazing that all those gooney prints can work together like this?

My teacherly slogan for the day is this: One block does not a quilt make. Think of the entire quilt and be bold with your single blocks. Every block does not have to be beautiful to make a beautiful quilt.

Corn and Beans, 108X108", Lisa Boyer 2005; quilted by my sister, Jane Ann Munroe

This is my "Corn and Beans" quilt, full view with borders. Click on the picture to see more detail. It's a traditional pattern that is also known as "Northwinds." If it looks familiar, you may have seen this quilt on the "Simply Quilts" television show a couple of years ago. This quilt was behind me the whole time I was trying not to melt into a steaming puddle of nervous goo on the studio floor. Ah, fond memories. To see a slideshow of that experience, there's a fun link on the right there to the Flickr photoset of my filming. Backstage pictures and everything!

I'll step down from my lecturn now and leave you Kauai fans with a picture taken during my daily walk on the road I live on. This picture is dedicated to all of you affected by the terrible tornadoes in the south, the bad weather events all across the U.S., and the tragedy in the Missouri Courthouse yesterday. I hope that beauty will soon make its way back into your lives. Those events are just the ugly blocks--remember your whole life as a beautiful quilt. My thoughts are with you.

Class dismissed. Pau Hana!