Monday, September 30, 2013

3 is the magic number

Remember the school house rock song '3 Is A Magic Number'? This quilt is named after that song. I love it, but now I can't get it out of my head! Sorry if I got it stuck in your head as well. At least it's happy.... :)
This quilt is made up of 720 3" (cut) squares. All scraps. All individually cut. Lots of pins were used to get those seams to match up just so. Time consuming, sure, but I love the results!
There were times that I didn't like this quilt. In fact, I was ready to put the squares up for adoption just two weeks ago. (I can be a little high strung.) Thankfully I got through my little dislike stage and now I'm happy with it. Quilting it should make it better yet! The top measures 60" x 75".

Happy Monday to you!

47 comments:

chris said...

I love this quilt... so funny how you say you had your dislike stage. I am glad to know I am not the only one. Seems every quilt I make I go through this stage. Not sure if it has to do with my expectations. Will work on it though :).

doodlebugmom said...

I love it. The bright patchwork makes me smile.

Char said...

Great quilt! I love it!

Leanne said...

Scrappy quilts are the BEST! Did you have any repeat fabric or are they all different?
Love Leanne

Michele said...

It's lovely! Such a happy quilt. I'm glad you kept going.

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

It's beautiful... I so love patchwork quilts!

Anonymous said...

I love it. This is one of my favorite styles of quilts and you do it very well.

evaj said...

Fantastic!!I love this quilt!!Hugs Bambi

Jenn said...

Hi there, i'm follower of your blog, and i have been for awhile now.. During all this itme, i've been working on the same quilt, for a boys room, its taken me three years to complete... hahaha

Any advice on how to a. speed up the process or b. match separate blocks with impact??? I'm bored.. lol

Thanks so much for your motivation daily! Your work is gorgeous!

Again thanks,
Jenn

Sarah said...

I always have a dislike stage too.
I was wondering if you had any advice on how to coordinate scraps for scrap quilts. I have so many scraps but I'm afraid to put them all together and have the colors all off.

Erin @ Why Not Sew? Quilts said...

beautiful! love schoolhouse rock. I still sing the grammar songs!

Kim @ TiesThatBindQuilting said...

So fun! I'd love to make a quilt with so many little squares like this!

Melissa Corry said...

Absolutely fantastic. What a fun, fun quilt top!!

Kris from The Knotty Crafter said...

Love this!! (Even though I'm dying of seam envy.)

Out of curiosity, do you stitch rows together first or columns? Or do you sew 9-patch (or some other number) squares? I always wonder how other quilters do it - I don't think there's a "right" or "wrong" way, though.

Kim said...

Sweet and simple, a great formula for a winning quilt!
Hey I'll send you my address if you
want to get rid of this one :0)

Happy Sewing

ipatchandquilt said...

It is wonderful and cheery!
Esther
esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo dot com
ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com

Sandra said...

I have absolutely NO patience to be pinning together hundreds of 3" squares; sorry I'd be strip piecing and then subcutting. I know it wouldn't be the same, but....I don't know where you get your patience from. You are SO talented. ALL your work is beautiful and this top is too!

Jean said...

I do not like sewing long strip together, so I make four patches, and then, four of them make 16 patches, and so on. Marti Michell in her book Quilting for People who Still Don't have time to Quilt has a way of putting quits together into sections, so you don't have so many long seams to sew. I have found this to be most helpful.

Dona said...

I have started a pile of 4 inch squares. I will slowly add them in the pile until I have enough, 3 inches was a little scary for me. Thanks for the inspiration.

Svarta Malin said...

I do press the LIKE-button!

Linda said...

Pretty Pretty!

Unknown said...

We are usually more critical when it comes to our own projects. Beautiful mix of scraps!

Schulz Family said...

I love it. Glad you kept them

Hilary said...

This looks so amazing!

Vicki said...

Yeah...I love this happy doo-dah quilt!!! = }

Liz M. said...

Absolutely adore this quilt top. And I am in awe of your patience to be able to line everything up so nicely! Beautiful job!!

Diane said...

school house rock! ah the memories-"conjunction junction what's your function" was my fave. 720 individually cut 3" squares---whew!
Oh and I heard a couple weeks ago Spring Market is going to be in the 'burgh....just sayin'.... :)

liz said...

One of my favorite types of quilts and I really like this one!
Someone asked about construction earlier. I don't know if it's the best way, but I make 49 patch (7x7) blocks and then sew them into rows and then sew the rows together. would love to know how you do it!

Maggie said...

Loving all the lovey patterns and colours! Xx

excuseme23 said...

It's a beautiful quilt, striking and interesting. You can't beat simple squares patchwork, gorgeous colours too. This was well worth persevering with.

Lyndy at Stitchbird said...

Oh no - now you have planted that song in my head as well. Love the quilt!

Kay said...

Happy quilt. It is nice to know that even pros like yourself struggle with seams occasionally.

Jeneta said...

Love the quilt and the song! I thought of you as I was perusing fabric last week and I bought fabric with only one colour and white (as I was seriously lacking more versatile fabrics!). Thanks for the tip! I am very, very impressed with your dedication to matching all your seams. I might try and do that one day!

Pam said...

How could you? I have just got immersed in 1" nine patch blocks and have a stack waiting to have 1 1/2" borders added. Now I want to cut 3" squares. Love the quilt, scrappy and bright, all the boxes ticked. I may have to give up sleeping to fit more sewing in.

Qltr89 said...

It looks great! What a great idea to use scraps. Thank you for the inspiration. I am in the middle of a quilt right now and I'm starting to dislike it. A lot of issues have come up since I started making it. So, I know exactly what you mean. It takes a lot of effort for me to work on it. I am determined to finish it though.

Swedish Scrapper said...

Love it!!! Lots of work but very cool. And I love that song too! Even (might have bought myself) bought my kids the Schoolhouse ROck Collection so they could enjoy it too--they did :)

Julie said...

I have something similar going on right now. I am going to break it up some how with a few other ideas also. Thanks for the inspiration!

P11otter said...

How beautiful!! I like this very much, if you don't mind I am gonna coppy this voor a baby quit. Thank you for the inspiration!

SuperMomNoCape said...

Now that is a quilt in the true patchwork tradition in that it's all made from scraps from other projects. And it's so colourful and bright. I'll bet it's going to be really warm too once it's quilted.

Ceci G. said...

Colourful and playful. And a great idea to use the scraps! Congratulations!

robinnan said...

i'm starting to like scrappy quilts more and more. I have even started cutting left over fabric into 5" charm squares. I'm with your other blogger though, 3" is just a little to scary for me. Thanks for sharing your scraps!

Pieced Brain Quilt Designs said...

Beautiful! It must have taken you forever...

Rene' said...

This is a happy quilt. Can't imagine you wanting to put it up for adoption. Glad you changed your mind. It's so pretty.

Natalie said...

I love FMQ. I do all my own quilting so I'm always looking for new designs to try. This book sounds perfect. Now I'm off to check out Christina's blog!

Unknown said...

wonderful work!!! wonderful!!!!

hugs

Maria Filomena

EcuQuilt said...

I am an old follower of your blog and just want to say thank you for the inspiration you give with your cheerful work!

Di~ said...

Love it.Did you count this as one of your 101 scrap projects???