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Friday, June 12, 2009

happy go lucky


when i started making these scrappy blocks yesterday, i had no idea where i was going with the quilt. i knew i wanted to use mostly flea market fancy fabric scraps. i added in a few katie jump rope scraps and plenty of white muslin scraps, too. i made a 3 or 4 blocks yesterday and the rest today. once i had 7 blocks arranged on the floor (this morning), i knew exactly how to set them. i threw together 2 more blocks and set them off center in a white background. that layout has been in my head for months...maybe years. i guess today was the day...it finally rattled around in there long enough. :)
i

L
O
V
E
this quilt.

it's overcast today, so the photos aren't the best.
i tried hanging it in a tree...
and spread out on the ground...

and finally went to my old stand by spot after all.

it measures 69" x 88"

i tried to push myself to make the blocks a little wonkier than usual. and i tried to push myself out of my comfort zone in regards to color. i constructed the patch of 9 blocks differently than i normally would, too. i do love the results. so, so much.

this brings my total flimsies (quilt tops only) back up to 4. yikes!

and an aside...happy go lucky does not describe my personality in the least. i sure wish it did, though. :)

84 comments:

  1. OOOh, I get to be the first comment! Love the idea of just a few little blocks with the white! Very cute!

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  2. oh good gravy!!!
    i ♥ it!!!
    ALOT!!!

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  3. Lovely.
    I'm liking the idea of making a minimalist quilt like this. Still plugging away on 9 patches, though!

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  4. Glad this quilt made it out of your head after all that time - it is brilliant! I REALLY love it - some of my favourite fabrics. lots of white and off-centre. Genius!

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  5. It's as if you took what was in my mind and made it work for a quilt that I'm getting ready to finish piecing. I have 10 blocks that I'm going to arrange a lot like the way you did it!

    It looks beautiful!!

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  6. It's fantastic! Can't wait to see it quilted! Where on the Quilter's Only cotton does it say the name parchment? I asked and they just showed me the different shades of white and said pick one. Which is fine, but I wanted to see which YOU used!

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  7. love love love it - minimal and beautiful and wonky and just about everything possible there is to love.

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  8. Very graphic and cool! Can't wait to see it quilted! Love it!

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  9. Anonymous6:28 PM

    I think they look like they are dancing on the background. :)

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  10. Love it! Your total flimsies are only at 4? You put me to shame. LOL Can't wait to see this one quilted.

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  11. Anonymous6:42 PM

    Beautiful quilt!

    I want to know how you get so much done?!?!?!

    I also want to join the next 9-patch thingie (or something like it). How does that work?

    And I have WAY more flimsies than you.

    Michelle

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  12. Okay so great! Amazing how something little can turn into something big, and so modern! Not your grannie's quilt.

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  13. Very cool! I love it!

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  14. It looks great. I can hardly wait to see it quilted. What are you going to put on the back?

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  15. That quilt just makes a statement! Very nice!

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  16. i really like how you ofset the blocks against so much white. beautiful.

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  17. I'm glad you finally got this out of your head and onto the fabric. Looks nice.

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  18. I love the results too!

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  19. I TRULY do not even fathom how you get so much done! And beautiful, to boot! I applaud you. Just beautiful.

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  20. What a gorgeous quilt. However, something so white wouldn't last five minutes in my house :)

    I think we need to take lessons from each other. I'm a little TOO happy go lucky. I so wish I were more Type A. Maybe my house would be cleaner? Maybe I'd be a little more organized? HAHA!

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  21. I love the fresh look of that quilt. I can't wait to see it finished!

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  22. Very cool! And it just says Summer. . .picnics, watermelon, sunny afternoons. . .the whole thing! I love it!

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  23. Very nice! Love it!

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  24. Wonderful! I can't wait to see it quilted :)

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  25. What a great idea! I love the wonky nine patch with so much white! It looks very summery and inviting. I think it is great.

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  26. oh my! I love, love, love it! this one might just make the top of my list of favorites of yours! all my favorite fabrics and a ton of white - what could be better than that?!!!

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  27. i love this quilt! i would never be able to keep all that white clean. :)

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  28. Oh I LOVE this! I would have never thought to do so much white, but it's ADORABLE! Great, great job!!

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  29. Looks awesome! 4 flimsies? really? only 4? boy do I gotta stack...

    I cant' wait to see this one quilted, can you do it first??? PLEAZZZZEEE!

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  30. Carolyn cdn9:43 PM

    This just goes to show that sometimes "wonky" is the only way to go. Bravo Amandajean, hats off to you! Have a great weekend...

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  31. i love it... please write it up as a tutorial... i sooo want to make one!!

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  32. Oh I absolutely LOVE it Amanda Jean!! Love love love! Everything about it... the white in the center of the blocks, the placement of all the blocks in the whole top... It's perfect!!

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  33. Offset blocks in a offset layout. Really catches my attention and jives with my artistic outlook.

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  34. Beautiful! I love all the white spaces - can't wait to see it quilted :)

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  35. Anonymous12:22 AM

    It's a great feeling when those idea's in your head translate so well in practise, your quilt looks so fresh and......HAPPY!!

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  36. what a great quilt! I love it!

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  37. What a lovely quilt! The splashy squares are fabulous!

    :o)

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  38. brilliant as usual!

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  39. I can see why you love it! Just fabulous!!! LOVE that white!

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  40. I really love this one--thanks for sharing

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  41. That is absolutely gorgeous!! You really are a wonderful artist.

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  42. Ooooh, I love it too. This one is so different for you.

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  43. I love love love it too.
    Andi :-)

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  44. (Laughing) I'm not very happy-go-lucky either. It sounds fun, though. I love this quilt. It is very pleasing to the eye.

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  45. That is fantastic. I love it's wonkiness (is that even a word)!

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  46. What a gorgeous quilt! You inspire me to try simple designs that allow for greater impact. I always overthink. :)

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  47. Wow, so original! I've never seen or even thought of doing a quilt like that! Awesome! That would just be beautiful on a bed! :)

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  48. I especially like this quilt. Very nice.

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  49. I love the simplicity of it! It is gorgeous!

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  50. Thank you, thank you, thank you Amandajean for helping me to see so many different possibilities! I am new to all this an I'm trying to not be so worried about symmetry and color coordination, etc....I'm trying to be more carefree in my sewing and you are so refreshing and new with all your quilts it is helping me tremendously! Also, I don't have to be so worried about having enough for backing fabric...I can piece, piece, piece things together!! Which is really a great help since I am trying to get rid of this over 15 year old stash I have. I refuse to buy anything until I get rid of what I have...but I do need to get some whites....whites are fantastic!!You have helped me relax a lot!! Thanks again.

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  51. What a brilliant idea, it is very effective I love these blogs everyone has such wonderful idea's

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  52. i love it too, it has me inspired to try something similar.

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  53. Anonymous5:40 PM

    Hi, I have been lurking on your site for awhile now and I decided that I should leave you a comment. Seeing all your quilts has encouraged me to pull out my box that as a quilt started in it. It's been sitting there for 3ish years. I've been frustrated with its lack of perfect corners. But I've decided that if I'm ever going to finish it I just need to work on it. So I'm working on it and I'm going to love its uneven corners and imperfect stars. Seeing this quilt with its non traditional blocks made me realize that quilts don't have to be "perfect". So thank you.

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  54. i am not happy go lucky either. maybe in my next life!
    i love this quilt.

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  55. That is absolutely adorable! I love the "wonkiness" of it, and the colors are incredible! I'm trying to come up with a color scheme for my future child's room (I'm due in early October) and if it ends up being a girl, it would be so much fun to use this wild mix of colors and patterns. Great job!

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  56. oh man i think that's my favorite one you've done so far this year. seriously i l-o-v-e it.

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  57. It's beautiful! I love it too!

    And before I looked at the close-up, I thought you had already straight-line quilted it in the places where the fold-lines are. I was thinking, "Oh, that's cool."

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  58. I love the quilt. The colors are fabulous! I want something like that for my bed, just need to learn how to do it.

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  59. Another masterpiece. I love it.

    But how in the heck did you get that hung from the tree??? giggle

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  60. This one is great!

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  61. I'm so impressed with how you can leave so much white space... it focuses you more into the piecing (and of course the quilting).

    What about adding one block in an upper corner? You could set it in or applique it on top. How would it look? :D

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  62. this is probably one of my favorite of all of your quilts! :) LOVE it!

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  63. i love this, too. perfect.

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  64. I LOVE it!!! Definitely "borrowing" this idea;)

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  65. That's fun!!! love it!

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  66. Awesome Possum! LOVE it! Truly LOVE it. ooxx`jodi

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  67. Really??? You definitely seem like a happy go lucky to me. (Well, now that I think about it...you do have an amazing quilting drive...if you were too happy go lucky you'd never get anything done.) Gorgeous quilt!!!

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  68. Wicked! Simply bold and gorgeous. Isn't it funny how something so simple can be so wonderful?

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  69. very cute! I love how you off centered the blocks

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  70. Anonymous4:13 PM

    Of course I love this. It's so funny, because I've had something very much like this in my head for quite awhile too. I've been pondering laying out my quilting bee blocks this way. Just sort of floating in a sea of the background. I love it.

    Ah, flimsies. I only have one, but I've got blocks ready to go into another, a half quilted sandwich, and just started blocks for something else this weekend!

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  71. I love that you love this quilt so much! It's so cool to see you pushing yourself with the blocks and the placement of them. I'd say that's something that a happy-go-lucky person would do (but what would I know? I'm pretty far from that description myself!).

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  72. Cindy df10:20 PM

    JEALOUS!! That you have Flea Market Fancy scraps!! I LOVE your quilt. Great job. (I bought my FMF quilt from a craft store - it was a display quilt)

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  73. Anonymous10:24 AM

    I love this one. You always seem to come up with wonderful, different and so creative ideas for quilts. Thanks for the inspiration.
    Rebecca O from Buffalo

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  74. Anonymous3:17 PM

    I

    LOVE

    THIS

    TOO!

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  75. Anonymous8:24 PM

    I love it too! Love love love all the white with the brights all close together. Wonderful.

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  76. Very purty! How are you going to quilt it?

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  77. WOW! I love it.

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  78. i love this quilt .it's so simple yet makes a statement. good job!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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