Scrap Happy Provençal quilt June 2021
As Writ
Followers of my blog will know that I have been working on a quilt since January 2020 – using a combination of scraps of fabric bought by me in 2010 and by my mother-in-law in the 1960’s and 70’s. We originally made a queen size quilt together using the “Cobblestone” pattern. There were several blocks leftover from that project, some of which were used to make a baby quilt for my granddaughter in 2013.
I finished the quilt blocks earlier this month and am working on putting them all together into a single bed sized quilt for the spare room.
The current project called for 18 “sampler” pattern blocks, alternating with “hourglass” blocks. I didn’t like the configuration, (shown above as writ in the pattern). To me it distracts from the pieced Provençal fabrics, and makes the quilt look like something to put on the floor.
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Final placement
I like the way this looks much better (and at least it is not on the floor ha ha)! The blocks are laid out on top of an old quilt, I will be using plain green mullion strips, with a red Provençal border print around the whole outside edge. The four corner blocks are “Cobblestones” left over from the quilt we made in 2010, and I ended up having to make a random extra block.
The original pattern is called “Shades of Grey” but Winters here are too grey already so I wanted to make something more cheerful.
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Shreds
Naturally, Constance helped with the project, here she is with the trimmings after sizing the blocks to exactly 10 and a half inches!
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Pins
Vanilla has been helping since the beginning too…
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pinning
…and their little hands are useful when assembling the blocks and short strips…
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Stitching
…and when steering the cloth through my ancient Singer.
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Long Strips
They are quite pleased with themselves, even though the top is not quite done and so we can’t show the finished top for ScrapHappy day!
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Click here for blog posts about the individual quilt blocks.
ScrapHappy is a group of bloggers using up scraps of anything – no new materials…Anything made of genuine scraps is eligible, and posts come out once a month on the 15th! If you like the idea and want to join the group, contact Kate or Gun who devised and run this group. Their blogs are the first two links below:
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Quimper Hittys 
Most cheerful and, I agree, it looks much better than original! What beautiful work…you have great helpers. I would think anyone sleeping in the spare room might want to prolong their stay 😂 Superb job Quimper family!!!
Merci beaucoup! We invite you to visit, and stay as long as you like, once this awful virus situation is eased! Our quilting possibilities are endless, it has been fun to make a “big person” quilt instead of the tiny ones that usually appear here. When it is complete I may have to have a nap in the spare room myself, just to be sure it “works”.
Beautiful! I need to really focus and make quilts to replace the ones I lost in the fire. Seeing this reminded me of that. 🙂 ❤
I hope you manage to find time and focus you need! I have enjoyed making this one because just one block a month was not too daunting, even though it has taken 18 months!
Progress posts for ScrapHappy are perfectly fine, and it’s interesting to hear about your design decisions – I completely agree that the first layout looks like Victorian encaustic hall tiles! The new layout is much cosier. How lovely to have the Hitty helpers to keep the tiny details tidy.
Exactly! I hadn’t put it into words, but that Victorian encaustic look is exactly what I didn’t like about the first version. The green mullions are a big improvement…and of course I am glad to have Constance and Vanilla take care of the little details…my eyes aren’t quite as good as they used to be!
love the new quilt patterns, the colours are bright and beautiful. Perfect for a grey Victoria winter. So many memories stitched into the different blocks and so many helping hands.
We were happy to find another project to use up some of these fabrics – though not all the results are what we envisioned. We like the end result too, even some of the really wild combinations! It will really warm the bedroom, and the memories warm the heart!
such vibrant colours, and lovely to see the dolls are helping ^^
Many hands make light work – even tiny wooden hands are helpful! The colours are very bright – we love them, and the fact that so many scraps and years of scrapping have gone into making this quilt!
Absolutely Beautiful.
Thank you so much – we are so happy to have gotten almost to the end of the sewing part of the project, and are almost at the snuggling under the quilts stage. It will be a cosy winter!
Absolutely gorgeous 😍
Thanks very much – one block a month was a good project for us – we are ready to be finished, but really have enjoyed the process of putting it all together.
I am just in awe of your quilt making talent and your wonderful use of pattern and color!
Oh dear I am embarrassed…I think I mentioned before that I am counting on your being so dazzled by the colours that you don’t see the cut off points or the occasionally slightly slanted square! I am not a perfectionist quilter…but I like the quilts I do make, so thank you!
Well, I wouldn’t put either on the floor but I see what you mean about those red and yellow blocks giving a ’tiled floor’ look to the first layout. The second version looks lovely and your little helpers are proving their worth yet again.
Thanks! It might be the colours that give that effect, but in any case I wanted a single bed-sized finished quilt, and adding the hour glass blocks would expand it more than needed. The wooden friends are always out and about, encouraging if nothing else!
It is beautiful, guaranteed to bring restful sleep. I love the final color scheme. It’s so much easier on the eyes.
Thank you – I agree it will be much more restful in this version, and that’s a good result for a quilt – much better than eyestrain!
I love the swirls of pattern and color in the final quilt- they feel so much more ‘Quimper Hitty’ than the very large scale of the yellow and red hourglass blocks. I suspect that the large scale blocks will be cut into smaller ‘doses’ of the intense colorways to add more pattern to them. The final quilt is a delicious glorygarden of delights that are an invitation to dive in and immerse oneself in it!
When I started this quilt, each block seemed gross and gigantic, because I had been making tiny quilts for so long! I am pleased with the way it looks now. It is much closer to what I wanted than the pattern as writ, and more focused on the pieced blocks and less on the architecture of the piece.
I am so glad that you followed your heart, because you have created a work of beauty and delight!
I am always fascinated by how changing one detail changes the whole effect! I hope Constance andVanilla have a plan for all the rejected hourglass blocks.
I am too! I have just added a row of 2 1/2 inch blocks outside the outer mullion strips, and it changes everything – tying the blocks together in a surprising and pleasing way! I only made enough hourglass blocks to demonstrate the technique to a friend who has been making the blocks along with me using Liberty fabrics (two more opposite quilts you can’t imagine!). I think my leftovers might make great semaphore flags, don’t you!?
THE FABRICS AND COLORS ARE FABULOUS
Thank you very much – we’ve been enjoying this project ever since the beginning…can’t wait to see it finished though, it will feel great to have it done!