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I’m still working through Denyse Schmidt Quilts and I’ve decided to make one of the actual QUILTS instead of one of the mini projects.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m kind of in love with square blocks created from strips (mendocino, wonky log cabin and repro fabrics). They’re easy. They’re fun. They’re practically effortless. Just cut the strips and go.

There’s a quilt in the book called What a bunch of squares which isn’t quite as effortless, but it’s a very clean and modern quilt. It caught my attention because it isn’t too far of a venture from what I’ve been doing, but it’s different enough that I won’t end up with yet another set of wonky log cabin blocks.

I’m also stepping out of my comfort zone by using colors I don’t normally use (blue, beige and brown) and by using mainly solids. I’m big into patterns, and I haven’t really delved into solids just yet.

I began this project last Friday night — the night I had set aside to finish a bunch of other WIPs (the boy was at a bachelor party canoe trip all weekend and I like to be a hermit from time to time). Of course, as per usual, I managed to start YET ANOTHER project instead of finishing all the ones I had intended to finish.

I think I got a bee in my bonnet when a co-worker mentioned that she might ask me to make a baby blanket but she didn’t know if her friend was having a boy or a girl. I realized that I haven’t really made anything that looks “boy-ish” and I thought I’d try my hand at it.

I’m making 25 blocks — then I’m going to put a 3-or-more-inch border of white around them and sew them together. Not sure what size the final blocks are going to be, but the idea is that each of the inside squares are a bit different so that they look more like they’re floating when the quilt is put together.

These aren’t too exciting yet, but I wanted to post what I’ve got going just to show colors. Seriously guys. No pink.

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Adria lent me her Denyse Schmidt Quilts book a while back and I’ve been slowly working on a few projects in it.

A while back I made a quilted heating pad cover and I’ve been meaning to work on some of the scrappy projects to get through my stash and to build up some fun inventory for Market Day. I came across a project for some greeting cards with fabric sewn to the front. Denyse Schmidt calls them “Dis-Cards”. As a graphic designer, I’ve got a TON of paper samples stocked away. The particular paper I used for these cards was something I’d ordered when I was thinking of re-tooling my portfolio a couple years ago. Obviously (as you can tell by my main website) I haven’t gotten around to doing that. So, instead, I used this lovely Classic Columns duplex 120# cover weight sheet to make cards. Funny thing — it’s like the paper was waiting for this project. The sample sheets I have cut down to EXACTLY the size of 4 A6 greeting cards.

Anywho, here’s a sneak peek at the cards that I’ve made with some of my scraps. I’m planning to have about 100 of these by Market Day (which, by the way, is May 29th this month from 9 AM–2 PM). I’m putting them in coordinating packs of 5 with envelopes.

This one is my favorite one that I’ve made so far. I love the combination of fabrics.

These cards are a LOT of fun to make. It’s a great scrapbuster for those super small scraps that don’t have enough edge to sew together. Of course, most of these cards use Wonderland. I’ve got a few scraps left from the Puzzle Quilt I’ve been working on. I’m digging the frayed edges on these. As well as the faux quilting. I’m having fun playing with a few different stitches. I don’t have a super high-tech sewing machine, so I’m really stuck with zig-zags as my creative stitch, but mixing the different stitches gives a really cool look.

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I’ve been reading the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book that Adria let me borrow and saw the heating pad project and just HAD to do it. I hardly make anything for myself, but it annoys me that I have my heating pad out in the middle of my living room and it’s so not cute. It had some weird 90s pattern on the cover.  Not a fan.

Well, now, it’s stylin’!  I used the original cover for insulation and quilted the patchwork piece to it. The original cover had a snap closure on it, so I didn’t have to mess with putting a closure on the new cover.  Pretty smart, eh?

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