It’s January in Montreal, which means it’s cold. Add to that Quebec’s pandemic restrictions, and there’s not much left to do other than chores, work, or fun things like binge-watching a series, reading, or quilt. I chose to sew together some quilt tops.
A friend dropped off a box of fabrics last week, for me to use for these quilts, so I designed four very different quilt tops. Three are finished, the fourth’s blocks are just about finished and just need to be sewn together.
![](https://mycreativequilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/blocks-rotated-e1642424484437.jpeg)
Except for the Shadow Box quilt, the others are scrappy and I have a hard time with scrap quilts. I like symmetry, and I want to plan how I place things. Making a scrappy quilt goes against all that. It makes me pick pieces at random. Some people may find that odd, but the scraps’ randomness stresses me sometimes. Most of the time, I can do it, but other times I have to cheat and replace a piece that just didn’t look right to my eye.
Shadow Box
This is my favourite fast quilt if you have a focus fabric you want to show off. It’s very simple. In the video in my previous post, I showed the start of it with an error (I forgot one of the little white squares at the bottom of each focus block) and I said I was going to leave it. I couldn’t. I had sewn most of the top together but it just bugged me too much so I took it apart and fixed it. I’m glad it did.
![](https://mycreativequilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/shadow-box-rotated.jpeg)
If you want to make a Shadow Box quilt, there are many tutorials online – just Google it, and you’ll find them. I made this top with narrow rectangles, but I’ve also made it with wider ones and squares. It all depends on the fabric.
Scrappy Twist
Now, this quilt is a bit different. I adapted the idea this quilter showed in her video. I’m calling it Scrappy Twist for now. I liked it until I saw the photo and I saw that I wasn’t thrilled with how I placed two of the blocks. Oh well, too late now – this one I am NOT redoing!
![](https://mycreativequilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/scrap-twist-rotated.jpeg)
It was a fun quilt to do. The video shows a more intricate block but I like my simplified one. I will probably make this one again.
9-Patch Exploding Quilt
This interesting quilt is really an exploding 9-patch, but just one really big one. It was SO fast to put together. I’m not sure if I like it, but it is a good way to show off some fabrics you don’t want to cut into smaller pieces.
![](https://mycreativequilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/exploding-9-patch-rotated.jpeg)
I still have a good bit of fabric left from this box, but I will mix them with other fabrics that I received from my quilt guild to make even more scrappy quilts.
Do you have any favourite scrappy quilt patterns?