Quilt #117 :: Scrappy Buffalo Plaid

I'm taking a break from posting about my older quilts to share a new finish! My overall goal for 2018 is supposed to be finishing up all of my social quilts from last year. I've done a decent job completing ten of them:  Project Linus mystery, Wayward Transparency, Grandma's Kitchen (all 6 of them!), On Ringo Lake, and Prince Edward Island MQG Mystery quilts. More than halfway there, so that's good!

Mentally though, I'm thinking ahead to my 2019 goal, which is to make a LOT of scrappy quilts. My scrap bins are overflowing so I need to use them up! I've been curating scrappy quilts on Pinterest for next year, but I couldn't help making a few already this year with Good Night Irene, Good Morning Eileen, VV Improv, Murphy's Oops and Orphans, Lots of Love wedding quilt, and my Carolina Jewel quilt.

The quilt I'm sharing today is my take on Plaid to Meet You by Tonya Alexander of Stash Lab Quilts.  It was featured in the February 2018 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. I'm calling my version Scrappy Buffalo Plaid because the ubiquitous plaid of my high school glory days is coming back! (The stirrup pants can stay in the past!)

Source

In the pre-smart phone days of my youth, I missed the opportunity to get a picture of myself in one of my many stirrup pants and baggy plaid sweater combos, but I will let you admire one of my senior pictures. (RIP, Mandy! RIP, my little waist!)

Back to the quilt. My scraps are separated by color. I know a lot of people cut their scraps into common sizes, but for the most part, I keep my scraps intact so I have more sizes to choose from when I applique or paper piece. But as more of my bins are overflowing, I am taking time between project to cut the smaller pieces into 2.5", 2" and 1.5" squares.

For this quilt, I focused on blues and reds. Can you believe this didn't even make a dent in my blue bin?

I didn't have as wide of an assortment of reds, but still a lot! This was the point where I realized that I cut way more blues than I needed for this quilt. I could make about three with all the blue squares I cut!

When piecing little squares like this, I like to use a method I learned from Elizabeth Hartman using fusible interfacing. 

I have several templates made up that I use under the interfacing depending on the size block I'm using.

I started this quilt over the summer while we were puppy sitting Murphy. He was not a fan of long periods of time watching me sew, but over time he came to accept his little corner of the room, away from the fabric.

As I was quilting the quilt in my go-to spiral, I was able to look more closely at the 1" squares. I realized that this quilt will be like a mini-I Spy quilt for whoever receives it. Some of the prints include a robot, Santa, a Dutch windmill (a little bit of us!), an Ohio State "O" (a bit of local flair), a heart, vintage prints, Mario, Betty Boop, Thomas the Train, a pup from Paw Patrol, and because it's my stash, lots of bits of space stuff.

To see more pictures of this quilt, check the hashtag #ScrappyBuffaloPlaidQuilt on Instagram. To see what I'm currently working on, please follow me at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:
Color Inspiration Tuesday @ Clever Chameleon
Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts & Doll Quilts
Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Mama Quilts
Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts

Linky Tuesday @ Free Motion By the River
Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts
Midweek Makers @ My Quilt Infatuation
Monday Making @ Love Laugh Quilt
Moving It Forward @ Em's Scrap Bag
Oh Scrap! @ Quilting is More Fun Than Housework
Off the Wall Frida @ Nina Marie
Needle & Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation
Scrap Happy Saturday @ So Scrappy
Show Off Saturday @ Sew Can She
To Do Tuesday @ Stitch All The Things
Wednesday Wait Loss @ The Inquiring Quilter
Whoop Whoop Friday @ Confessions of a Quilt Addict
WIP Linky Party @ Silly Mama Quilts
WIPs on Wednesday @ Esther's Blog
UFO Busting @ The Madd Hatter
What I Made Monday @ Pretty Piney