It’s finished!

The Controlled Chaos Quilt is finished! And I love it soooooo much!

Before I get to the story – I want to give you all the link to the free scrap quilt pattern. It’s really much more than a pattern, because there are also lessons about working with color, and videos teaching all the skills I used – from cutting to sewing, quilting, and binding. It’s really a complete scrap quilting workshop. Get all the details here and make your own!

I started this quilt way back in May 2014. My scrap bins were overflowing and I particularly wanted to use up a lot of the smaller scraps. I thought about sewing them together randomly, creating a chaotic splash of colors – but I decided to control the chaos and create patterned blocks with those scraps. I’m so glad I did!

My plan was to make one block a week, so I would be done with the piecing in 20 weeks.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Fifteen months later I finally finished piecing all the blocks. 🙂

This was a project that I set aside repeatedly – every time work got busy. But I always came back to it and I loved seeing the pile of finished blocks stack up.

Block #16

It took me another three months to sew the blocks together and add sashing. It shouldn’t have taken that long, but it was the middle of the pre-holiday prep season and I had to set it aside again.

Once I got the top finished and basted, I decided to hand quilt it using Big Stitch Quilting.

That was the best decision ever!

Jo took one look at the quilting and announced that I was completely bonkers. In her words, “That’s going to take FOREVER!”

It actually took seven months.

Seven months of absolute bliss.

Seriously.

If I knew I was going to get some couch time with my quilt in the evening, I looked forward to it All Day Long. I’ll continue to machine quilt the quilts I want to finish quickly, but for the personal projects that are all about taking my time and enjoying the process – it’s Big Stitch Quilting forever for me. I don’t think I’ll ever do traditional hand quilting again.

Look at that texture!

The whole quilt took a little over two years from start to finish.

That’s a long time for a single project, but I enjoyed every minute of that time – especially the hand work. In fact, I think my next big project like this will be all hand work from start to finish.

If you look at my timeline, the place I really stalled was piecing the blocks. In a way that makes sense. I sew at the machine during the day – which makes it work time. I sew by hand at night – free time while I watch television. Since this was a personal project it got set aside during busy work times. If the next one is all hand work, I think my progress will be more steady.

I’m planning an EPP version of Controlled Chaos and I can’t wait to get started! Jo thinks I’m insane. I think there’s nothing more sane than having something beautiful to look at and touch and add to every day. 🙂

Get the free scrap quilt pattern to make your own Controlled Chaos Quilt here.

And if you want to watch my next scrap quilt grow, sign up here for the weekly Shiny Happy News. 🙂

Happy quilting!

Best,
Wendi

Here’s block #19 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt! Just one more block to go!

What You’ll Need

• 68  two-inch squares in color A (shown in yellow)
• 32 two-inch squares in color B (shown in pink)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams as you go. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I worked in big chunks. I sewed things up in the following order. . .

• Sew all your individual squares into pairs of matching colors. You should have 34 yellow pairs and 16 pink pairs.
• Sew the yellow pairs into two long 2 x 10 rectangles, two 2 x 6 rectangles, and one 2 x 2 square.
• Sew the pink pairs into two 2 x 6 rectangles and two 2 x 2 squares.
• Sew pink and yellow 2 x 2 squares into a pink/yellow/pink rectangle to form the middle of the pink “donut.”
• Sew the pink 2 x 6 rectangles to the top and bottom of the pink/yellow/pink rectangle to finish the pink “donut.”
• Sew the yellow 2 x 6 rectangles to the sides of the pink “donut.”
• Assemble the final block by sewing long yellow 2 x 10 rectangles to the top and bottom of the pink “donut.”

That’s 19 blocks done. I can’t believe we’re down to the last one!

I’ll be on vacation next week, so look for the last Controlled Chaos block on Wednesday 8/5. I can’t wait!

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Here’s block #18 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt! There are only two left after this!

What You’ll Need

• 64  two-inch squares in color A (shown in aqua)
• 36 two-inch squares in color B (shown in red)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams as you go. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I worked in big chunks. I sewed things up in the following order. . .

• Sew all your individual squares into pairs of matching colors. You should have 32 aqua pairs and 18 red pairs.
• Sew the aqua pairs into large 4 x 4 squares. You’ll need four of them.
• Sew the red pairs into 2 4×2 rectangles and 2 rows each 10 squares long.
• Sew the long red rows together into one long rectangle 2 x 10 squares.
• Sew one aqua block to one short red 2 x 4 rectangle and then to another aqua block. Repeat with the remaining aqua blocks and 2 x 4 red rectangles.
• Assemble the final block by sewing an aqua/red row to the long red 2 x 10 rectangle and then to the last aqua/red row.

That’s 18 blocks done. I can’t believe we’re down to the last two!

Here’s what I calculated I’ll need to finish the quilt. I’m going to use a grey solid – I’m looking for a nice slate color. I’ll need. . .

• 1 1/4 yards for the sashing
• 5 yards for the backing
• 3/4 yard for the binding

I usually use Cuddle Fleece to back my quilts, but I want to hand quilt this one and I think the Cuddle Fleece will be too thick for that, so I’m going to use the same grey fabric. I’m going to big stitch quilt in a lot of different colors – it should make pretty speckling on the back and they’ll show up nicely on the solid.

I’ll be back next week with the penultimate block!

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Here’s block #17 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

• 48  two-inch squares in color A (shown in orange)
• 52 two-inch squares in color B (shown in green)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams as you go. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I worked in columns. I sewed things up in the following order. . .

• Sew all your individual squares into pairs of matching colors. You should have 24 orange pairs and 26 green pairs.
• Sew the orange squares into columns – each 2 blocks x 8 blocks.
• Add a green pair to the top and bottom of each orange column.
• Sew the remaining green pairs into 4 strips, each 10 blocks long.
• Assemble the final block by alternating green columns with the columns that have the orange in them.

That’s 17 blocks done – just 3 more to go. THREE!

Did I mention just three blocks left? I’d better do the math and figure out how much fabric to order for the sashing and the back. I’ll include that info with next week’s block. 🙂

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Here’s block #16 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

• 36  two-inch squares in color A (shown in red)
• 64 two-inch squares in color B (shown in light blue)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I worked (mostly) in rows. I sewed things up in the following order. . .

• Sew all your individual squares into pairs of matching colors. You should have 18 red pairs and 32 blue pairs.
• Pair up the red pairs and sew them up into squares – each square is four red blocks.
• Alternate those red squares with blue pairs to create the three rows in the block that have red squares in them.
• Sew the remaining 20 blue pairs into 4 strips, each with ten blue squares.
• Assemble the final block by alternating blue rows with the rows that have the red squares in them.

That’s 16 blocks done – just 4 more to go!

I love how it’s coming together! And I feel like I’m so close to finishing!

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi