The Arty Zig

A couple months ago, Pat Bravo asked if anyone would be willing to make Project Linus quilts out of her Art Gallery scraps. I responded yes, and lo and behold, a ginormous packet of scraps arrived at my house. They ranged across her collections, so while the aesthetic was fairly constant, the colors and sizes were not. I spent a while trying to figure out how to tame the scrappy wildness. Then I remembered Cara's designs for her guild's Habitat challenge and found my answer.

The big zig, which I have taken to calling, The Arty Zig, uses string-pieced blocks and a lot of negative space to make a statement. Or at least a large zig-zag. I made 8" blocks and randomly added the strips.

I'm not sure random was the best method, as it was a tad tricky to place the blocks in a pleasing manner given the range of colors involved. But the blocks were made and I was not remaking them. Now that I've made this once, I can see all sorts of possibilities -- fading from one color to another, multiple zig-zags within the big zig, a strip zig, and the like.

And, in what has become a common refrain in two-hippos-land, I love love love the back. Probably more than the front. There were three big chunks o' scrap in the bag and I used them for a riff on (or merely a column of) Oh Fransson's New Wave quilt.

I never thought I'd say it (so mark it down in the record books), I admit that I find that pink + coral print rather pretty. That's right, on my half birthday in 2012 (31.5 for those keeping track at home), I acknowledge that, on rare occasions, I do in fact like pink fabric. Emphasize the rare, ok? I don't want my anti-pink reputation ruined.

Which leads me back to teal, possibly my most favorite shade of blue ever and always a good option. I made this binding out of 8 million (or 30ish) scraps, some from Pat Bravo's bag o' wonders and some from yardage scraps I had in my own scrap bin. Teal is fabulous, let's just reiterate that in light of comments above.