Have You Always Made Slabs?

After inviting open questions on today’s Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong, someone asked me if I’ve always made slabs (hi Gail). The obvious answer is no, but at the same time it feels like I always have.

I can remember the first ones I made. The girls were babies playing in the bath. I needed to watch them, but they managed their splashing about without me. So I took my plastic baggies of scraps and sorted them on the bathroom counter into little piles of colour. It was so motivating that I put the girls to bed quickly (and early) so I could go to the dining room and sew. I took one pile and sewed all the pieces together. Then another. My first slabs. That was in December 2009.

Slabs have become a life-force all their own since then. That first blog post initiated a conversation with Amanda Jean Nyberg. That conversation sparked a collaboration and then a book. That book launched our careers. Thousands of people have made slabs for themselves, for charity quilts, for joy. They’ve become a go to block for many, for many reasons.

More than 15 years later, yes, I am still making them. I love them. They are a perfect way to use your scraps as they are. No need to force the fabric to do something it doesn’t want to do and you don’t want to sew. I love the meditative aspect of sewing slabs. I wouldn’t say that I could do it in my sleep, but it does not require a lot of thought anymore; just action, muscle memory. I really like using my scraps, period. Slabs use them, really use them. I love the design possibilities of this made fabric and have not run out of ideas for their use.

Case in point, I’ve never quite used them like I am this year, on the Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong. All solids, for one. More importantly, truly as a fabric. Paired with Kona Snow they are one of the two fabrics in one of my sample quilts. And I am loving the way it is turning out! Quite a few others are also making and using slabs, and also discovering/embracing the possibilities.

So, no, I haven’t always made slabs. But I don’t forsee ever not making them.

Gaia - Slabs from Scraps for Donation

Gaia

60” x 72”

She lives up to her namesake. Forever picking up bits of things - pretty stones, a fallen leaf, even the trash. Forever finding beauty in all of it.

In need of a new finish in a short timeline, I turned to some class samples. You see, I always have my class samples ready to go. In this case, the samples were piling up. In each Scraptastic class or each Slabs only class I make a slab. It’s a great introduction in to organizing your scraps, then seeing both colour and value as you go to use them with some improvisational piecing. I usually make my class samples so that they can eventually be put into a quilt, should I so desire. Well, I desired.

Combined with a simple white on white print sitting in the stash I took the slabs from 14 separate classes (with a few still left for teaching) and put them together in a generously sized lap quilt. She is destined for a specific donation opportunity so I needed to make her big enough for adult snuggles.

Quilting was pretty straightforward. A simple loopy free motion pattern on the rented long arm. I chose a turquoise thread because it looked good with the backing fabrics. With white and all the colours on the front I could have picked anything.

I have meters and meters of this black and white stripe in my stash because, well, it’s a rather perfect binding. You can’t go wrong with it when you have a multi-coloured quilt. My machine binding skills are finally in a place where I am happy with them (after many, many, many mediocre efforts over the years - you get better each time) so it was nice to finish this off quickly this way. I used a turquoise thread in my machine again to stitch the binding down, this tying it all together.

She was ready for a special giveaway. More to come on that soon…

Darcy - Playing with Neutral Values in A Quilt

Darcy

55” x 55”

Spunky and full of life. Might come across one way to folks, but she is holding back, that’s all. Knows how to dress the part, code switch, and be what others want her to be. The truth is, she is so much more than anyone thinks or gives her credit for. One day she’ll make a permanent switch, but for now she is going to keep going and stay spunky no matter what.

Recently finished this beauty to gift for a lovely little family baby. The top had been sitting for years, almost as long as her parents have been a couple! The top itself was completed in 2019, from a stack of blocks that were teaching samples for my Values class. But with the right backing she became a sweet gift for a sweet family.

I didn’t get too fancy when quilting her. These strong lines don’t need much more than a highlight to make them sing. You could do an all over design, but I felt like exercising some different muscles.

When you are working with neutrals you can really choose any colour for the quilting. I used a pale pink cotton thread from the stash, maybe a Precensia? I ran out just before I finished and the store was out of that colour so I finished with a Mettler in an almost identical colour. You cannot tell, I promise. Why pink? Well, the backing fabric was a very cute pink fabric with horses and flowers all over it. Now that fabric shines on the back and design is accentuated on the front.

To finish her I added the bright blue (not quite turquoise but not a royal blue) binding. It worked well with the backing fabric and added some fun colour with the front. Perfect for a little one.

And just as I was preparing this post Mama texted me photos of baby girl snuggled asleep with the quilt. Makes a quilter’s heart smile.