Strawberry Salad with PeptoBismol Dressing

One day in March, Paul came home to a very pink design wall.

Strawberry Salad + PiptoBismol Dressing

Paul: Is that a quilt for breast cancer awareness?

Me: More like Pink Eye.  I don’t know where to look.
It has no focus and no place for the eyes to rest. 

Scrap Bag - Good, Bad & Ugly

Let's start at the very beginning. Shall we?

One fine day as I was browsing the World Wide Web, I came upon Hawthorne Threads and noticed their Scrap Bags in the sale section. 

Strips Grouped

Ignorance & Temptation is an ugly combination. Next thing, I ordered a few of the Fresh Scrap Bags. When they arrived, they were just that – a mixed bag. Some were very pretty fabrics, some very ugly fabrics and some just in between – but all pink.

The first block

I figured, if I cut them up and put them together, they may come to something.

When I had made the Paulitiks quilt, I felt it was just too blue. May be if I made that pattern scrappy and pink.

There was only one way to find out. I cut up most of the pink scrap bag into 2” strips and started playing.

Hot Mess

Made a few blocks. Made a few more blocks and realized that it was too pink. May be I should add a little teal/turquoise/aqua.

A touch of teal

After I had made a dozen blocks, I realized that it was too pink, too scrappy, too disgusting and had absolutely no focus. I was devastated. But I was also determined to finish it. The uglier the project the more likely it will end up as a UFO. I could not let that happen because 2016 is my year of destroying UFOs.

Some red

So I marched along like a soldier on a mission. When it was finished, I HATED it. Wish I had used some neutrals in each block to balance the pink.

Does white help?

As I was arranging the strips, I tried to place the low volume fabric between the two high volume ones. This worked fine for each block but when I placed the blocks together, the high volume fabrics ended up adjacent to each other, making it look very busy. 

Low Volume between High Volume Strips

Further, the low volume middle strip, distanced the center square from the outer strip making the whole block disjointed.

I had a finished flimsy and no desire to quilt it.  Fortunately Mauna stopped by.

Mauna: What are you working on?

Me: It is a strawberry salad with Pepto-bismol dressing.  It is grossly pink. Not pretty and pink. Not Blush & Bashful. Just in your face sickly pink.  And I showed her the finished flimsy.

Chic?

Mauna: I don’t think so.  Imagine a little girl’s room that is painted very light yellow and is completely plain and then on the wall there is this quilt.  It is shabby chic and modern. It is something you might see in one of these modern lifestyle stores.

Me: Really?

Mauna: Trust me, this will make some little girl so very happy.

Backing Fabric

Whatever Mauna said made ME very happy and this strawberry salad of a quilt began to grow on me.  I picked a backing and a matching binding.

Teal/Turquoise Binding

Not everyone has to like it as long as someone likes it.  In the next few pictures, you can see how I put the ends of my binding together. No rulers required.

Binding Ends - 2.5" overlap - RST

Has it ever happened to you that when you get to the end of the binding and trying to connect the two ends, you get it twisted?  I did for about 18 out of 40 quilts.  Now, I have this method down - Perfect.

1. Make sure that the ends overlap by 2.5 inches

2. Bring them together and place them right sides together, (see picture above)

3. Now turn the one on the right (near my thumb) by 90 degrees towards the edge of the quilt, while keeping them RST (see picture below)

Give a 90 degree turn to one, keeping them RST

4. Now, mark the one on the top, as shown in the picture below.  
5. Pin in place and stitch. 

You have just connected the binding ends, without ruler, templates or a twist. Do a little happy dance.

Mark and Pin

Mauna's positive feedback encouraged me to finish this quilt.

Binding in process

Blame it on the early onset of spring or March Madness. Strawberry Salad + Pepto-Bismol Dressing is here to stay.

Completed!!!

 It is kinda pretty in a messy way, I think.

Labelled

 Finally, the clouds broke for just long enough that I could take a few pictures.

Backing rocks the Binding :-)

Isn't that grass just the perfect backdrop?

Thank you Mauna!!!

What do you think? Messy or Chic?
Did someone else's opinion make you see something in a completely different perspective?   I'd love to hear from you.  I will be connecting with my favorite linky parties.

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