Have you ever tried to make a scrap quilt and ended up with something that sort of looked like mush? Not every piece of fabric in your stash {or even your scrap bin} belongs together in the same quilt. Diane of Butterfly Threads Quilting just published a great new book explaining her system of making scraps play together very nicely.

Want to win a copy of this book?

Her acronym of S.C.R.A.P.S. is so simple you can almost miss the brilliance of what she’s trying to say. Every successful scrap quilt requires some guidelines to, as she writes, ‘make quilts that truly represent your personality’. Ahh.. I so wish I could have had this book when starting out with my first quilting efforts! It totally reflects how genuine Diane is about helping other quilters connect with their own quilts as they learn to ‘follow their hearts’.

So much to think about!

So I flipped through the book and found a simple pattern that looked impossible to mess up. I wanted to put the scrappy tips to the test! I’m usually terrible at following pattern directions, but this time things made perfect sense. No re-writing in my own quilty language involved! And simple pattern or no, this quilt had a sweet charm that sort of intimidated me at first. Sometimes a quilt really needs to be made in the specific colorway the designer chose or it isn’t going to look quite so.., well, sweet. Good challenge, right? I paid close attention to the details of {most} of Diane’s scrappy tips: Style, Contrast, Repetition, Accent, Palette and Selvages {didn’t have any of those to work with} and started making my version of Citrus Squeeze, below.

Diane’s Citrus Squeeze

Once I made the important decisions concerning fabric and color, the quilt went together very quickly. I love how she continually urges the reader to consider changing things up—personalize the outcome. She totally gets that the more of ourselves we invest, the more we’re gonna appreciate the results. Even with her pattern as the foundation of my quilt, this quilt was almost instantly recognizable as a ‘me’ quilt.

And just for the record, I completely followed Citrus Squeeze pattern directions until the very end. Then and only then, I gave into temptation and added one measly little, outer border and the teensy tiny, bit of flower applique. Because you know the quilt was just asking for it….

So happy with my version of Citrus Squeeze {Leaves still need some stitching}

What an honor to be included in this particular blog hop! I had such a great time playing along with Diane’s ideas and still ending up with a ‘me’ quilt. Honestly, that doesn’t always happen. If you’d like a chance to win a copy of this book {e-version for international winners}, just leave a comment below. Tell me what your definition of ‘scrap’ quilt is. Does it have to include a hundred different fabrics or are you a purist and want it made completely from the leftover bits and pieces, no matter how many fabrics are involved? Don’t forget to check out all the other links for extra chances to win this book!