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Oh, Scrap! 😜 Don’t miss this scrapalicious blog hop (+ a OOAK giveaway!)

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We’re thrilled to be a stop on Lissa Alexander’s blog hop for her new book today! Oh, scrap—after all the buzz, all the anticipation, and all the teases and sneak peeks, Oh, Scrap! is finally here!

Oh, Scrap!

Lissa Alexander is a wife and mother of five, a quilter since 1980, the curator of the “Moda All-Stars” series, and the director of marketing at Moda Fabrics. Whew!

Oh, and did we mention she’s also a scrap-quilting master? Oh, yes, that too!

Quilts from Oh, Scrap!
Quilts from Oh, Scrap!

If you want to think like a scrap quilter, look to Lissa. She’s spent three decades honing her scrap-quilting skills, and in her first solo book, she offers page after page of tips for making dazzling scrap quilts bursting with colors, prints, and textures.

Indian Blanket
Indian Blanket

As you make 12 exquisite quilts with Lissa, you’ll learn her secrets for deciding which fabric combinations work—and (sometimes more importantly!) understanding why others don’t. She’ll explain how to use your unique stash to make scrap quilts that sparkle. Take a look at this handy visual “swatch card” for Lissa’s quilt, Sherbet Stars:

Sherbet Stars quilt
The swatch card (right) is invaluable when it comes to choosing fabrics like Lissa does—it features the actual colors and prints that she used in her quilt.

Oh, Scrap! also includes a preface by renowned quilt historian Barbara Brackman, who muses on the history of scrap quilts. Fascinating!

And then there are the QUILTS!

So many fabrics, so many colors, so many prints . . . so many possibilities!

We’ve also got a SPECTACULAR giveaway today, like nothing we’ve ever done before. The prize? It’s like Julia Child sending you the finest ingredients to make her latest recipe … like van Gogh gifting you his favorite paints and a canvas (graced with a few paint strokes to start) … it’s like Beethoven shipping his piano to you, along with sheets of music on which the beginnings of a sonata are written. Find out more at the end of this post!

But first, here’s Lissa to introduce you to her new book and give you some tips for making your own scrappy quilts.


Lissa AlexanderI hope many of you know me, but for those who don’t, let me give you a short history of what brings me here today. I began quilting in 1980 the old-fashioned way—tracing patterns, adding seam allowances, cutting templates, piecing by machine, and using the quilt-as-you-go method.

I was thrilled when my sister-in-law gave me a rotary cutter and the book It’s Okay If You Sit on My Quilt by Mary Ellen Hopkins. In the book was a little note from my sister-in-law, saying there was one other item I needed, but the shop was out of it. I had no idea what was missing (and this was before Google existed) so I just waited. After a little research, I discovered the rotary mat was the missing item. Once I got that all straightened out, I was on my way.

A few years later I got a part-time job at Jenny Lynn’s quilt shop in Dallas, Texas, where I also taught. Later I was hired by Melba Hamrick to start a quilt shop in her existing shop, The Old Craft Store, in Carrolton, Texas. Nine years later, Mark Dunn and Cheryl Freydberg from United Notions/Moda Fabrics hired me. I just celebrated my 20th anniversary with Moda. It seems like yesterday when I came on board. I’ve been able to work for what I consider the best fabric company in the industry. My experience running a shop ties in with Mark Dunn’s vision of supporting independent quilt shops.

Kismet quilt
Kismet

Then something happened that turned my world upside down. Two years ago, I spent the night at my son’s house to help with my new granddaughter. The following morning, my husband came by just in time to witness me having a seizure. The rest is a whirlwind, but I was hospitalized, and on March 16, 2016, I had brain surgery. After I recovered, I decided I was ready to push myself and take on the challenge of publishing a book about what I love most about quilting—color.

Izzy Squared quilt
Izzy Squared

So, why is the book titled Oh, Scrap!? When I started writing the book I was thinking, oh, crap, I’m lucky to be alive. I’m lucky to have a wonderful family and many quilty friends. That’s why I decided to take Martingale’s Chief Visionary Officer, Jennifer Keltner, up on her invitation to write a book. But what kind of title would Oh, Crap! be? So the working title became Oh, Scrap!, and it just stuck.

I should’ve known I was suffering from QuiltPox or ScrapPox when I started saving the tiniest pieces of scraps in a shoe box. Come on, you’ve done that, right? I thought I’d need them someday because I was going to paper piece mini-quilts. When the box was full, I came to my senses and threw the scraps in the yard for the birds to build nests with. That season my neighborhood had very colorful nests.

Splendid Scraps quilt
Detail of Splendid Scraps

My favorite thing about quilting is color, and my second favorite thing is mixing and matching fabric lines from different designers to achieve a scrappy look. My definition of scrappy doesn’t mean everything including the kitchen sink—it means color-coordinated quilts with lots of different fabrics. A variety of fabrics ensures different values, a nice range of scale, and a flow throughout. But you don’t need a degree in color theory to make scrap quilts.

Surrounded quilt
Surrounded

My scraps are mainly bits and pieces left over from Moda precuts. Precuts build color confidence, because if you use all of the fabrics in a bundle together, you’ll have a beautiful quilt. Having scraps ready and accessible to cut is the biggest trick. The majority of my pieces are folded and stored in plastic containers that measure 5″ x 14″ x 5″ tall, the same container size you’d use to store canned soft drinks in the fridge. I pull containers out by color and cut away. Fat quarters or smaller pieces fit nicely. Organization is always a big topic for quilters—how do you store your fabrics?

Stair Steps quilt
Stair Steps

The patterns in Oh, Scrap! are traditional and made in a wide range of fabrics. I hope that, using my tips throughout the book, you’ll expand your vision about what fabrics can go together in a quilt. If you’ve been following the Oh, Scrap! blog hop, you’ll see that some of my friends have made quilts from the book in their favorite colors. We’re all constantly learning and looking at things from different perspectives. I hope Oh, Scrap! finds a place in your quilt library and helps you use up the scraps you’ve saved.

Firecrackers quilt
Firecrackers

I would love to see your versions of my quilts, or even your color palettes. Please tag me on social media using the hashtags #ohscrap or #modalissa.

Thank you to the entire team at Martingale for making my dream come to life.


Thank you for this peek into your beautiful and enlightening book, Lissa! You can follow Lissa online at modalissa.com and on Instagram at @modalissa.

Now for that stupendous giveaway! Lissa sent us something a little old and something a little new to give away to you:

First, a little old—win a one-of-a-kind collection of scraps taken from two of Lissa’s quilts in Oh, Scrap! You’ll get to see up close and in detail the fabrics she chose, and you’ll be able to use them in your version of these quilts!


Win scraps to make the Sherbet Stars quilt, plus a copy of Oh, Scrap!, or . . .


Win scraps to make the Stair Steps quilt, plus a copy of the book.

Then, a little new—as Moda’s director of marketing, you know Lissa would be sending us brand-new bundles of beautiful fabric too! Two winners will receive one fat-eighth bundle each of either Play All Day by American Jane or Overnight Delivery by Sweetwater.

Oh, Scrap!So, let’s answer Lissa’s question: how do you store your scrap fabrics?

  • In organized bins, like Lissa.
  • I use bins and shelves and closets and boxes and such.
  • Organized? Not so much—I just go digging!

Tell us your answer in the comments for your chance to win! We’ll choose two random winners one week from today and let you know by email if you win. Good luck! And if you can’t wait to discover Lissa’s best scrap-quilting secrets, you can buy Oh, Scrap! at ShopMartingale.com and instantly download the eBook for free.

Comments are closed for this post.

Thanks to all who entered the drawing! The winners are:

Carole, who says, “I store my scraps in small bins or boxes on shelves…pretty organized.”

Althea, who says, “Lissa, I love the colors in your ‘Oh, Scrap’ book. I do have lots of scraps and boxes of fabric which should be used up soon. I would certainly love to start out with your book of quilts to use my scraps.”

We’ll email you about your prizes, ladies—congratulations!


The Oh, Scrap! blog hop ends today—and all of the giveaways below end today too! You still have a chance to enter each one of them in order to win a free eBook copy of Oh, Scrap!

March 16: Pat Sloan

March 17: Corey Yoder

March 18: Barbara Brackman

March 19: Alison Dale of Fabric Expressions

March 20: Melissa Corry

March 21: Carrie Nelson of Moda Fabrics

March 22: Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life

March 23: Kimberly of Fat Quarter Shop

March 24:  Teresa Silva of Quilting is my Bliss

March 25: Jane Davidson of QuiltJane

March 26: Martingale (that’s us!)

The post Oh, Scrap! 😜 Don’t miss this scrapalicious blog hop (+ a OOAK giveaway!) appeared first on Stitch This! The Martingale Blog.


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