Quilt Scrabble Throw in QUILTER’S WORLD (August 2011)

Hello Friends! Here it is — my Scrabble quilt is officially featured in the latest (August 2011) issue of Quilter’s World!

The fabrics are from Quilting Treasures‘ Hasbro Scrabble Collection. Many of you wrote to ask where you can purchase the fabrics. I don’t know of any specific stores. The best I can tell you is to do a search on www.quiltshops.com and see what turns up.

This truly was a fun quilt to make as I set out to include different quilty words in the quilt. Though the word rules of the real game are broken to accommodate those words, the quilt top does have the same layout as the real Scrabble board in that all the double and triple letter and word tiles are where they are supposed to be in the layout of the quilt top (denoted by the colored squares).

These itty bitty 1/2″ wide sashing strips (my recent quilty obsession) found their way in this quilt. I thought the striped sashing turned out beautifully! You can see in between the two striped sashing are the “players trays”.

I would hate to be the player landed with this tray.

Did you notice this winning “quilty” tray – EQ Seven?! ;)

As you have probably guessed, quilting was done using Aurifil Mako 50 thread over silk batting by Hobbs. In order to give some contrast to the ordered layout of squares, I quilted circles in a random fashion all over the quilt using my “marking, but not really” method.

I remember wanting to make a quilt that didn’t scream “beginner” when I first started quilting. Oftentimes I keep that thought in mind as I set out to design a quilt. This Quilt Scrabble Throw design definitely fits that mold! No scary triangles for the beginning quilters – just squares and strips! And yet the result is a super fun and cool looking quilt with lots of possibilities for
personalizing the way you want it. If you are making this quilt or variations of it, I would dearly love to see it. Send me pictures, please!

Here are some ideas for personalization besides your own version of the quilty Scrabble quilt:

1. Names of those who attend a family reunion to commemorate a special family event

2. Names of your children and grandchildren on a quilt to grace the front entryway of your house

3. Places you have visited for a travel quilt

4. Christmas (or any holiday)-related words for a seasonal Scrabble display

5. A toddler’s favorite or funny words to commemorate a child’s growing up years

6. Names of your quilt guild friends to commemorate quilty friendships

7. Names of students for a teacher’s gift

8. Favorite foods in your family for a kitchen Scrabble display

9. The character qualities of a special friend in a quilt to celebrate what the particular friend means to you.

10. Words related to a hobby (fishing, cooking etc) as a birthday gift for someone

… and the list goes on!

I am going to end my post here before my brain gets stuck on thinking about more personalization ideas for the rest of the day! Now I really need to get back to work. I will let your brain go to work on the other ideas and possibilities! ;) Thanks for stopping by.