Seems Like Scrappy Preview: Tic Tac Tile

I get asked a lot where I get my inspiration from. Whether it's inspiration for designing the quilts, the quilting itself or choosing the fabrics, I get inspiration from everywhere and everything. I swear! And it's different for every quilt. If you ask several designers, they will probably tell you the same thing, we get inspiration from the craziest things.

For me personally, each quilt offers a unique perspective into my creative mind and they are all different. Some quilts I know exactly what fabrics I want to use, but have no idea on how to quilt it. Some it's the reverse... I know exactly how it should be quilted, but I can't quilt it if I can't decide on which fabrics to choose first to actually make the quilt.

With some projects however, it's as simple as being inspired by an antique quilt that was constructed in the most hap-hazard way known to man. Granted I know they didn't have rotary cutters and half of the rulers and notions we have to help us create our quilts... BUT. It breaks my heart to see a quilt that's such an easy breakdown and to see it constructed in the craziest way. This quilt was inspired by one of these antique quilts. Meet Tic Tac Tile:

Photo used with permission from Martingale. Photography by Brent Kane. All rights reserved. 

Quilting by Steve Kooistra. 

When I first saw this design as an antique quilt, it was a single block put on point and each block had bias edges and about 20 pieces to it. It was such a simple concept to the eye, that I chose to pay homage to the work from yesteryear and sprinkle in my innovation of today.

Tic Tac Tile uses a Layer Cake (10" squares) and a Jelly Roll (2 1/2" strips) to get this top. It's simple construction and half of the cutting is already done for you by using precuts. This would be a great retreat project or a quilt for a first time/beginner quilter because it's so easy to make, yet gets big results fast. Or to be completely honest, it's one of those almost mindless quilts when you still want to make something but you just got done with a quilt that made you want to tear your hair out...We've all been there where we just want a simple quick quilt with immediate results. This quilt finishes at a large lap size but could easily fit a twin bed with borders added to it.

I have been pondering recreating this quilt too (like several others I've talked about already) and I just got my materials to do so. It's going to look completely different and I can't wait to get started! I'm almost done with my second version of Splotch and next on deck is the alternate version of Patch Stack I've already shown to you. As soon as I finish them up, I will be posting them on here!

Seems Like Scrappy contains 14 different (and brand new) scrappy inspired patterns you can create with precuts or your stash (use precuts if you don't have a stash but still want that scrappy look). I've been showing several of the quilts from the book and I will be back each Monday to show you more. Seems Like Scrappy will be out this June, but look in my shop in the near future and I will be adding a preorder option if you'd like your copy to be signed by me! I'll let you know when I get to that point! Have a great Monday!