Do you know what I found when I finished my Lake Cabin baby quilt top?  Scraps.  Lots of leftover scraps.  Those suckers are resilient. 

But so am I!  If the quilt top doesn't beat them, the quilt back just might....  I've slashed those scraps into piles of strips with the same length and approximate color, but a variety of widths.

Now I'm choosing 3 colors at a time to sew side by side in coin quilt fashion.  It's quick and allows a bit of play with color and proportion.

When I run out of one color, I introduce a new one, until my row of coin strips is wide enough to span the quilt back. 

Then I'll start on a new coin row, with new colors and possibilities, so free and fun and yet it feels like I'm being quite responsible.  Using those scraps feels like a pat on my back.

Me + Patchwork.  It's True Love.

Guess what happened when I was pressing my almost-finished quilt top?  My iron spit rusty water on the pretty orchid purple sashing of my baby sized Lake Cabin quilt.  Oh, no!  I stain treated the spot and hand washed it in warm water, allowing the corner to drip dry.  The stain was defeated... but apparently that bit of washing induced shrinkage at the one corner of my quilt.

Yes, just one corner.  The work is no longer square.

So, what to do?  I generally don't prewash fabrics and everything works out, but I don't think moving forward to quilting and binding with one corner prewashed is a smart idea.  I'm planning to gently hand wash the completed quilt top and quilt back, then drip dry and press before basting and quilting.  Is that crazy?  Wish me luck!  Everything about this feels funny.

p.s. Is there any hope for a rusty-water spitting iron?  Right now I'm keeping it dry...