Too Much Ado Quilt Pattern with Toomuchery Fabric

When I saw this pattern for Too Much Ado quilt by Larene Smith, using Helen Dardik's Toomuchery fabric, I thought it would be quirky fun!

Each block looks off-kilter, using different width and length strips of fabric. This sounded like a lot of fun, but it took me longer to cut the fabric than it did to piece the top (and that was using the quilt kit!) The cutting instructions were 2 pages long.

For awhile I cursed and thought, "why go to so much trouble to piece it perfectly, if it's going to end up looking all wonky anyway?" Finally, I just surrendered to it.

With 16 blocks I just stacked the strips with numbered post-it notes and started piecing.

I fused the appplique squares on crooked instead of straight, and I used various decorative stitches found on my machine.

The backing fabric is my favorite in the collection. It has a vertical print. Sadly, I didn't buy enough length to just piece it in two sections. I had to cut off the bottom and sew another side piece to keep all the images straight.

I'm dreaming of getting a quilt frame, but until then, I used Sharon Schamber's hand basting technique before machine quilting.

I edgestitched most of the squares and then attempted to FMQ the centers.

Instead of 40 wt. cotton thread, this time, I chose variegated 30 wt. cotton thread, so it would really stand out.

Then I washed it and it shrunk up nice to make a little gal's playmat! I hope the brown is not too drab.

The cutting instructions did a fabulous job of saving on fabric waste. I wonder how much fabric I'm willing to waste to simplify cutting instructions for such varying lengths and widths. Luckily, I have enough fabric left over for a few scrap projects.

  

What are you working on? Can you share any FMQ tips? Thanks!