This is the second finish for the year. I have no idea what to call this, other than 'grey, cheddar quilt.' I put the blocks together as a sixteen patch, which greatly simplified things. 

I made 4 patches using two fabrics, in sets of two which gave me a sort of framework for dealing with the scraps. A set of two cheddar and grey 4 patches and another pair of lighter  grey/blue combined with the lightest squares in shirtings, red and white checks and pale blues.

A vintage gingham in black and white gave me the darker stripes running diagonally across the top. The original quilt that I was inspired by had a lot more of these darker areas but I didn't want to recreate that blotchiness, and preferred these subtle bands instead.

The borders were made from men's dark grey shirt strips alternating with the remains of a fat quarter, cut in 1 1/2" strips, and then a 4 1/2" strip of another vintage gingham that was only 36" wide. This one was blue, but I think that helps tie in with the light blues in the centre of the top.

 

I knew that joining the gingham in any-old-how fashion would give an unsightly break in the borders, so I decided to have a go at matching the checks. These little squares are 1/8" wide, eek.

This attempt....not so great, but it will do.

This try was better, but I wasn't going to agonise too much. As long as there was no overall break in the pattern I was happy.

This used up all the grey and cheddar scraps that I wanted to deal with, and I actually had to cut some strips from fat quarters in the end. I have some leftover blocks because I changed my mind about how big I wanted this to be, and I'm going to make a second top using these colours, in a different design. I'll have to use the stash now that the scraps have gone but I really liked making these blocks and I'm not sick of them yet.