Ticker tape doll quilt

I've been meaning to make Abner a doll blanket for ages. She didn't seem fussed by dolls for a while there, but now she totes around her Cabbage Patch doll and stuffed monkey around the house most days. I had given her a scrap of fabric to use as a doll blanket, but even Abner knew it was kind of lame. You could almost hear her thinking, "Mama, I have seen every last one of the quilts you've made; I know you can do better than this." The time had come for a proper doll quilt.

Yesterday when she came home from school there was a wee surprise waiting for her - a brand new, mama-made, ticker tape doll quilt. I saw a few of these quilts on Pinterest recently and loved the look of them and how they used up so many little teeny tiny scraps. [Yes, I'm still on a scrap busting kick.]

There is a great ticker tape quilt tutorial over on Sew Mama Sew if you want to make your own. For a doll quilt, I found a fat quarter to be the perfect size. The only variations I made from the original tutorial were to piece together some scrap binding rather than chopping into a nice big piece of batting. I also laid out my scraps on the quilt top (secured with straight pins) before stitching them down. I found this helpful (if a little pokey) for making sure I was happy with the final arrangement.

I also used this project to try out this fancy pants machine binding technique. See how there is a little strip of green accent fabric peeking out? Pretty cool, eh?! The whole thing is machine-done, so there is no hand sewing involved as there normally is in binding a quilt. I kind of like hand stitching my binding and I don't love how (despite careful pinning) I wound up with a line of stitching around the perimeter on the back, so I'm not sure I'd try this again. But, the effect is kind of cool and the technique is very clever, so do give it a try if you'd like. I found this tutorial from 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks quite helpful.

With this project, I'm pretty tapped out on scrap busting ideas yet I've barely scratched the surface of my scrap pile! Send me your favourite scrap busters, please!