Scrap Attack... Seriously

I started another one of these.  I have this never ending battle with scrap control.  I felt most elated to have given a bunch of scraps to a friend but scraps breed like rabbits.  So here we go,  Just like the one I finished last July and pictured below.  Big honking 18.5" blocks using up tons of strings in a limited colour palette.  I am thinking 9 blocks will do it and I will use up a bunch of scraps in the process.  I can hope anyway!  Just like I can hope the sun is going to appear today after a day of incredible rain!  

Sometimes you need to make a zippy pouch or two

 My buddy Cynthia was over for a sewing day last Friday.  She was busy making pouches so I joined in.  Sometimes you just have to.  Zippy pouches are so satisfying!  I went diving into the scraps and came up with this combination.

And then this one.
Lots fun!

Washi Tape

  Name: Washi Tape

Design: Inspired by Modern Stripes by Frozen Knickers

Size: 52" by 56"

Fabric:  Scraps people, just scraps, even the whites!

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white, lots of straight lines in both directions

Binding and Backing:  A print of Innocent Crush, Anna Maria Horner and a vintage sheet for the back

I started this one during spring break as a concentrated effort to use up some more scraps.  I had pinned a quilt called Modern Stripes by Frozen Knickers and I got the pattern and then didn't really follow it but the inspiration was there for sure.  Lots and lots of 1.5" strips.  I followed a controlled scrappy colour palette with a variety of white scraps.  And I kept going until I got tired of playing with 1.5" strips.  This is a throw quilt, people, not a big one.  That tells you I got tired of strips and decided not to go big! 

Backed with a vintage sheet and bound in Innocent Crush.  Quilted with lots of horizontal straight lines and a few vertical ones in Aurifil 50 wt in white.  Done.  Washi tape.  For obvious reasons.  

 

Tissue covers

Okay,  These were seriously too much fun to make.  And fast!  The most complicated part of this stocking stuffer was buying the little packs of tissue to stuff inside.  And I used up some scraps.  One for Mum, one for daughter and one for daughter in law.  Gifted.  I used this tutorial.  And I will have to make more of these.  Just because.

Autumn runner: Gifted

Well.  I know it is still the Christmas season but what are you going to do when your mother says, "I don't have a table runner in fall colours."  That sounds like a perfect hint for a Christmas make.  I used up a lot of scraps on this one.  Fall colours and linen scraps in random offset strips, 5" wide.  I actually make all the strip sets at a guild sew in on my featherweight and then finished the rest at home on my Janome. I quilted it densely with an Aurifil 40 weight in a lovely linen tone.  I used Aurifil 50 wt in cream in the bobbin.  The slightly heavier Aurifil gives a lovely texture.  The runner is bound in a medium olive green Grunge by Moda.  So much fun.  Gifted.  And she likes it!

Grape Juice: A finished quilt with a bit of a spilled history

    Name: Grape Juice

Design:  Quarter Log Cabin by Liz Katsuro

Size:  64" by 80"

Fabric: Purple, bright pink and low volume scraps 

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in Dove grey, straight lines

Binding:   Kona Eggplant

Backing:  an awesome vintage sheet in purple

I actually thought I was finished this quilt last weekend.  I sat down at the computer.  I fired up my blog.  I loaded the pictures and... I realized that the quilt had a boo boo.  Oh my word.  Obviously some of the blocks in the last row had become turned around in the quilt assembly and I did not notice until I was ready to write up a celebratory blog post.  For crying in the soup.  This quilt was finished, people.  Seriously.  Quilted every 1/2"  in long rows.  Bound solidly.  Even lint brushed.  And it had a boo boo.  So.  This quilt is now recovering from major surgery of the quilt kind.  I undid the binding.  I unpicked the row of zigzag stitching that I do before I bind the quilt.  I unpicked the bazillion rows of quilting up the length of the quilt so that I could free  the bottom row.  I unpicked the bottom row, and separated the blocks.  Reassembled them CORRECTLY this time and then began the whole process in reverse.  Good grief.  Note to self.  Please check the layout VERY VERY carefully before putting the whole shebang together.  The really crazy thing is that as soon as I look at the pictures of it sitting on the floor all basted and ready to go, I see the mistake.  This quilt stayed on the floor basted for almost 2 weeks and I did not notice and Husband did not notice.  Blah!  Never have I picked out so many tiny threads.  So that is the story of the Grape Juice quilt that spilled.

So... I found the tutorial for this quilt when I was looking for a way to use up a bunch of scraps.  It is a great tutorial and uses 2.5" strips.  You can burn through a lot of scraps and it just works.  I decided to stick to a fairly unified colour group despite the scrappiness.  I started this on my featherweight and finished it on my Janome.  I originally was going to make a smaller quilt but it grew.  Now that it is done and I mean, really done, I think I really like it.  Last weekend I was just plain sick of it.  I am so over that now.  Okay.  So.  I quilted it densely in long straight lines in lovely Aurifil 50 wt in grey. The one called Dove.  The binding is Kona Eggplant.  The whites are a complete mixture of low volume leftovers and that is okay.

And the name?  We have had a bumper crop of purple grapes and we made grape juice last weekend.  This quilt is the colour of the grape juice without a doubt.  What do you think about the vintage sheet backing?  It was a really heavy 100% cotton sheet.  It is very happy!  And our grass is starting to recover from the record breaking heat and the water restrictions but it still looks pretty bad in spots.

Lots of grapes still and surprisingly the bears have not been into them yet.  I say yet, because we did have a bear in the yard yesterday.  She was quite lovely and I have named her Mabel.  I do hope she keeps her distance.  She is welcome to the field, the woods and the pond but lets just keep it at that.  Linking up with Leanne for Scraptastic Tuesday!

Happy

   Name:  Happy

Design:  4" squares

Size:  37" by 42"

Fabric: Stash fabrics and scraps

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white in cross hatch

We had a great Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild sew in last Saturday and among other things, I got a great start on this baby quilt.  I like to have simple and distinct projects to work on at sew ins.  This baby quilt was just the ticket and I got a great start on it on my featherweight after completing a gift for my mum.  More on that later!

Yes, this is another baby quilt.  It seems that our son and daughter in law's friends keep having babies.  We hope it is quite contagious!  This is one is back to basics with simple 4" squares with a pop of black and white amidst the prints.  Very much in the spirit of Rita at Red Pepper Quilts.  

Once again, I quilted this on the diagonal in a cross hatch with Aurifil 50 wt in white.  Happy!

This made me happy too.  Two finished quilts on the sewing room counter with a bunch of sweet peas from the garden in the background.  Nice!  I wish this was a scratch and sniff picture because the sweet peas are so fragrant!  

And happy because we survived the Windows 10 upgrade and I was still able to upload pictures thanks to Husband!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday.

Just Sit...

We have a funny challenge for our next Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild meeting.  A tush cush.  Yep.  I made this one today.  Scrappy purples with a touch of linen and a whole lot of quilting.  I pieced 'Sit..." and then micro-stipled in Aurifil 50 wt in grey around the letters.  I used the same thread on the match stick quilting.  And it is comfy.

I was trying to figure out what to do about the back and I discovered this fabulous cross weave in a pile of fabric that I use for bags and stuff.  I must have picked it up at a thrift store.  It is really lovely and extra wide.  Yum.  I will have to move it to a more respectful fabric location.

I had fun quilting the back in a cross hatch with a lovely hot pink Aurifil 50 wt.  

MMM.  I think you can get an idea of the cross weave here.

Pink and Gray Baby

  Name:  Pink and Gray Baby

Design:  4" squares

Size:  36" by 42"

Fabric: Stash/scrap fabrics 

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

This was a perfect way to incorporate a bunch of shabby chic florals in a baby quilt, don't you think?  I think it is just so pretty.  The grey dot and the text print update the florals nicely and I threw in a bunch of solid pink squares as well.  I have to say that most of this quilt was made from pre-cut 4" squares from my scraps.  I pre-cut a bunch of 2.5", 4" and 5" squares when I was cleaning up all my scraps this past spring.  It is simply amazing how fast a quilt goes together when you have the fabric already chopped up.  I backed the sheet with a fabulous pink striped thrifted cotton sheet.  Quilted on the diagonal in both directions in Aurfil 50 wt in white.  Perfect.  Linking up with Amanda Jean for finish it up Friday.  Holidays begins today for the summer.  Woo hoo!

An iPad Cozy

I made an iPad cozy for a friend.  I don't have a pattern.  I just based it on the cozy I made for my own iPad several years ago.  I used up some linen scraps... beautiful gray dot and some Essex steel.  It is the perfect shade of gray with a blue tinge.  Love it.  And I used a scrap of home decor weight fabric along with some Kona medium gray for the lining.  This made me very happy.  It was a whole lot of fun to make.  I used a beautiful Aurifil 40 wt for the quilting.  #5007 to be exact.  I found some awesome buttons in a jar and used hair ties for the closure.  Oh, this made me happy.  I almost didn't give it away.  But I did.  And it was happily received.  

Getting zippy with it

The Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild will be swapping zippy pouches stuffed with some goodies at the next meeting.  I got my zippy on the other day and used a bunch of purple scraps.  I had fun using my so neatly organized scraps.  Wow!  What a difference it makes to have all the scraps neatly pressed and all the strings organized.  I just sat at the sewing machine and selected strings from a purple box and then put all the leftovers away.  Bing, bang, boom and there it was.  A zippy pouch.  I had fun with the quilting.  Lovely soft purple Aurifil #50 wt.  And I used one of Cynthia's handy dandy zipper pulls.  This one says dream big.  Isn't she clever?

Happy Birthday, Mummy!

Taming the scrap mountain

I needed to do something with my scrap mountain.  As scraps go, mine are pretty organized but I was still finding it unmanageable.  Several of my scrap boxes were stuffed to the point that the lids were bulging.  Inside the boxes, was a jumble of different sizes and bits of scraps and many had lingered for far too long.  I needed to do something because I was tempted the other day to throw all of it into a giant garbage bag and call it a day.

So this is the before...

 And this is the after.  Same scrap box.  What did I do?  I purged ruthlessly anything that was too small or not likely to get used by moi.  If I didn't like it, I put into a bag that I am going to pawn off on a guild member.

I cut and tidied strings and put them on one side of the box.  I also cut 2.5", 3", 4" and 5" squares out other scraps and then pressed and folded the larger scraps.  So much nicer and so much more user friendly.

I am working through all my scrap boxes.  I think I have done about 10 of the boxes.  I feel so much better now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made a few cards for Valentine's Day.  Just for the family.  And then I almost forgot to take pictures.  One of the cards was already sealed in a envelope but here are the rest of them.  So much fun!  Little itty bitty scrap quilties on a clothesline.

All about the scraps

Leanne at She Can Quilt hosts a once a month Scraptastic Tuesday.  You can link a post about a scrap project or a post about scraps.  This post is all about scrap management.  I like to try to keep it all under control.  I keep a small basket on my sewing table.  It is small on purpose.  I don't want to let the scraps go too long without dealing with them.  Scraps have a way of taking over.  Just saying.  When the basket gets a little overfull, I know it is time and I sort the piles into colours.  I keep linen scraps in a separate pile and if the solids are substantial, I pop them into their own pile.  Once the scraps are sorted, I stuff them into their respective colour plastic shoebox.

You can see all the plastic shoeboxes here on my shelves.  I have double boxes of some colours.

I also keep 5" and 4" squares in their own bin, especially if they are leftovers from certain projects because they are a good start on another project.  I am not yet convinced this is always a good idea but I am going with it right now.  I try to keep strips in a separate bin but I am not sold on this idea.

I have started keeping leftover binding in a tin.  I used to just toss them in the strip bin but then I started thinking that I would have binding available for small projects if I was better organized.  I like this idea.

All the little bits that are too small go into a Britex shopping bag.  I fill it up and then pass it on to a guild member who loves to make little HSTS out of all those little leftover triangles.  The rest of it goes into pin cushion stuffing apparently.  I have to say that getting rid of a large quantity of the little sawdust bits felt fantastic!

Another great way to deal with scraps is swapping with a buddy.  I just did that this past week with Cynthia.  Her scraps are so much more interesting than mine.  And I think she feels the same way about mine.  He he he.  Perfect.  Look.  Gnomes!

Linking up with Leanne.  

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Scrappy Crossroads

 Name: Scrappy Crossroads

Design: Trellis Crossroads from the book Modern Bee by Lindsay Conner

Size: 69" by 77"

Fabric:  Print scraps and Kona White scraps

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in grey for three rows either side of the block seams

Binding and Backing:  Dark purple RJR fabric from the stash and backed with vintage sheet.

I finished this quilt a few weeks ago but decided to hang on and wait for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I thought it might be fun to have a post with a quilt that has not made an appearance on my blog.  So here it is!  This is another scrap quilt and is yet another attempt to bring my overflowing scrap boxes under control.  It is also a big quilt and I was just able to get it hung on the barn wall without it dragging on the ground.  Just!  And thanks for stopping by!

I used the block Trellis Crossroads from the book Modern Bee:  13 Quilts to Make With Friends by Lindsay Conner.  It is a great block to use with scraps and I was also able to use up a giant pile of Kona white scraps.  In fact, I ran out of big enough pieces of white about 70% of the way through and had to actually cut into some Kona white yardage.  Oh well.  I would say this quilt is controlled scrappy because I really did have a plan.  I used one particular scrap as a bouncing off point.  It had a sky blue background with orange, purple, green, dark pink and yellow bits and that became the scrap formula.  Controlling the scrappy-ness in this way added a cohesiveness to the quilt.  Don't get me wrong, I love scrappy scrappy but for this project, I played by some rules.  Don't you just love how that skinny white strip makes everything pop?

I quilted it with my favourite straight line quilting in Aurifil 50 wt in grey.  I did 6 rows with a break and then another 6 rows across the quilt.  The break in the quilting adds some interest.  

The quilt is backed with a vintage sheet with scattered bright pink flowers on a white background and bound in a favourite binding dark purple print from RJR fabrics. I think I have less than a metre of this purple left.  I started with about 9 metres which I purchased at a thrift store.  It was a total find and I am going to be very sad when it is all used up.  It has bound a lot of bright and colourful quilts.

I am entering this quilt in the scrap quilt category.  Thanks so much to Amy for hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival and if you stop by tomorrow, I am going to enter a small quilt too.  And I am off to look and be inspired!