Got Scraps? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Y'all know my love of scraps.  They're so much fun!  So when Mom handed me a binder full of scraps waiting to be used...I said, "what the hell is this?"

So as I'm sure most of you know, Blank Textiles got bought out last year by Jaftex.  So what that meant is that most of our color cards were useless, because many of the lines were being reduced or discontinued.  On those color cards, they had a bunch of tabs of fabric, up to 3"x 5" and as small as 1"x 2".  When you think about a 3" binder full of those pieces, that's a lot of waste if you're just going to toss those cards!  So I was tasked with doing something with those itty bitty pieces.  So out came my iron (to melt the adhesive) and off I went.

I decided to go with a row quilt.  And polka dots.

Problem solved.  I haven't quilted it yet though...that's down the list a ways.  But it just goes to show you really can make something from little bits of nothin'!

The Garbage Quilt

I am posting this just to show that I don't cherrypick which quilts I post.  Not every quilt is a success story...we all have some quilt fails, and I'll be the first to point out that this is one of mine.

I call this one The Garbage Quilt.  Why?  I was going for a scrappy Thin Mint look, but it got way out of hand and very quickly started looking like literal garbage.

Guess who endorses this quilt?

So it started out just fine with the pattern.  I chose Farfalle by Villa Rosa Designs.  And, I decided to go with dark brown scraps with bright/light green scraps.  Thin Minty.  Or so I thought.  The first block wasn't too bad. 

Things escalated quickly from there,  But for whatever god awful reason I persevered against my better judgment.

And then it was done.  And it was this.

Too much pattern, too much variety in tone, too much going on and the pattern got swallowed up and sort of lost in places.

If I were to do this again?  I would probably only use scraps for one of the two colors, and use a solid for the other.  Or, if my heart was set on scraps, I would be a little pickier about pattern and I would try to keep the tones of all the fabrics for each color more consistent. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Like my Dad says, "If 'Ifs' and 'Buts' were candies and nuts, we'd all have a merry [flippin] Christmas."  Too late now!  This quilt just stands as one of my quilt fails...ya can't win 'em all!

HEXIE MADNESS

When I got my temp position at the VA, it became quickly evident that an hour lunch was a lot of down time that I needed to fill.  [At the time] I didn't know a soul there, so social lunches were pretty out of the question.  I cannot just sit there like a stupid lump - I am always doing at least SOMETHING, and Netflix alone just wasn't cutting it.

So I hopped on the bandwagon and gave English Paper Piecing (EPP) a go...nevermind the fact that I hate handwork.  I have tons of scraps, some time to kill...I am using the 1" hexagon cardstock templates that come precut, 100 to a pack.  

Let's just say 6 months and almost 600 hexies later, I am an addict.  EPP is actually quite fun and instantly gratifying. I don't have a finished project yet because honestly, I only do this on my lunch breaks...now that I have a new job on the books, we'll see how the rest pans out.  But I have just been grabbing scraps and putting them together at random.  Some of the pieces match, some don't, I'm ignoring directionality (which is HARD for me to do) and so far, it's just been a lot of fun. 

Here's a little snapshot of some of the pieces....there are MANY more and I do have a 2'-3' piece all put together - this picture was taken a few months ago.  

I've started to assemble the flower shapes

Let the assembly begin!

And naturally....no picture can be taken without Toki's say so.

Thanks, Toki.  

WIP Wednesday: Vaudeville

Holy crap, I worked on something.  This is out of the book Sensational Small Quilts...and while sensational, it's by no means "small." 

The sample in the book was red and cream, but blah, so I did purple and cream/tan to go with a vaudeville themed black and cream print I have for the border (no, I don't have a picture right at the moment).  But I am doing it scrappy style so maybe, just maybe, my purple scraps might shrink some.  And they have.  Woo!

All the blocks are done, and all I need to do is finish assembling the rows.  Three down, three to go!

I have to have it sideways on my design wall, so it really isn't wider than it is long.

Tina keeps trying to lay down on keyboard so I guess I'm done...

THANKS TINA :-)
(yes, her under bite is so bad her tongue sticks out.  Poor sweet girl.)

WIP Wednesday: Granny Squares

This is another long term WIP.  After seeing a granny square how-to on another blog (I can't remember which one, it was several months ago) I thought it would be a good way to eat up more scraps.  The one I saw had a 100% white background with each block divided by sashing, but I thought it might be neat to have the block separated by background colors.  So, each block has a different background color in a solid fabric, and then the squares for the interior of the block would be scrappy. 

So I made some, put it away, made some, put it away....and neglected to take notes on how I needed to trim the squares.  Now three of them so far are about 3/4" too big.  Those I will be ripping apart, trimming and reassembling probably last thing.  But this time I was smart enough to write down a note about trimming those pieces and put it in the box for next time. 

Nice, but WRONG by 3/4"

But here's what I have so far.  I think there are 25 or 30 total that need to be done. 

I'll finish the rest one of these days.

One Bajillion Blue

I thought I had already taken pictures of, and posted this....but I didn't!  So Sam (click her name to check out her blog, Diary of a Mad Fabriholic), this one's for you!

I used one single block (I know, I had 100 to choose from and I only chose one, lol) from Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

This wonderful book that I need to make more blocks from

I chose Number 77, because I thought it would be neat to make a larger block from 4 of these blocks.

I wanted to alternate lights and darks to get an optical illusion...And I needed to get rid of blue scraps.  So I chose 50 light blues, and 50 dark blues and when to town.  There are only 100 different blues here, but after all that picking, and cutting, and piecing, and pinning, and pressing, and assembling....it might as well have been one bajillion.  Hence, one bajillion blue.  

 

Right now the quilt is on display in the shop as a sample for the book.  The walls are pretty high (very tall ceiling) so from down here I know the picture isn't all that great....but you get the idea :-)  And no, your eyes aren't deceiving you....it does lack a binding. 

Lifesavers

I have been feeling SO unmotivated lately, hence, no updates.  Getting the flu last week certainly didn't help.  While my fever finally broke on Friday, I still don't feel 100%.  I can't complain though...I haven't had the actual flu since I was 8, and no, I don't get flu shots (unless my grandmother physically drags me to Rite Aid to get one, which, she has done that).  That doesn't explain the few weeks prior, but you know, whatever.  Not motivated, end of story (I guess).

So anyway...I'll try to catch up on posts. 

Here's another scrap quilt I've been working on.  I got the idea from Pinterest. 

 

Apparently, based on seeing it in other pins, this is a quilt from Red Pepper Quilts.  I realized this AFTER I started making it, of course.  I have no idea what the original dimensions are, but I used 5" squares for my Nine Patches, so it's going to be pretty large once all is said and done. The original above has a very neat and tidy color scheme, but I was trying to deplete scraps, so I went with 9 colors to each block, with 2.5" sashing all the way around.

Here's mine...the blocks looks a little gross on their own, I admit it, but I'm pleased with how they turned out when I got the first bits of white sashing put on there..

I need to get the horizontal sashings put on yet, and the rows attached together ( the rows themselves are already assembled), but that's another job for another day.

Mental Health Quilt

A few weeks ago, I posted about a "houndstooth" scrap quilt I was making (while also simultaneously complaining about my never-improving-even-though-I-try math skills).

Truth be told, this has been what I call my "mental health" quilt.  Whenever I have bad days with my anxiety, sewing is really the only thing that makes me feel any better at all.  So when I was having a bad day, I would go in and choose fabrics, or cut, or organize or work on piecing this quilt.  There is no real point to it, other than to help me focus and feel calm.  It's so bizarre how something that makes you feel so bad on so many levels, can also push you into feeling super productive and creative.  Life is strange.

But anyway, I am finally done with all the blocks.  All 200 some odd of them.  I was going tog o with a random color pattern, just to look scrappy, but then I thought, hey, I've never done a color blending quilt before...why not?

So there it is (pardon my iron and chair...).  There are two more bottom rows, but my "design wall," aka, the backside of a vinyl tablecloth, wasn't big enough so they're on the floor.  I posted it on Facebook just because I was excited to have gotten this far and I was NOT expecting the reaction I got. All I can say is thank you, friends!

It's time to start piecing it all together.  I have to start soon, because I have a backlog of shop samples and wedding quilts (don't worry, Isabelle and Joey, I have not forgotten about you) to finish up.  But for now, it's time to focus on getting this thing pieced and off my wall.

2014 First Finish

 Another one bites the dust!  I almost went with a purple inner border, but got talked out of it since "I do purple and gold a lot."  I'm not quite sure I'm in love with the blue yet - I still think I should have followed my gut with the purple - because my eye goes right to the blue before the center of the quilt.  Who knows, maybe it'll grow on me?  But the rest of the quilt I absolutely love.  I've been waiting for a reason to use that chevron, and I'm really happy with how that paired up.

Attic Window Scrap Quilt

I needed another project like I needed a hole in the head, but well, making half-assed attempts at clearing out your sewing room will do that I suppose! I was going through scraps and ran across my favorite pieces.  I have NO idea what line they are, or even which company.  A few years ago a rep gave me some of their strike offs since the fabric wasn't available anymore.  Boy, I wish I had asked so I knew where I could fin yardage online!  I've made another quilt (well...UFO) our of these pieces and these squares are all I had left, just about.  Talk about precious scraps!

But I saw a "cheater" (ie, no miters or y-seams) attic window block on Pinterest and it was perfect for these pieces.  I cut my stuff out and claimed (erroneously) that I had no intention to start it for a while, I just wanted to make sure I had enough of what I needed.  Well...whoops. I got home and started piecing it, thinking, well, I'll just do the blocks and put them away for later. Whoops. The rows are almost all pieced together and I'm looking for borders to make it a little larger.

 Beware, it's a bright and bold eyeful, but I love it!

Math, My Mortal Enemy

As I supposed most of you have gleaned from reading my blog within the past year, I am WAY into scrap quilts. Big time.

Lately I've been working on this kind of mock houndstooth quilt using up my scrap 3.5" and 2.5" squares.  It makes for small blocks (4" finished) so if I wanted a quilt of any real size, I had to make a LOT of blocks.  I decided on a 15x15 layout so you really saw the pattern come out, and so it had some size to it before I put borders on it. I had a pretty cramped set up with all the sorted colors and pieces parts...my ironing capabilities are a little limited but luckily there isn't anything larger than 4.5" so far to deal with.

Yesterday, I got really excited because I thought I was in the 40 block home stretch - only 5 of each color left to go!  Wellllll turns out I screwed up my math and I need 80 more.  And then after recalculating, I forgot I needed an additional 40 more 3.5" black blocks to go with my additional 40 3.5" colored blocks.  I'm starting to run out of scrap variety, so I'm down to the wire on my black fabrics.  We'll see if I have to break down and stash dive for those last 40 black pieces.  Ah, well.  Quilting problems! 

Once I get all the squares pieced together it shouldn't look so busy.  I'm really enjoying the process and the outcome.  By the time the borders are on it should be a pretty decent sized throw (over 60" square) or maybe a slightly-undersized bed quilt.  We'll see! 

The Ugliest Quilt in the World

Several months ago, I made a quilt out of Tula Pink's Saltwater collection as a sample for the shop.  One of our more colorful characters informed us that is was "the ugliest quilt she has ever seen in her life."

Pictured: The Ugliest Quilt in the World

Frankly, I am pretty fond of the quilt..I mean...there are cephalopods (which I say just because I don't know what the actual correct plural form of Octopus is) on it.  But besides that, it really isn't an aesthetically offensive quilt, unless blues and turquoises aren't your thing.  But after that, I had an idea. What if I tried to make the ugliest quilt in the world?  How would one go about that, making an intentionally ugly quilt? That's kind of subjective, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz, right? Challenge accepted. 

So it occurred to me...all those extra blocks from projects past, all those strips and segments from cutting said blocks, and all those practice blocks that just didn't work out were just sitting in a bag, all sad and lonely.  What if they all got mashed together?  I organized the pieces by colorway: brights, holiday and muted.  With all that, I had enough for three very ugly quilts.  So I set off on making a very bright and garish quilt.  I took my finished blocks and added pieces parts to then until the finished square measured 12.5" square. 

Let me just say, this is probably the most fun I have ever had making a quilt, EVER.  It felt so good to not have to fuss with color placement very much, or what looks good and what doesn't.  It gave me the freedom to just put things together that on an ordinary quilt, I never would have.  Plus, using leftover blocks, you learn real quick what color phases you've gone through over the years. (News Flash: I like orange and bright pink...shocking to no one.) 

And even though it was intended to be ugly and horrible...I really love how it turned out.  To everyone else, this may really be a loud, so-ugly-it-might-be-seizure-inducing quilt, but I am so happy with how it turned out. 

Say hello to the ugliest quilt in the world: 

A funny side note about the dino block...that was one of mom's leftover blocks from a project she made for me...when I was 3.  Just goes to show I have always had strange taste.  Dinos for life!