scrap management

I showed you my fabric cupboard a while back.

That wasn't the WHOLE story.

Here's the rest......

2 1/2" strips.

One box of little squares in little bags.

3" x 3" squares.

2 1/2" squares.

These even have a little template.

woo hoo!

2" squares.

I will sometimes cut squares with the leftover fabric

from a project and just stick them into these

little bags.

I find that I use these little square quite

frequently in projects.

They're already to go!

fat quarters (or about that size pieces)

I have quite of few of these little buckets.

A drawer FULL of reds, purples, etc......

sharing space with lincoln logs.

:)

Drawer FULL of yellows, tans, etc.....

sharing space with legos...

:)

Drawer FULL of whites, etc.

sharing space with the little people...

:)

NOW.....

why do you think I have so many of these

scraps?????

Besides making quilts and things....

I SHOP....

And I DID shop yesterday.

I was soooo good for so long and then

it HAPPENED.

I went to my favorite discount store...

$2 a yard and found some fabric

I couldn't resist....

Red.

Yellow.

pink and purple.

orange.

blues and greens.

MY FAVORITE!

May your scrap basket be full

and your needle threaded!

I'm OFF to make a quilt!

lone star

Here's what I did ALL day yesterday...

or so it felt like.

I quilted...

and quilted...

and quilted.

The top has been done now for a few months

But, the quilting wasn't.

I had this quilt top waiting in the wings,

waiting for me to come up with some GREAT

quilting technique...

but it never happened.

I was never inspired.

Soooo I finally went ahead and just quilted it all over with

some swirls.

No marking for me!

I like the binding.

Thought I would be using RED,

but when I looked at the red it just wasn't right.

This is how I made this quilt.

I used newspaper!

Cut my star points.

Every star began with a white center that I

tacked down with a little glue stick.

(I wouldn't recommend this because the

ink from the paper got on some of my whites.)

Maybe plain newsprint would work better!

Then I just added strips of red, white and blue

any size......

all the way across those star points.

You can see here the center of the starts all have a white strip.

The rest of the strips ALL came from

my scraps!

I know.....too many scraps at my house.

I still have more! oh no!

After all the star points were done...

I DID have to rip off all that paper on the back!

I enjoyed getting this off my to do list.

I love this quilt.
And I enjoyed the process.

Here's the beginning of a new quilt.
Same process.
Different sized shapes.





The backs of those pieces.
You can see how I sewed right through the paper.
For those NON quilters out there.
That's called Paper piecing....
ON THE CHEAP.

If you're a real detective, you can figure out
what month it was when I started these by
checking out the movie ads on the back there. :)

another finish!

Here's a baby quilt....finished!

I began with 5" squares and 2 1/2" strips.

Thanks to Amanda Jean for the inspiration.

I bought these fat quarters a long time ago.

Don't know who designed the fabric...

but I know I like them.

All those "sort of" solids were in my stash.

I REALLY didn't have to go to the store for this one.

Then I finished the top.

I DID NOT have a piece of fabric big enough for the backing!

Most of the time I buy 1 yard pieces or less...

and 1 yard was NOT going to do it!

I don't like doing extra work.

I like finishing the quilt REAL QUICK when the top is done.

I knew I could piece the back...

but I didn't want to.

and I didn't want to...

and then

I DID IT!

Looking back..I know it took me

LESS TIME to piece the back

than to go to the store and get a bigger piece of fabric.

Aren't you proud of me for restraining myself and

not making that drive to BUY some?

I also am DREAMING some little boy will be

driving his cars on the back of that

someday!

Next time, I thought I might even make it

LOOK more like a road.

Wouldn't that be FUN?

And today I added this to my growing collection.

I wanted to experiment with flowers.

I have TONS of scraps.

Isn't it cute?

Love those pinks!






Here it is...
I am now a
COLLECTOR! :)

SEWING CENTRAL

I had a friend come over to sew yesterday.

It was a very productive morning!

Jen began with fabric, ribbon and elastic.



This is what she got.
Isn't that TOO cute?

Chloe thinks so too.

That ribbon hem was so-o-o easy!

Chloe is JUMPING up and down with

happiness because her older sister....

gets a skirt too!

YEAH JEN!

You did it!

Jen brought over some OLD patterns!

How fun is that?

I'm going to try this one!

And while Jen worked on skirts...

I worked on leaves.

I'm thinking about a house in the middle of all these.
What do you think?

a puzzle.

Here is a quilted puzzle.

I was given all these pieces.....

....half done.

some big pieces of fabric came in the bag.

Some strips came in the package.
all different sizes!

some more strips.

Why am I dealing with this?

.....without a pattern?

because my "quilt mom" Gerda left these in her

stash when she passed away.

I wanted to finish something she started.

By the way...

She made a LOT of quilts.

She also gave a LOT of quilts away.

I was able to make some headway with it.

Then I found out one of her children had not recieved one of her quilts.

This son and daughter-in-law will be celebrating

25 YEARS of marriage next month!

What an opportunity!

(to give a quilt, of course)

I think this quilt will have a happy home. :)

I will be very interested to see what this pattern actually looks like.

(if I ever run into it at a quilt shop or in a book)

remember...I just tried to fit it together as best I could.

And look at that wonderful mistake (with pinwheels)

in the top right. :)

I had all the borders on when I noticed....!

You know me...

I sure don't like to rip things out....

Let's not tell the new owners about that..

O.K.?

too much fabric!

After folding ALL this fabric recently...

I DECIDED....

I don't need any more fabric!!!

The act of folding it really, really helped!

I vowed I would not go to a fabric store

until I REALLY needed something

specific.

AND....I haven't been to a fabric store since.

I went to a THRIFT store!

A thrift store is not a fabric store.

I wasn't even THINKING about fabric when I saw these curtains.

They were still in the package!

Brand new!

(excuse the sideways picture above.

I got ahead of myself....as usual...

and didn't turn it before posting.))

Well, my mind went right to QUILT.

These would make a great

BACKING!

I bought 'em!

I took 'em home!

And now I can make another quilt!

Yeah!

I think I can just fit these curtains in that empty

space on the second shelf. :)

This is a quilt top that I have had in my cupboard for years.

This is the way I used to make quilts...

and this one never made the cut and never was gifted.

I would Cut 6" squares and sew them together.

Well, I didn't think this quilt would ever find a good home.

BUT...I think this week it did!

My daughter's friend came over and

ooohed and aaawed over all the quilts

over here at my house...

Did you know I have a few quilts?
Every bed, every sofa, a few walls....

it's kind of embarrassing.

Like I said, this quilt has waited a long time.

That little square there came from a skirt I made

M-a-n-y, m-a-n-y Moons ago!

So I quilted this top and finished it...

no longer a UFO.

I was so happy to make a college girl happy.

Everyone should have a quilt....

especially if that somebody

LOVES quilts....

Here's the back.

Simple.

I have a whole bolt of muslin I need to use up.

What do you quilters use for muslin...

how do I look for quality in muslin?

inquiring minds want to know.