Taming the Scrap Baskets!

I mentioned in a previous post that I really wanted to start making more use of my scraps, I love scrap quilts and while I am really good at saving all my leftovers, I am rubbish at actually using them.  Things came to a head last week when I decided to trawl through my baskets to find pieces to make this quilt.

I started with my neutrals basket and gave up after 5 minutes as I couldn't face trying to find anything among the jumble wrinkled mess; the basket was filled to overflowing and wouldn't fit back into its space :(

Time for drastic action! I trawled the internet and watched numerous Youtube tutorials on storing scraps and cutting them into usable sizes, I ended up more confused than ever! There are so many conflicting options on what you should do.  Then I read a quote which said that there's no point storing it  if you're not going use it - of course! the idea is not to rush out and buy more storage for my scraps but to find a way of using them. If you are a regular reader you will know that I love small pieces and multi fabric quilts - why use one green when you can you can use 40!!

I very rarely buy anything larger than a FQ, I store these and anything larger than about a fat eighth in baskets neatly folded; I sorted those baskets 2 years ago and it is still working for me, I shared how I did this here, it basically involves folding everything into a uniform size so they sit nicely together.
http://emilyscupboard.blogspot.com/search/label/scrap%20storage

With the exception of Liberty and Batik fabrics which I keep in a different box, I only keep largish 6" + scraps. I use smaller ones for thread catchers on my machine, and while I really admire string quilts and postage stamp quilts they are not for me.  My basket was really made up of leftover FQ's either squarish pieces or strips about 20" long.  Thinking about what I like to use, I realised that I often buy 10" layer cakes to get some variety, I find a 10" square a really useful size for appliqué or cutting a few pieces for EPP etc. I decided to cut the squarish scraps into 10" squares first. I relaxed the rules slightly to anything over 9"

This worked really well with very little waste. I then decided to cut the strips into 2 1/2" by whatever length they were, I can always cut them down later. Again this worked well leaving one two strips per piece with again very little waste.

Looking through all my templates, EPP quilts I want to make etc this size seemed to be the most useful. There are also hundreds of jelly roll patterns available, many of them free. It's very easy to make a quick charity or gift quilt if you have the strips ready to go!  Very few patterns need full width of fabric strips, most have you cut them down so I can just use 2-3 of my strips.

The full to overflowing basket ended like this :) I already had the Really Useful Boxes, I just need to think of an idea for storing  the squares so they remain nice and neat.

I will see how this works for me, but cutting scraps down into two useable sizes means I don't need elaborate storage and I will easily stick to it.  I might save smaller squares say 6"in future also, but for now I am actually inspired to start using these.  I really like the idea of an antique inspired log cabin.

How do you store/use your scraps?

Coming Home

This last week I have been working on catching up with my Coming Home BOM project. I have assembled the centre section and started work on the second house border. Here is a reminder of the full design bySarah Fielke

The centre portion finishes about 52"

We are currently in the process of adding the next row of houses which will add another 10" to each side.

I am really enjoying making these blocks, I have had lots of fun fussy cutting creatures to live in the cottages :)

we have the rest of the houses to finish next month and then it's on to the final border, I am not sure if I will make the final border or not.  When this border is finished the quilt will measure around 72" square, the final size is about 88" if I add the pieced end border.

 I mentioned to a friend that I thought that would make a great size for a play/story quilt for the little ones of visiting friends and family, and she was horrified that I would let children crawl all over it!
 I explained that the colours in this one didn't really go with any of my bedrooms and I really didn't want another large colourful bed quilt that would just sit unused; I thought that children would love to play on it and find the animals. It did make me think however,  I make quilts because I love the whole process of making, I like them to be well used and well loved,  it can be easily washed if dirty. I don't enter shows and don't treat any of my quilts as precious  What do you think? What do you do with your quilts?

Planning new Projects!

I showed the fabrics I bought for a new quilt in my last post, I am making Cherish by Tales of Cloth it's an English Paper Pieced pattern and destined to be another long term handwork project :)

I have had loads of fun matching fabrics and cutting out the pieces for the first few blocks

I pieced one block and yes I really like it!

I even found the perfect backing and binding fabric on sale

While it is all very lovely buying new fabrics for a project I am conscious of the fact that my scrap baskets are full to bursting. This is just a small section (!)

I am really good at saving all my scraps, I am really bad at using them! After 20+ years of quilting they are in danger of getting out of control! I really admire quilters like Karen who make fabulous scrap quilts all the time.

One of the challenges I set myself this year was to try and use what I have, so when this month's issue of Quiltmania arrived I was thrilled to see at least two quilts that I want to make.  My scraps are a mixture of civil war/antique style fabrics and more modern brighter colours.  I will make this 'Drunken Sailor' with the more muted colours

I have cut out the pieces for the centre block, I will change the pattern slightly and need to do some maths to use my templates as they are a different size from the pattern in the magazine.

 I have always wanted to make a mariners compass block and try a machine pieced drunkards path, I bought some templates years ago but my machine skills were not good enough then.

This will be my focus machine project, another of my goals was to improve my machine skills and after successfully machine piecing the curves on my Coming Home  quilt I think I can attempt these simple curves - we will see!

Once I have finished this, I would like to make another of the quilts in this issue to use my brighter scraps.

This should keep me busy for a while and hopefully improve my machine skills while making a dent in the scrap baskets, although I doubt it, as fabric seems to multiply in my house when I'm not looking!

Another Finish!

I have finished the hand quilting on my 'I am Enough' quilt.  It went really fast with Aurifil 12wt and a large needle. The combination of machine quilting in the ditch for stability and then adding hand quilting details is something I plan to do more of on future quilts, it's much kinder to my hands and quicker!

I treated myself to some new fabrics to celebrate! These are from Bari J for Art Gallery from her 'Virtuoso' and 'Bloomsbury' ranges, along with some of the Pure Elements co-ordinating solids.

I plan to make the 'Cherish' quilt by Tales of Cloth, it's EPP and I've had the papers for months!

I am having great fun selecting fabric combinations and making a complete mess in my sewing room!

I am Enough QAL

I have really enjoyed working on the I am Enough Quilt this past winter; the pattern was very kindly provided free a section at a time every two weeks by Melanie of Southern Charm Quilts. The pattern is still available from her website here
https://southerncharmquilts.com/blog/2019/03/07/i-am-enough-quilt-quilt-reveal/

I started this quilt initially as I really wanted to make a quilt using low volume fabrics,

you may remember my initial very disappointing attempt at working with these fabrics, when I quickly realised that I need to add some fun bright colours for this to work.

This was the selection I eventually came up with, many were leftovers from my Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt

I really enjoyed machine piecing each section as it came out, I think my machine piecing skills really improved too!

There were some fun embroidery details too, this is my left hand with an embroidered version of my engagement ring.

I was really happy to finally master the French Braid pattern, I tried before several years ago but all the bias edges made it impossible, I went slowly this time and was careful when pressing, despite this photo it is straight!

The message and title of the quilt "I am enough" is embroidered here so we don't forget, whatever you do it is good enough :)

Then it was just a question of putting the sections together ...

I found a really fun backing fabric on sale

In an ideal world I would hand quilt every part of every quilt I make, but I don't have the time and my hands are not up to it, instead I have found a solution that works for me. On a busy quilt like this, I machine quilt in the ditch all over, and add hand quilting sections where I will see it. 

 I am using a 50% Cotton 50% Bamboo Wadding with is lovely and light for summer.  I will hand quilt with Aurifil 12wt threads and an embroidery needle, it goes faster that traditional hand quilting for me and is not so hard on my hands.

The weather has been very cold and wet lately, not at all like summer! Instead of my usual working/reading in the garden I have been hand quilting :) I will hopefully have another finish very soon.