Today I have to share a little problem I'm having. First, though, a pretty picture for the top of the blog:
Okay, maybe not so pretty but at least it's not a mess. It was raining when I took this, but I think that makes it look extra bright and happy. This is the first row of a new quilt, and here's how I got to it. It all started with this mess:
This is not even close to being all of my scraps, most of which made it to the condo with us. I have at least one more big white bag and a smaller clear bag, also stuffed full. When we had the house, I had these all nicely sorted by color and type--solids over here, batiks here, prints there--in their very own boxes, all nicely stacked. It didn't look like quite so much then. Well, that system wouldn't work here because there is just not enough storage space. (Really, I'll be thankful for closets forever.) So the boxes are in storage, but I pulled out the fabrics and brought them with me.
Folks, this is just overwhelming me. I have too much! All the space that is taken up by the scraps means that I have no room for yardage. And I really want some yardage!
Anyway, I have to use these up and clear them out, so I've started cutting them up into manageable pieces and I have a couple of patterns in mind for them. First, there is this one:
This is a pattern by mamaCJT, and I got it at Patched Works a long time ago. (Pretty sure they still have some in stock.) She shows it all in a single solid, but why does it have to be done that way? It doesn't! So I've pulled out some of the bigger pieces to make rows and put them together into a cute little quilt.
I've also been cutting pieces into 1-1/2, 2-inch, and 2-1/2 inch squares. There are tons of patterns for squares this size. There may be a Bonnie Hunter quilt in my near future, but for now I've chosen this one from Wedding Dress Blue.
It looks simple enough that even I can't mess it up, and the directions are really good, so I grabbed some 2-inch squares and started putting them together:
So far it's mainly stress-free, but we'll see as we go on. I have a couple of other ideas, and I even thought about cutting some of the bigger pieces into triangles and making an all-triangle quilt, but after working on the Roman Floors quilt for a while now I'm pretty tired of triangles.
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| Put them all in a bowl and toss like a salad! |
That's it from here! Let's see how much progress I make this week. Pretty sure I'll be cutting like a crazy person. And if anyone has any good suggestions for patterns for using up those scraps (or the vast majority of them), be sure to let me know!
Sharing at Let's Bee Social, and WIP Wednesday.
7 comments:
I'm working on my scrap pile, too; one of the projects I've got going is this free BOM: http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/p/rsc15-sampler.html (though I don't find her block tutorials to be all that great and usually look for instructions for the center blocks elsewhere). I'm loving the first row of your quilt; I think that's going to be so cool made with a variety of fabrics!
You're making a good start on those scraps. I totally understand that bags of scraps are overwhelming. I live in a small space too and the only thing that got me USING my scraps was sorting them into plastic bins by size. They are stored under my bed, labels pointing out so I can grab what I need and go. Maybe that would help? I love what you've started!
Love the faded charms quilt. Just right for a huge pile of scraps. Do you know of Cyndy at quilting is more fun than housework. She had been doing a series on scrap quilts here http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.co.uk/p/scrap-palooza-quilt-gallery.html
there might be something there that helps xx
Your scraps are so pretty, even if there are way to many. Bonnie Hunter has so many wonderful scrappy quilt patterns on her site and they are free. Have fun.
The faded charms is a wonderful way to use up those squares. And you have lots of pretty colors to choose from.
Yep, that's a whole lot of scraps. What exactly do you consider a scrap? Anything smaller than a FQ? Does everything you have cut into go into that pile? Some of the pieces look pretty big.
I have seen that Confetti pattern before and have been tempted. I like the simplicity of it.
Glad to see you're getting settled...and organized. Wish I could do either :-) I have 2 quilts that might be good for your scraps. Not mine! I'm not even *close* to that creative...but
http://magnoliabayquilts.blogspot.com/2014/07/text-me-quilt.html
or
http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2014/03/scrappy-saturday-teal-edition.html
might be fun to try
No matter what you do...enjoy!
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