An Ending and A Potential Beginning

This is the reason I didn't commit to full participation in Scrappy Saturdays: I cut patches from scraps in the days leading up to Saturday and then Saturday I ended up finishing the binding on the latest set of placemats for my daughter instead of sewing scraps!

Here are the placemats:

Everything from peppermints and candy canes to Valentine's Day hearts and ribbons. :- )  I used the sewing machine to apply and sew down the bindings. On the very first placemat I forgot to work from the back to the front (the one right above) which, of course, was the one placemat with decidedly red or white strips at the perimeters. No matter what color thread I used it was going to show. Oh well. Finished is better than perfect. That was the mantra that got me through to the end of this project.

Leading up to Scrappy Saturday I cut patches and strips from some of the remnants laying around. These two stacks represent patches for 25 six inch blocks:

I've been using binder clips to keep my strips organized. The strips had outgrown the number of clips I had available however. A trip to Office Depot remedied that, although not without consequences to my well being.

I now have each strip width designated by a different color binder clip. The strips are also sorted by length, and in some cases also by value. There are so many 2.5" strips I ended up using two values of clips as well, light and dark blue! (The lighter clips hold shorter strips.)

I have several ideas percolating to get these strips used up. In the meantime, while I was recovering from my shopping trip I sewed up many of those scrap-patch blocks:

This morning I had an idea for incorporating these Amish style blocks into a top for Debra Spinic's new Smokin' Hot Quilt Challenge. We'll have to wait and see how that idea pans out... ;- )