Scrap Happy in April

It's time to share something we've made out of scrap materials, whatever they may be. Most often mine are fabric scraps, and most often I'm using them to make more quilts, like this time! 😉

Last year I made a string quilt out of strips that had been cut to 8.5" long. Some of those strips had been cut to specific widths, others were used at whatever width they cleaned up to be. This is the finished quilt:

It ended up being about 60" wide by 80" long. I was surprised at how many strips were leftover after building it. Well, needing some mindless sewing recently I pulled those leftover strips back out to see how far I could get with them. There were off-cuts from recent quilt backs that I cut into strips and added to the pile as well.

When I had six columns of strips assembled I decided to try for a different layout this time. Short sections of binding strips had been accumulating. Rather than piece them together for a scrappy binding I sewed the shortest ones together end-to-end to make vertical sashing between the columns.

When that was done I decided I also needed vertical sashes on the outer edges. I used some raw 2" strips for that (so they finish at 1.5"). Then, to bring this one up to 60" x 80" as well I found yardage in my stash and put a border all the way around.

The yardage for the border was sent to me in error from a vendor a few years ago so I don't count that as new fabric. And for the back I was able to use yardage I've had for a very long time. I'd toyed with the idea of making a set of pillowcases for the granddaughters but was never entirely sold on that prospect. They would have been fun but I think this is a better use of the prints.

It also made it easy to name the quilt. I'm just going to call it Sweet Dreams! There's enough of the border print to bind the quilt when the time comes too. You can just see it at the top in the photo below. It's a batik print of knives and forks and spoons.

Kate and Gun are our hostesses for Scrap Happy Day on the 15th of each month. Their names and links are at the head of this list of links for the others who regularly participate in Scrap Happy Day. Not everyone posts something scrappy every month but their blogs are worth a look-in any time. You're welcome to join us if you'd like, just leave a comment on Kate's or Gun's blog. 😊

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny and Kjerstin