When I'm cutting scraps into patches the smallest shapes I cut are 1.5" squares. They are what I use to make the postage stamp centers for some of my scrappy stars.
I have a little box into which the squares fit nicely. Until there are too many to fit into the box that is. They have been accumulating in recent months to the point that I had five stacks of squares on top of the packed box. You can imagine how they were toppling over at the least provocation. Obviously it was time to do something with them.
I began by making postage stamp blocks from each color family. I find it's easier, more efficient, to make a pair of blocks at a time. That way I can chain sew until both blocks are complete. The downside to this method of working is that it can be hard to stop, especially when the blocks are small. It's rather like eating potato chips. Over a few days I had these 18 blocks made...
As well as this lot of fifteen that have light patches alternating with dark.
It's easy to get the seams to nestle in place when you can simply finger-press toward the dark patches. Once the blocks are complete I go to the ironing board and press the long seams open to get the blocks to lay flatter. It's a little tedious but worth it in the end.
The towers of squares have disappeared and there's actually room in the little box for new squares to be added. Now I just have to decide what to do with all these 4.5" postage stamp blocks!
Scrap Happy Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Kate in
Australia and Gun in Sweden. Participants span the globe, posting
according to their own time zones. If you'd like some motivation for
using up scrap materials taking up space in your nest leave a comment on
either of their blogs. Theirs are the first two links in the list below.
And then be inspired by what's being done to recycle, repurpose, or
otherwise keep things out of landfills around the world. 😊
Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, Lynn, Tierney and Hannah
A postage stamp quilt with them would be awesome if you have enough scraps to make it work!
ReplyDeletewow! that's a lot of teeny, tiny blocks. they look a bit like a jigsaw puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThat second batch of dark/light squares looks as if it's trying to wriggle itself into a quilt layout already!
ReplyDeleteLooking great! I find working with the small squares very resting and it´s such a joy to put them together.
ReplyDelete