Scrap Happy in November

 Well, without Scrap Happy Day every month it looks like I wouldn't be blogging at all! However, this old dog has tried a new trick. I've actually repurposed some existing items instead of working from scraps or yardage. 

When our daughter was having her babies I made several flannel receiving blankets for them. Some time ago she returned them to me with a request to sew them all together into something bigger and useful for the members of her family now, 15 - 20 years later. I have finally tackled that project.  

 I didn't take a head count of the number of blankets before I started cutting them apart. I wish now I had. Spoiler alert: I've made a 60" x 76" top and a 66" x 83" back out of the flannels and still have quite a bit leftover!

 This is a sampling of the prints I had to work with. There are a couple of solid colors and tone-on-tone prints that are not in this photograph. My first step was to cut off the hems of the blankets. They were all only two layers sewn right sides together and then turned and top stitched. A few of them were large enough that I'd done some stitching in the center to hold the layers in place. It was tedious work to take out those stitches.  Only one of the blankets had any patchwork. I trimmed up the raw edges of that one and used it for the center of the new quilt. 

 Then I framed it with the pink print border and cornerstones. That was all the plan I had in the beginning, just cut strips and add them round and round the center panel. 

 Eventually, of course, I had to start piecing the strips to go the distance on any given side. Once I'd reached the desired width (60") I just kept adding strips to the top and bottom sides. I was delighted to discover that I had enough of a pink and white polka dot to make a final frame all the way around the top.

 There are a couple of minor design changes I would have made if I hadn't been working with old flannels. Daughter is less of a perfectionist fortunately. 

 I have only just completed piecing a back out of some of the same prints and a couple that didn't make it onto the front. I'll have to be sure to get a picture of it to share later. And then there are the flannels that are still leftover. I'd like to do something with them as well but at the moment I'm not sure what. There might be enough fabric for another, smaller quilt top. In the meantime, check out what the other participants in this monthly hop have repurposed or made out of scrap materials:

Kate, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin,  Alissa,
Hannah and Maggie

 Scrap Happy Day is hosted by Kate (at the top of the list) every month on the 15th. If you'd like the motivation to use up your scraps or show us how you've repurposed something leave a comment on her blog and she'll be happy to add you to the list!