Scrap Happy in June

 This Scrap Happy Day I am sharing my start for my Textile Tales book for June. These little books are great for putting small scraps to use. This time I'm using Janet Kime's book Quilts to Share as my inspiration. 

 

This is an older book, published in 1991 by That Patchwork Place. It's one of many in my library I've had to have taken apart and individual pages put in archival sleeves to protect myself from the particulates/fumes that emanate from the ink or paper. It's the source for the cat block I've used for quilts in the past. 

 Most recently I've had this quilt from the book on my mind:

 What if I made the cover for my book like that?

 I didn't get as much variety in strip widths but I was also working at a much smaller scale. This cover piece measures 8.25" x 4.5." I worked strictly out of my bag of scraps that are less than 1.5" wide. 

I used the sew and flip method to secure the strips to batting and the piece of fabric for the inside of the cover. 

 This is a Mary Lou Weidman print. A major part of the book is dedicated to sharing how to organize the making of scrappy community quilts (quilts to be donated to a charity) within a quilt guild or group. So I felt the print of "quilt ladies" would be most appropriate to include. 😊

I have also constructed one half of one signature for my book. Out of scraps of course.

 This 7" x 4.5" unit will eventually make up two pages in my book. I have an idea for the center spread based on the little house quilt blocks in Janet's book. After that I don't know what will come next. The cat block will not work at this small scale or the square format of my pages. The Textile Tales books are not meant to be exact replicas of the inspiration volumes by any means. Just a jumping off place. 

I try to keep a stack of scrap patches near the sewing machine to sew together inbetween the seams of other projects. These are the blocks I've built over the last month or so:

 One of these days I really need to do something about the drawer FULL of 6" Hole in the Barn Door blocks (also known as Churn Dash blocks). It's getting so I can't easily put any more blocks in that drawer. 

Scrap Happy Day is hosted by Kate of Tall Tales from Chiconia on the 15th of each month. We have a new participant joining us this month. Welcome Wizzy!  

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, Tierney,
Hannah, Maggie and Wizzy 

 

Scrap Happy in November

 I wanted to be making a quilt but had no motivation to start a new project from scratch. Parts Department to the rescue! I pulled out eight and nine inch blocks, figuring that they would make rows just under 60" each. There are 8" variable stars, 9" wonky or liberated stars, 9" Shoo-fly blocks, and 9" Hole in the Barn Door blocks. (They don't show up in the photo below.)

 They really are a random lot. That's all the wonky/liberated stars I had, and I think the Shoo-fly and Hole in the Barn Door blocks are all gone in that size too. 

 As you can see, I used a tone-on-tone blue for sashing between the rows and as compensating strips at the ends of the rows to bring them all out to 60" wide.

 This is the completed top. The quilt will be about 60" x 80" when it's finished. Not my most original or creative use of random blocks but it got the job done. Someone will now have a warm, colorful quilt to snuggle in and perhaps be entertained by. 😊

You can see how others have used their scrap materials or repurposed something that might have been thrown in the trash by following the links below. Enjoy!

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

Scrap Happy in January - Inventory Reduction Season

Perhaps under the influence of all the clearance sales offered by retailers at this time of the year (or, more likely, the fact that I could no longer close the Parts Dept. drawer without effort) I decided it was time to build another PDQ, a Parts Department Quilt. This time I was determined to avoid the square medallion format that recent quilts have developed. Just for a change of pace. A row-by-row quilt allows for a wide variety of block sizes to be included.

I like to begin with the biggest blocks in the Parts Dept. There actually wasn't much left to work with in the 12" block section. So I sewed together some 6" Bear Paw units into 12" blocks. With a few sashing strips and compensating strips at the ends I was able to get to a 60" width pretty easily. If you've been around here for long you know that I don't typically go any wider than 60" nor longer than about 80." I find 60" a very flexible dimension to work within. The next two rows were assembled from 8" Variable/Sawtooth star blocks, again with compensating strips at the ends. 

The next block size I tackled was ten inches. I couldn't keep to one block type for the whole row but I'm happy with the way the Wrench centers the Basket blocks that I made last month. There's only one Basket block left in inventory currently. There are more Wrenches, but they have a more rustic look to them.

 Next up were the 9" blocks. I was surprised at how many Sho-fly blocks I had in this size. These two rows made a good dent in that collection. 

I really felt like I wanted/needed a seventh row to balance things out over the body of the quilt top. This last row was probably the most challenging to create. Six inch blocks take up the most room in the Parts Dept. but it was a struggle to find the right ones for this project. Eventually I came across some crazy patch or liberated blocks I'd made a few years back. Oddly enough, they worked out really well. And now there aren't any left in inventory! 😊

I've already made that row taller by adding scrappy 1.5" strips along the top and bottom edges. So now it's also 9" overall. The seven rows together add up to 65" in length. But there needs to be sashing to separate the rows. According to my calculations I can use more scrappy 2" strips (1.5" finished) to go between the rows and then cap off the top and bottom with 3" strips to get to 80 inches.

At the moment this last step seems a bit daunting. I have plenty of scrap strips waiting to be used, but I need an organized way to approach this step. While I figure that out I invite you to visit these other bloggers who regularly find creative ways to use up scrap materials. Thanks to Kate and Gun for hosting this blog hop. ❤️

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jill, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol,
Preeti, Debbierose, Nóilin and Viv

Scrap Happy in July

 The 15th of each month is the day my friends Kate and Gun invite us to show something we've made out of scrap materials. This month I've only increased the inventory in my Parts Department (scrappy blocks waiting to be put to good use). However, it looks like time to start work on a new quilt top out of the Parts Department!

I've made these Bear Paws out of 4.5" squares and HST's that finish at 2". They are 6" (finished) each. Whether or not I choose to set them in the traditional Bear's Paws block remains to be seen. I like to use them as individual paws to create borders.

You can see that a couple of Ships sailed into the Magpie's Nest this month too. Of course there are more 6" Hole in the Barn Door blocks as well. 😁 I counted up the Ships I have in dry dock. There are 110. You'd think that would be enough to do something with!

I've also made some 8" star blocks. Most of them have whole-cloth center patches.

However, I also managed to make up more postage stamp units to go into stars in the future:

So maybe you'll see those next month. 😉 I have to get borders on the Doves quilt and make a back for it before I can get heavily involved in another quilt project. In the meantime, please visit the links below. Not everyone is a quilt maker but they all have scraps they might have used to make something interesting or useful or fun. And thanks to Kate and Gun for hosting this link party every month!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda, Susan Birthe, Turid, Cathy,  

Tracy, Jill,  Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, 

Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen, 

Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 

Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Viv, 

Preeti, Edith, Debbierose, Carol

Scrap Happy in December

 How is it possible that we are halfway through the month of December already?! Having just finished up what's absolutely necessary in preparation for Christmas I turned my attention to busting some scraps. 

First I sewed up these 3" (finished) half-square triangle units.

And then I sewed up another batch. 

 There are over 100. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them yet. 

The destruction wrought by a spate of tornadoes through the central US over the weekend spurred me to get out blocks from my Parts Department to see what I could pull together for a potential donation quilt.

 Pondered them overnight, dug out some parts I'd made that I could turn into a few more 12" (finished) blocks, and arrived at this point:

I'm thinking I will build this quilt in a strippy format (vertical columns). These pieced blocks will be the focal columns and I'll use the leftover 6" Chinese Coins strips friends in my local guild made for the four alternate columns. It remains to be seen how well that will work.

I now have blocks for these three columns but still have to decide what to do about sashing them. 

 It will definitely be fabric I already have on hand. I have fabric that's been donated from another quilter's stash I can probably use for a back... but let's not get ahead of ourselves! 

This scrappy link party is hosted by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden with participants all around the globe. Everyone posts in their own time zone on the 15th of each month if/when they have something to share. There will be inspiring projects in an assortment of mediums. 😊

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen, Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Preeti, Edith, Debbierose

And if I don't get back here again before the year is over, I hope all my readers have a safe and happy holiday season! 🎁