Taming a Scrap Bin

I wish I'd taken a "before" picture. You'll just have to trust me when I say this clean empty tub began the day harboring an absolute tangle of a mess of Kaffe Fassett scraps.

 

I had some time over the Labor Day weekend to tackle cleaning it out. I wouldn't normally have bothered, but I want to make that Thimble Quilt with KF scraps, so I needed to face this daunting task.

 

There on the arm of the chair I have stacked the larger pieces of fabrics. I deemed these to be usable, so I won't cut them into thimbles unless I need to. Directly behind the tub is a pile of orphan blocks from previous KF quilts over the years. Someday I will figure out how to use these. The little pile on the right are the few leftover diamonds from Erin's Diamonds which I made earlier this year. I still think I might make another one, so these will remain separated for the time being.

 

Now on to the really small stuff which I sorted on the cutting table.

 

 

I find it very difficult to throw out small pieces of fabric, and this is especially true of KF fabric, as it costs about a dollar per yard more than regular fabric. If I can get a 1" square out of it, I hang onto it!

 

I could explain every little pile or stack, but the picture really explains itself.

 

1. a stack of strips.

2. a stack of large squares.

3. a stack of small squares.

4. a stack of triangles.

5. a stack of "L"-shaped remnants which will be cut into strips.

6. a stack of thimble blocks (on top of the 2-row thimble project I started months ago, on the right).

7. and in the center, the pieces I plan to cut into more thimble blocks.

8. at the top center of the picture are the remnants of Erin's Diamonds, which are too big to throw out, but as yet, I can't think of a way to utilize them.

 

So, the Thimble Quilt is my focus when I have bits of time this week. It is one of the items I listed on my Ten Things This Summer list. Technically, summer isn't over until September 21st, so I will at least make progress.

 

I know there are some things I put on that list which are not likely to happen. I will address those when autumn begins.

 

I am off to cut thimble blocks!

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 



 

More Thimbles

I did more thimbles yesterday with my new Crumbler ruler. Very fun; very easy. I have a list I want to tackle today, so I will just leave you with a couple of pictures of the fun.

 

 

It's a simple construction, and I can see myself doing more. These are the 5" thimbles; I really would like to do more of the 3.5" thimbles that I showed in the previous post.

 

 

This is a closer view. I have not worked hard at all to get the intersections to match; that's what I mean about its being a simple, easy construction.

 

The list awaits!

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

A New Toy

It's not often that I succumb to the latest gadget or tool on the market. I figure I have enough to keep me busy without adding any new stuff to the mix.

That said, I had this lovely pile of Kaffe leftovers from a quilt I made a couple of months ago - Erin's Diamonds. And because the quilt was made of diamonds, the scraps were perfectly suited to make a Thimble Quilt.

This brings me to the tool. It's called The Crumbler, and it's a product of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.

I tried it out this afternoon, and I like it! I think I will make these trial blocks and rows into something.

The top row is 5" wide. The bottom row is 3.5" wide. The directions are very clear about how to stitch them so that a straight line is achieved.

I attached a couple of rows of the 5" thimbles. Looks pretty good! It was as easy as can be. It will be fun to continue using up that stack of scraps. I do think I would like the shorter thimbles better, but there would be so much waste - and I hate the idea of wasting even an inch of KF fabrics!

See what I mean? That's the waste from a 5" thimble; you can see what additional waste there'd be if I cut all these at 3.5". So we shall have 5" thimbles.

I don't know if this project will be my main focus of the next few days or not. I find myself in between things at the moment, so I need to make a decision. This will do. It may turn into something big, or not.

Happy Quilting, Friends!