Scraps Galore

Enough is enough! Managing all the scraps from the last few years' worth of projects is daunting, for sure. The scraps are not all my own, either, as I've happened upon boxes of fabric from both my grandmother and aunt. These are precious to me, so I will make myself use these somehow.

The sheer volume of scraps, though, becomes overwhelming. It's gotten to the point that I MUST sit down at the sewing machine and actually MAKE something! Simply making blocks feels like I'm accomplishing something. All creations shown below will eventually be to be turned into a finish; consider these  building blocks.

From a lovely pile of Kaffe Fassett scraps all measuring 2.5 inches, I made two blocks that might eventually make their way into a quilt. It would be wonderful to see an entire quilt of these diagonal bits across the top of a bed. 

Other fabrics besides KF an accomplish a similar effect. The scrap tubs are full of more traditional fabrics, and this block appeals to me, as well.

I've also tried sewing little tiny bits together to make a length of fabric. Pictured below are fabrics from a 9-patch quilt I made in 2019; later that year, I made this quilt with the same fabric. After two full quilts, I didn't have much of the Lecien fabric left, but I just couldn't bring myself to toss out all those precious ends. Sewing them together yields this panel measuring roughly 10.5"x15" - the next step remains to be determined. I'm waiting for inspiration to strike. 

The panel above is just fabric sewn together, but one can also sew the fabric bits onto batting. This results in a padded panel that can be used for making a zipper bag or change purse. Here are some samples from my stash. These will surely go into something useful.

Two of these are using scraps of Tilda fabric while the blue one up top is made with Kaffe Fassett scraps. Again, inspiration for the next step awaits. 

When all else fails, my scraps are turned into 4-patches and 9-patches, as these blocks are absolutely about as versatile as it gets. Some of my recent scraps have gone into these pretties. Stored away are hordes of similar blocks made from previous scrap management efforts.

 These began as 2.5" strips sewn together in suitable pairs. I cut them down into 2.5" units, then into 4-patches. Making these 9-patches, below,  also came from the 2.5" strips. The uses for these blocks are endless, and oh, the variety!

I need to stop the scrap management work for a bit, as I should direct my attention to finishing a project for my son-in-law. I have a couple of days coming up which should see a completion on that. I'll be sewing with the Frienzies, and the s-i-l project is going along. Then, who knows...

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne
 

Bits and Pieces

Since I've not focused my energies on any one project in the last 5-6 weeks, I seem to have bits of news on several fronts. It makes perfect sense, then, to catch up on some of those items, then perhaps I will turn my attention to more focused objectives.

First, to update the previous post, I have delivered all the dresses to their respective homes, and have one picture of a granddaughter actually wearing her new dress - Reagan, our 19-month-old middle grandchild, wanted to wear hers straight away. It fits her perfectly and her momma requests more - with one addition. Add two pockets, rather than one. Reagan was totally pumped to put things in her pocket and kept searching her other side for another one. No problem! I can put two pocket on all future dresses!

In other activities around here, I've been continuing efforts at straightening up my sewing/quilting room. I've always had the ability to work in the midst of a fair amount of clutter, however the situation had gotten too far gone for even me and my loose standards. *grin* Finding a surface to iron, to cut, to sew, and sometimes even to sit had gotten near impossible. 

Things are looking a lot better now. Below is the table top where Sharon normally has her machine when we sew. Sadly, it's been many months since I've seen the top of that table. 

Most of that has been dealt with - sorted or finished or trashed. Here's a picture of similar haphazard piles on the floor.

I'd already made progress when I took this picture; the reason I know is because carpet is showing. There was a time when you couldn't see the carpet for the debris spread around. Clockwise in this photo: Grinch Christmas fabric at the top; Ohio State novelty fabric; more Christmas fabric at the 3:00 position; miscellaneous EPP at 8:00; a pillow cover salvaged from a pillow given to us as a wedding present (1979!); a pile of batiks at 11:00. In the center is a tub of floral scraps; from these remnants, I'm making random blocks hoping for inspiration as I stitch. All in this photo now has been put away in designated, well-labeled tubs. 

I had sevearal items that simply needed very minimal attention to have them completed and out of my way. I focused heavily on those as I worked through the clutter. It has been quite successful, thankfully, and the weight of it all feels lighter. I like knowing that I've seen the last of these and now can more eagerly look forward to new projects.

This table in my front room had gone without decor all winter. I found a stack of HSTs in the sewing scraps, and rather than hide them away in a drawer or bag, I went straight to the machine and stitched them together to make this wonderful little table topper. 

The HSTs were leftovers from Cotton Ridge Farm, which I made last summer. I knew I'd made extra for the double sawtooth borders; this table topper is a perfect way to use up the excess.  

One really easy item to check off my list was to find a piece of yardage from my bin of red fabrics that would be suitable for a slip cover on my front porch wicker bench. Since our shutters and front door are deep red/burgandy, I've always used rugs and pillows in the same colorway; I needed a slip cover to add to the look and I think this works nicely. 

Lord only knows how long I've had this fabric or what I planned for using it. The selvage says its Hyde Park by Jo Gregg/Northcott. I'd say it's very well aged.

I altered a pair of shorts for DH (no picture for that!), and I replaced a hatband on this thrift store find from Florida.  

I had a stack of some long-forgotten project bits that I seemed unable to toss. I made myself sit down and figure out what I was doing, and came up with this little fabric tray.

I will finish the other 7 and have a nice little gift for participants at our next retreat. I'm glad I had the mindset to keep them and not throw them away.

I know this will be hard to believe, but I also uncovered some long forgotten (and deeply buried) projects like the embroidery above. I have no idea why I stopped working on it; I located the book straight away and have taken some stitches on it. I hope I can regain my steam and finish it.

If I can make myself stay at it, I will have a nice addition to my autumn decor. Stay tuned for updates as I progress on that journey.

Finally, I will show you one box of scrap management. I've not done this in quite awhile, so I have a couple more boxes waiting to be done. Because space was so limited in the quilting room, I brought this downstairs to the kitchen island to be cut into my standard working bits - squares and strips in 3 sizes: 1.5 inches, 2 inches, and 2.5 inches. If there were any larger pieces available, I cut 15" X 5" - the size for the little card wallets I've been making. I enjoy making them and using scraps is perfect.

That completes the summing up of my sewing-related endeavors in the past few weeks. It's not all been drudgery of sorting and straightening. We've interspersed some fun visits with friends and little trips here and there. We've got a flooring project underway here at the homestead, so we're jumping on carpet removal today. (ugh)  

I hope all you moms had a wonderful Mother's Day! I spent time with my sweet momma yesterday afternoon, and either spoke with or had texts with all three of my children. We saw both daughters on Saturday, so my cup runneth over, indeed.

Have a wonderful week, and 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

Having Fun With Kaffe Scraps

Yesterday I worked for a time on some secret Christmas sewing. Since I cannot show that just yet, I will show you what I worked on after the secret stuff.

Initially, I was simply attempting to tidy up around my sewing machine and work table. Believe it or not, I'd allowed little stacks of things to clutter up the space. I know! Hard to believe, right?? (ha!) I thought maybe I'd try being proactive for a change. Deal with the little bits before it all became massive, overwhelming, unmanageable bits. 

I certainly did not have any plan whatsoever to actually sew any of it. Honest.

One of the bits needing put away was a small stack of 2.5-inch Kaffe Fassett scraps - maybe a dozen or so squares. I would add these to the larger collection of 2.5-inch squares. Even after all the sewing I did last winter in Florida, I still have a large tub of 2.5-inch scraps, within which all the KF fabrics are separated and grouped. 

Rather than put the little stack away, I instead pulled those KF scraps and began making 4-patch blocks. I ended up having a lot more KF squares than I expected. I did not need a plan; just make 4-patches. This was such an impromptu decision, I cannot even explain what brought it on. Maybe I just felt like seeing what I could make out of these gorgeous scraps.

You know, those tubs of carefully organized scraps are set aside for "someday" sewing. Perhaps I just had an incredible urge to have yesterday afternoon be that "someday."

Whatever it was, it was great.

I had such a grand time mindlessly creating 4-patch blocks out of these scraps. It was about as much fun as one could have in the sewing room. Makes working so hard to save, cut, separate, and organize all those scraps worth the time and effort.

I have only just begun whittling down this pile of KF squares. I will make as many as I can from what you see here, and then stash them until inspiration tells me what comes next. I have a couple of different ideas, and since this was such fun, I do think I will be returning to them ASAP.

Hope you are having fun in your sewing room. I highly recommend it!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Tiny Nine-Patch Update

You better believe I am glad as can be that I spent those winter months turning my massive collection of 1.5-inch scraps into 9-patches! When I began, I had absolutely no idea how I would end up using them, but I trusted the process. I was confident that eventually some form of inspiration would come. Here is a link to one of my earliest posts - very near the beginning of it all - which alludes to the inspiration I found.

Just look at what that inspiration did for me! Yay! My completed quilt top looks amazing!

Within weeks after beginning the scrap management and the making of 9-patches, I discovered an Instagram account that was hosting a Tiny Nine Patch Challenge. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I immediately had a goal in mind for my scrappy 9-patch efforts, and the sewing became all the more focused.

The last time I posted about this quilt, I had not added borders. I've always been open to border possibilities, and willing to 'go with the flow' so to speak. Perhaps because I have basically run out of 1.5" squares, I am stopping here.  The inner border of 4-patches surrounded by an outer border of background fabric looks very much "complete" to me.

I love looking at the variety of fabrics contained within this quilt. Near and dear to my heart, the blouse fabric from my wedding rehearsal dinner and my job interview with CHS is in the block with the 4 purple floral corners and tan center, with light lavender background. It may be the last time I use that fabric in a quilt.

The quilt is chock-full of special and/or sentimental fabrics. The pink and diagonal plaid block sorta' centered in the photo above are fabrics from my mother's stash and my friend Kay's stash. The green block just under it and to the left is an example of how I did 'almost matches' as I neared the bottom of the tub. I was having to force combinations there at the end.

This blue block is another example of forcing fabrics to work together. It was easy to let go of rigid matching standards when I reminded myself that this was a scrap quilt and I was to make it work the way our great grannies would have.

Back in March, when I was down to the odds and ends of the 1.5-inch squares, I switched from 9-patches to 4-patches. Here's a pic of the little assembly line set-up I had in Florida.

Those 4-patches came in so handy for creating the inner border. I just can't believe how wonderfully this entire project has worked out! Trusting the process really does work out, at least for this quilt that has been the case. *smiles*

My next step is to load it onto the long arm and get it quilted. Up top there, I have it laid out across our new king-sized bed, and look at that glorious overhang. I wanted it to be big enough to use on this bed, a goal I have definitely achieved. 

Added later: I've linked this post to Oh Scrap! Since I make so many quilts using my scraps, I ought to get in the habit of doing this more often. Cynthia's blog is called Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework. Yes, I agree! *wink*

And those pics up top also give you a little preview of how our master bedroom is coming together. I need to adorn the walls, add some furniture, rearrange some things. This room is nearly complete; the rest of the upstairs, however, is still in quite a state of flux. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Welcome Summer!

Officially summer arrived Thursday. Now it's Saturday, and I wouldn't want to do anything in a timely manner, now would I? Close is good enough for me.

Yesterday, the first full day of summer, was a scorcher and I found myself immersed in a range of activities, some of which occurred in the quilting room, but most did not. It wasn't until late afternoon that I made my way to the sewing machine to stitch on a hugely satisfying project. More on that in a bit.

First, let me mention one thing that made the first day of summer special this year - the incredible full moon. Did you see it last night? It’s called the Strawberry Moon in folk lore probably because of strawberry harvesting time. Here in southern Ohio we are well past strawberry harvest, but the moon was the exact color of a strawberry, especially just as it was rising above the horizon. We took a walk late in the day to avoid the heat  -  yeah, I dragged myself away from the sewing machine -  and in the twilight the moon was a breathtaking sight.

 

Now back to the stitching. Below is an old photo from March when I was working madly to turn scraps into blocks. This represents just a few of the gazillion 9-patches and 4-patches I made while snow birding.

I show you this because last evening was spent working on turning the 9-patches into a quilt top. I’m super-excited about this one! I bought several yards of discounted fabric from Quilted Twins specifically for the setting blocks in this quilt. I'm loving how it looks! In fact, I am so stoked to work on this quilt that I had to force myself to stop sewing and go to bed. (This is the equivalent of a reader saying 'just one more page' or 'one more chapter;' I was saying 'just one more seam' and 'one more row.')

And here’s a tease for the goodness to come - a couple of 9-patches sewn to setting blocks. Stay tuned! I promise, it's as gorgeous as can be.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

The Last Snowbird Stitching

Apparently, I took way more projects to Florida than I could ever possibly accomplish. Really, though, I had no idea how to gauge it. I felt it would be better to have too much than not enough, and with that in mind, I totally overdid things! There were tubs that I never once opened, and projects that I never once touched. I definitely didn’t shirk sewing time, either. Going into this 3-month Florida stay, knowing how much time I'd have for sewing was a total unknown. 

This picture shows 4-patch blocks laid out across the dining table in stacks of 20 (except that bottom yellow and blue stack which has 4). Tally that all up and you get 624 blocks. 

And guess what? I made a couple hundred more after this photo was taken. At vacation's end, I figure I was in the range of 800 4-patch blocks. All from the 2.5-inch scraps. 

And what's more??? I haven' finished them all yet! There is no doubt I will have in the thousands when (if!) I get them all stitched up.

In non-sewing news, I wanted to share this darling picture of a certain granddaughter who was none too interested in snuggling up with the Easter Bunny. She was keeping a safe distance, for sure.

Back to sewing - I am going to take some of the 2.5-inch scraps with me to retreat, just in case the other projects make up faster than I expect. I have 2 projects cut out and ready to begin on Monday morning, so we shall see what sort of success I have working on real projects and not scraps.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

A Closer Look At The Process

Never have I devoted such a huge amount of time to sewing nothing but scraps. I had no idea it would be as time consuming as it has been. 

Now don't get me wrong. I am glad that I've done this. I took lots of time over the past 5 years or so trimming and prepping all these scraps, so putting myself to the task of turning the scraps into something useful was always going to be the necessary next step. Using the 3 snowbird months to focus on this was a really good idea. Besides making a few curtains, a pillow cover and two slipcovers, I have only stitched scraps into 9-patches and 4-patches.

 My 2.5-inch scraps contained an impressive mountain of strips. I dumped them all out onto the guest bed and removed all the Kaffe Fassett strips. I will use those all together - maybe with some solids. That's all yet to be determined.

With the remaining strips, I paired them in pleasing combinations and began chaining. 

And chaining. 

Miles and miles of chaining. 

The collection of long strips you see above is a mere fraction of what I have waiting to be subcut into 2.5-inch units. I did cut a lot of them, but have many, many more to do once I get home. I made it my goal to sew as many of the strips as possible, attempting to pair ALL of them. That did not happen, but I did lots, and it feels as though I made a significant dent in them. For the ones I did subcut, I now have quite a nice-size collection of 4-patch blocks that will serve me well when I decide what quilt - or quilts! - these will become.

 

The photo above shows the subcut units. I stack these near the iron and press them to finish.

I had an equally hefty tub of 2.5-inch squares. Mostly, the squares are singletons or perhaps just a few squares of the same fabric. Not entirely, though, so I sorted out the squares with lots of repeats. My thinking was that if I could make 15-20 blocks that were all the same, then I could create a quilt with the "organized" scrappiness that I frequently prefer. I also sorted out neutral fabrics. I learned with the 1.5-inch scraps I used in January, that sorting saves time. I still know that to be true, and will continue sorting when I get to the 2-inch scraps which I will eventually get to.

With all this scrap stitching, I did create a few routines into the process. For example, I always pressed to the dark on the side seams, and pressed open on the final center seam. I made all my squares have the darker fabric in the upper left and lower right. And, I rarely lifted my presser foot. I employed the Bonnie Hunter method of "leaders and enders" so as to waste as little thread as possible. (Google Bonnie Hunter or 'leaders and enders' - you'll definitely learn, if you're unfamiliar.)

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Scrappy 4-Patches

Whenever I find a few minutes to sew, I’m working my way through the vast, seemingly bottomless tub of 2.5-inch strips and squares.

Over the past 4-5 years, I've made a concerted effort to "manage" the excess of leftover fabrics from old projects. The best management method I have found has been to cut remnants into typical or standard-sized parts for quilts. The 2.5-inch square and strip are about as standard as it gets in quilt making; consequently I have loads of fabrics cut in these sizes.

Above and below is a tub of completed 4-patches. These were all made with strips that I sewed together and then subcut into 2.5-inch units that I then sewed together for the 4-patch. As a result, I have stacks of 4-patches with the same 2 fabrics which will be very nice for a "controlled scrappy" quilt.

I have some very bright combinations as well as many subdued combinations. I can see some children's/baby quilts for the bright 4-patches; I can see a more traditional scrappy quilts using the darker reproduction fabrics.

Behind my machine is a big pile-up of strip sets. I pair up two fabrics and chain-sew them together one after another. When I get in the mood to subcut them, I stop chaining, and move on to cutting and pressing.

I have plenty of subcuts ready to press and also ready to sew. It seems that whatever I'm in the mood for, I have a stack of that waiting for me. I've got all the bases covered.

Sew long strips? ✅ Cut subunits? ✅ Press subunits? ✅ Sew subunits? ✅ Press finished 4-patch? ✅

I am surely going to be glad to get home to begin sewing on something other than scraps. While this has been a suitable endeavor for me while snowbirding in Florida, it definitely lacks variety. Gratefully, we have been busy doing all the 'fun-and-sun' activities, so dull sewing hasn't been anywhere near burdensome. And, face it -- I will be so glad to have actually made an effort at using these bazillions of bits salvaged from the scraps and remnants from 40+ years of sewing.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne