Scrap basket busting

Look at my somewhat empty scrapbasket!

At the start of today's sewing, it was getting fairly full, so I decided it was time to tackle it. I knew I could make serious dents without actually making anything with the scraps, so I started by tipping it out

(this is actually only about 2/3 of it - I forgot to take a photo before this point!) and sorting it out...

How did I mange to reduce the amount so much? Well, I removed a pile of pieces that were actually already pieced - these are now sitting next to my sewing machine to be sewn together and cut into 4.5" blocks next time I have some sewing time.

I took all the strips out and put them in the strip basket:

I took the larger scraps (there were many - everything below the white was already in this basket) and put them in the larger scrap basket:

I took the medium sized scraps and put them into the little colour coded drawers (the Winnie the Pooh ones) I showed the other day. There were quite a few of this size scrap...

And yes, some went into the bin. Only quite little ones, though...

And finally, there's the breakfast cereal box effect ("contents settle during shipping") - by taking them out and putting them into pile and laying them neatly in the basket, they take up a lot less space than when they are thrown randomly in during actual sewing...

It was all yellow...

The colour this month for the 2011 Rainbow Scrap Challenge is yellow. Now I like yellow just fine, but frankly, it's not a colour which is in danger of taking over my stash or my scrap collection, so I didn't envisage being able to do an entire project in yellows, even if I wanted to, which I'm not sure I do. Plus, back in May, when the colour was pink, I made a pink and yellow scrappy top, which used some of my yellow scraps...

However, one thing I do have a lot of, still, is blue scraps, and blue and yellow go nicely together, so I decided to take some blue squares and some yellow squares and make QST (quarter-square-triangle) units.

I decided to combine these with some plain squares in yellows and blues and came up with the nice little scrappy top at the top of the post. It's not sewn together into a top yet, just in blocks, so I may play around with the placement a little more to split up some of the similar scraps, but I think it works. And it did get rid of most of my yellow scrap stash. Of course, it hasn't made much of a dent in the blue!

And finally, some yellow string blocks which will in time become string hearts to go with the other colours. Somehow I seemed to end up with 11 of these, which isn't very practical, so I may make one more if I have enough different strips left in yellow...

Layer Cake

Here's another top made up recently from my stash of blocks - I am really getting through the blocks, which is great, although of course it means more tops for the stash of unquilted tops. I don't imagine that I will ever empty that stash completely, but come the autumn, when I will be working a few hours less a week, I hope to make a little dent in it, at least.

Red and white

If I do say so myself, I've been very productive over this half-term holiday - dutifully sewing blocks up into tops to get rid of my stash of blocks, and doing lots of scrap work. Here's one of the sets of blocks, made into a top - these are the blocks I won from the March block lotto - I pondered for a while what I wanted to do with them, but they kept insisting they wanted to be set on point, so in the end, that's what they got. I had to make two more blocks to fill out the setting, but they were right, I think...

This top is now quite big and will have to go in the pile of stuff waiting for me to have enough money to have it longarm quilted. But at least I can tick it off my To Do list.

Cross stitch Wednesday

Told you I'd finish it this week... Now it needs to be pressed and a frame found - not sure where it's going to go, but I will keep it rather than give it as a gift, as the kit was originally given as a gift to me...

Here's where it stood last week:

And now, as they say, for something completely different. I debated quite a bit which project to work on next, as I have one or two standing by (or perhaps a few more than that). Finally, I decided on this one, which is a real departure for me - or at least, for what I've been doing lately. It's a much more traditional piece, with lots of colours closely entwined and yes, a fair amount of backstitching. Because I know I will get a bit bored of it at times, I am going to alternate weeks with the Beach Huts I was working on last summer, which are partly stitched. (Can't find a photo of it in its current state of progress, but will update one in a week or two.)

After a few days of stitching, here's how it looks:

Yes, it's a project which is going to take some time to complete!

A pair of scrappy tops

Well, the blocks to them, at least - they aren't sewn together yet. These two small tops are based on a very simple block - a square made of a rectangle half the size of the square and two squares, each half the size of the rectangle (i.e. two 3" squares + one 3x5.5" rectangle = one 5.5" square - or of course, you can do it any size you like - 4" square, 4x7.5" rectangle; 5.5" square, 5.5x10" rectangle)

I was inspired by the June Block Lotto (but went off on a tangent, of course). I can't talk about the block lotto yet (but it doesn't use this pattern), but you will see tomorrow!

I decided that, to maintain a little control over the scrappy look, I'd keep to a single colour in a given block (though I have used lots of scraps which have other colours beside the dominant one, so it's still scrappy). Thus the blocks are pink, green, blue, etc from a distance - though there is still a lot of variation. It just keeps it under control a little is all.

Here's a closeup of the block unit.

A few more scrap sessions like this, and I'll be able to stop scrapbusting!

Scrap system, revisited

Well, I finally feel I am making a dent in my scraps. In honour of this (and because it better suits the way I work these days) I am scrapping (ha ha) my old system of filing scraps by cutting into squares and saving in sizes, and going with a simpler, colour based method. I will still have a box of strips, of course. And then a basket of larger size scraps, as I mentioned a few days ago, but now the main scraps (other than the basket of yet-to-be-sorted ones) will be by colour - you can see them neatly piled on my sewing table. These range from about 2.5" square to 5" square (though they are not all squares) - 5" square is the largest that will fit in my little storage drawers:

So, anything larger than 5" square will go in the basket of larger scraps:

Which is now barely full at all - it was nearly full a few months ago. Woo hoo! As for the scrap drawers, most of them aren't anywhere near full, except the blue (why is it always blue?) which is nearly up to the top - I can squeeze a few more in, but there will definitely have to be some blue busting in the relatively near future. Also, I imagine when I tackle the scrap basket next (the wicker one) there will be some more scraps for these drawers - only the really small, oddly shaped ones stay in the basket...

There was other work done today as well - there was some progress on putting together another set of blocks, and some more blocks for charity tops made, very instrumental in scrap busting! But all in good time - I'll need things to show later in the week when I have no sewing time...

Red spools string quilt

This one is a finished top now - I like the effect of the way it came out. And it did make a bit of a dent in my string stash, although I still have far too many. It's going down, though! This one will also be off to a friend to become a Project Linus quilt, although I am also making great strides in putting together block sets I own which I might want to keep. That basket of blocks is going to be empty by the end of the year for sure. (Well, except for the string hearts, which are an ongoing project throughout the year)...

Giveaway - revisited

A while back I showed this pile of stuff I was giving away to a new home and asked for interested parties - I've decided to divide it up (with a few other things which have surfaced in the interim) between the six people who left comments - Clare, I will send the 9 patches to you, as discussed; Sophie, I'm sending you a selection of half square triangles in various colourways and sizes. Lynne, Gill, Kathy in Canada and Rachel D - if you email me (katelnorth at yahoo dot com) with your addresses, I will send you a share in what's left - mostly half square triangle units, but some other stuff as well...

I'm also looking for a home for the pattern to this cross-stitch (the finished cross-stitch itself already has a home...) - it was a kit originally, so there are some threads left, which I will throw in (not enough to sew the project again, though), and the pattern - but no canvas, of course. Let me know if interested!

Found Poetry

Another set of ATCs - these were for a "found poetry" swap, in a red/white/black theme. Found poetry, for those not familiar with the concept, is where you take a page or pages of text and use the words on the page to make up a small poem.

It's challenging, but fun.

I had a book about Chinese ways of happiness or something similar, which I found in a charity shop. The words and the backgrounds with the Chinese lettering came from there.

Nevermore!

These were cards made recently for an Edgar Allan Poe themed swap. I happened to have a sheet of transparencies with Poe images and quotes on them, so that made a good starting place...

Cross-stitch update

Nearly done. Of course, the border will take a while, though I'm about a third of the way around I guess. I've the word Contrary to do, a few more bees and butterflies and a couple of other bits and pieces, but it should be done soon - hopefully before next Wednesday's update (Wednesday seems to have turned into my cross-stitch update day by default - not sure why, but there it is...).

Oh My Stars - big block

Only one block this month in the Oh My Stars block of the month, but it's a big one - 18". Be warned, if you are making this block from the PDF instructions - the size for the border strips is wrong! (Should be 2" wide, not 1.5")

Red Snowball blocks

Here's another thing I worked on this weekend - the snowball blocks with the string centres. I haven't put the blocks together yet, but they are all finished (not all shown here, though - my coffee table isn't big enough). They'll make another nice scrappy top, I think.

Another scrappy top...

Here are all the blocks from yesterday sewn into a quilt top - the size is around 39" square - a nice little size. I'm thinking of donating this one to charity - I think it would make a nice lap quilt, perhaps for someone in a wheelchair? Someone I know - can't remember who - works with a group that makes quilts for a senior centre or nursing home, etc. If that's you, let me know!

More scrap blocks

While I was searching for something in my sewing room the other day I came across a scrap of paper on which I had jotted down an idea for making scrap blocks which I got from a friend several years ago. One of those things I had been meaning to do for some time and simply forgot about. Ah ha! thought I - this idea's time has come, and I spent time today making a number of blocks to this pattern (as well as putting the corners on the string snowballs from last week - a task which is still not finished as there are four corners to each block and I am double seaming the larger corners to get HST units with my cut-off corners - the smaller corners are too small to bother). These blocks are very, very simply, particularly if you have a ready-cut stash of 3" squares, which I do - so I decided to give them a go. I am fairly certain that my friend Brenda, who had made a quilt top with this method, got the idea from a book, but I've no idea whatever what book, so if you recognise the pattern, please let me know so I can give credit!

I started with a block of three rows - 3 x 3" squares across the centre with an 8x3" rectangle on either side. I didn't worry too much about lining up the edges perfectly because I knew I'd be trimming a bit later. This was also helpful when I came across a scrap which was only 7 3/4" long - I could still use it.

Then, I stacked several of the blocks together - doesn't really matter how many - I usually did 3 or 4 at a time - and cut diagonally across the central portion. I then moved one of the pieces of the top block to the bottom of the stash and re-sewed the blocks together (i.e. top of block A to bottom of block B, top of B to bottom of C, top of C to bottom of A). When doing this, I off-set the top and bottom so the seams of the central piece didn't have to match. This is my favourite type of quick block - one where seams don't have to match!

And then, I trimmed. I think if you only offset a tiny bit, you could trim the block to 7.5" (it starts at 8" square before you slash it) but I trimmed mine to 7" square so I could offset a little more without worrying about whether the finished block would be big enough. You still don't have much wastage, frankly.

The top photo shows a possible layout for the blocks - it will be a very scrappy quilt, which is fine in this instance, but I could see doing this in a more controlled fashion, perhaps using only two colours for the 8x3" rectangles with unlimited scrappiness in the central part of the block. Another thing for the list, perhaps. It's probably a good thing I don't have a paper version of The List (i.e. all the quilts I would love to someday make) or it would be so long it would be scary!

The evolution of scraps

As those of you who hang out here regularly know, I've been trying to de-stash my scraps this year - and doing a fair job (though I swear those things breed when I'm out of the room) of it. The problem is, unless I do only things which are entirely scrap-based, new scraps pop up all the time. I was thinking about this recently, while making some scrap-based blocks - how things move from one stage of the scrap system (because I do have a system of sorts) and on to another...

Here's where my biggest scraps are. If something is bigger than this, I don't consider it a scrap, I just put it away in my "small pieces of fabric" section, which is a series of Ikea CD file boxes, with fabrics sorted mostly by colour (or sometimes other criteria, like Civil War Repros or Stripes or Taupes) - those pieces are mostly 10x10" or larger. If something is smaller than that, but still good sized, it goes in this basket. I used to cut things into squares - 3", 3.5", 4" and so on, up to 5" (anything smaller going in the scrap basket) - but I am not doing that any more as I am trying to get rid of those squares, so the scraps just go in this basket. So, these scraps are in a variety of sizes, but nothing smaller than about 3x3 and nothing larger than about 10x10 - although sometimes I put pieces that are really awkward shapes in here, too. I don't get out the ruler, though, I just approximate.

So, on this occasion, I was looking for larger scraps - 8x3" or bigger as I needed 8x3" rectangles. I grabbed this piece, which fit that criteria, and cut it to get my 8x3" rectangle.

There it is, at the bottom left of the page. That left me with a long strip and a small cut off - the strip then went into my strip box (which is why that collection doesn't go away despite doing loads of string blocks this year!) and the small piece goes in the scrap basket.

The whole thing is a kind of trickle-down effect, and I suppose that eventually, provided that I stopped buying new fabric, I would run out of larger scraps, which in turn would mean I'd run out of smaller scraps. I don't see it happening, though - it would mean not buying new fabric!

That's ok, though, as the point isn't really to get rid of all my scraps - it's more to be sure to consistently do projects with scraps so that the number of scraps in my house at any one time is small and sensible, rather than overwhelming. This year I am making a particular push on scraps because it had got to the silly and overwhelming stage. Hopefully, by the end of the year, there will be far fewer scraps and they will be contained and organised a bit better so they are useful rather than annoying.

Oh, and I am not fanatical about saving scraps - some things do go in the bin - but they are fairly small, as you can see by the ruler (only there to give a size-guideline). I guess about the smallest thing I save is 1.5x2 or so - smaller than that, I can't be bothered (I do sometimes save little bits for school, but I just gave them a load, so I probably won't do that for a while).