When Will the Scraps End???!!

June 16, 2021 Lazy Saturday Quilts1 Comment

My frustration level is high. Let me tell you why.

I have scraps. So, so many scraps. I’ve been diligently (maybe not as diligently as I’d like) working my way through the mounds and mounds of scraps.

And guess what?

The piles aren’t getting any smaller. The pieces are, but the piles? Not so much.

How is this possible? And will I ever be rid of them, or will they just continue to multiply like rabbits no matter how many projects I use them in?

Allow me to present Scrap Quilt #2:

I finished this quilt top over the weekend when I, amazingly, had several hours to spend in the sewing room. Summers are more for hiking and outside projects than for sewing for me, so I haven’t had much chance to work on any quilts over the last few weeks. This one had been sitting there just needing to have the last block finished, so I put aside the other quilt I’ve been working on to get this one finished.

I’m using everything in these scrap quilts. Unused blocks, little scraps, long scraps, thin scraps, thick scraps, a leftover pieced strip from the second quilt I made way back in 1999. Each block is 16×20, making a finished quilt size of 46.5″x58.5.” It finishes at a nice lap quilt size. For those of us who are vertically challenged, we can easily cover from our toes to our nose with this size.

I will probably hold off on quilting this one until fall or winter. I’m not a fan of having a pile of fabric and batting in my lap on warm summer days, though the last few days have had me pulling out the long underwear and long-sleeve jammie shirts in the evenings. (I’m not complaining. It is a welcome change from the almost 90 degree days we were seeing just last week.)

Quilting · Quilts · sewing

Triangle Madness

June 19, 2020 Lazy Saturday QuiltsLeave a comment

I saw the idea several years ago on the Crazy Mom Quilts blog. Little did I know it would take 558 triangles and a REALLY long time to make a lap-size quilt. (The “really long time” was totally my fault. I get bored working on the same project and doing the same thing over and over again, so I had to put the project aside many, many times.)

To do this project, I drew up an equilateral triangle pattern and made a whole lot of copies. Then, I sewed scraps down onto the the paper foundation. For quilting, I meandered all over using a variegated thread.

One would think that I would have made an incredible dent in the number of scraps in my “collection” while making this quilt. One would be WRONG!

Where in the world are all of the scraps coming from? I have so many even though I’ve been mainly making scrap projects since the beginning of the year.

I think I’ve determined the problem. As I sew a large scrap down and then trim to size, I am creating even more scraps…just smaller ones.

SIGH!

I truly love how this quilt turned out. There were some frustrating moments…such as peeling all of the paper foundation away and when I accidentally quilted a crease into the backing which resulted in much quilting being picked out and more pinning being done. (Lesson learned: Pin way more than you want to!) Despite the frustrations, it is a beautiful reminder of all of the pretty fabrics I’ve used in so many other projects.

Quilting · Quilts · sewing · Uncategorized

Another Scrappy Pillow

April 17, 2020 Lazy Saturday QuiltsLeave a comment

I took a brief break from the three more time-consuming scrap projects I was working on to start yet another scrap project that I knew I could finish quickly.

This pillow was made from scraps from a larger project. There were so many scraps that I’ve been able to complete two pillows and two table runners. There are still scraps left! I may make a third pillow. Why not?!

I’ll admit, I wasn’t all that fond of the pillow top when I got the squares sewn together. I looked at the green, and I was like, “Blah.” How could those fabrics play so nicely together on the large quilt I made but not on this little pillow?

But, I let it sit overnight, hoping I was just in a mood (they are many right now) and would like it in the morning.

Nope. Still hated it in the morning.

I thought about picking it all out and using something other than the green, but that would be soooooo much work.

Then inspiration struck as I looked at the dandelions on the green fabric.

For a while I’ve wanted to do an embroidery project using dandelions. Why not incorporate that here?

So, I did. I looked at pictures of dandelion embroidery on Pinterest (and, strangely, dandelion tattoo images, because tattoo images are great embroidery patterns) and went from there. The only things I drew on the fabric before I started embroidering were the stems so I would know where I wanted them to go. I added tiny gold beads to the tips of the whatever-those-things-are-called that you blow off the dandelion…the “fluffs?” I also added the word “Wish” on the bottom.