Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Scrappy Tulips From the Scrap Bin & More Happy Mail For Mom

Well, I had to change the angle of the side pieces on my tulips to make the next three flowers work for me. Those side pieces were requiring scraps that were waaay too long to be finding even in my  overflowing scrap bins.
The first 4 Scrappy Tulips
I'm not going to actually sew the tulips together until I get all the individual units sewn. The thing is, I've been moving the pieces around and changing things up as I make each new unit, trying to pretty it all up. Hopefully I can make the most out of my scraps to make {strong looking} scrappy tulips without looking like I'm taking the fussing to a whole new level of insane. Perfect scrap attack quilts would be just be boring!
Getting my papers cut out and ready to go
For now I'm planning on making 16 tulips in all, string piecing with my foundation papers as I go. I prefer to work without the paper, but I'm afraid I'll have too much stretch with these shapes. Whether or not I put 4 tulips in a single block like the original pattern remains to be seen. And of course, if I don't have enough scraps in the right colors--things could could interesting on that front too. For now, I'm just enjoying playing with my scraps again. They really need to be taken down a notch or two and quit trying to intimidate me from over there in that corner.
The scrap monster over in the corner
I've tried different methods over the years to control the monster scrap problem, giving away {it kills me}, throwing others away {cut off my arm now}, cutting and sorting into precise strips widths {what a colossal waste of time-- will never have the right one anyway}, sorting by color etc. etc. Nothing really works for me except for a simple method of pre-sorting specific color ranges into smaller totes for an individual project. I have to say 'ranges' because maybe I want to work with cherry red this time instead of tomato red? And I always push the color clear into another area anyway, such as throwing a few purples in with my browns. Or whatever. Basically I've found this smaller-tote-system to be my personal way of controlling the chaos prior to diving into a scrap quilt. It gives me the necessary order and boundaries {I need} to make it possible to just grab and sew. No agonizing, time-sucking color decisions to make during the actual making.

After I'm done with said project, the scraps either stay in the small totes till the next time, or I just dump the leftovers right back on top of the big cascading pile. I've made about five scrap attack quilts with this particular method so I hereby declare it to be SUCCESSFUL! Honestly, if they all turned out like the current quilt in the hoop, I'd give up my regular methods of quilting altogether and just go play with my scraps full time.*wink
A little bit of scrappy goodness
And for those of you who were wondering? 'Cuz I know you are. My mom is still getting an envelope and/or package in the mail. Every. Single. Day! Pretty cool huh? Quilters everywhere are just so incredibly generous!
Still getting some Happy Mail Delivered!
This latest bunch (16 in all) is from Alabama, Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, several from Georgia and California plus these countries as well: Saskatchewan Canada, BC Canada and a handful all the way from Australia. Seriously! Postage from out of the country isn't cheap! One of these boxes is from a few ladies in a guild. A little special something for a fellow quilter in need. All along there have been many notes that expressed sympathy and experience with dealing with the aftermath of a fire, whether from personal experience or by way of family, friends and neighbors. So very touching.

A happy story: That funky chicken fabric (you know who you are!) was extra special sweet because my mom is a chicken farmer at heart. Yes really! She's been raising her crazy chickens since before I was born. Anyway, the day after the fire, the grandkids managed to catch the very few chickens that survived and fix up a place to put them. Within one week, my mom had collected 8 hardy chickens, some half dead from dehydration, that she could tend to and fuss over to her hearts content. She actually hauled water in from another town until the water situation was fixed! Would you believe that those tough little hens have been keeping her well stocked in eggs ever since!True survivors to be getting right back to business like that. lol

I'm linking this post with Scraptastic Tuesday over at She Can Quilt. Maybe I'll stay motivated to clear out my scrap bins a little?


33 comments:

  1. Cool story about the chickens! :0)

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  2. What a great chicken story! Love, love the tulips so far!

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  3. Your tulips are so nice, they are going to make a great quilt!

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  4. Interesting read about your scrap situation. You have way more scraps than I do and I have quite a few. It does not bother me too much to give some of them away when things really get out of control. Right now, I have a basket with plaids in them. The rest are sorted by color and in plastic bags in a couple baskets. Since, I do so much applique nowadays, the scraps are used for that but it only takes small pieces out of a hunk. I could never just cut strips of varying widths. Not my style.

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  5. Tulips are looking good. I ordered the book from amazon; got it for $4 with shipping. I love chickens but live in the city now and can't raise them. They are like pets that earn their keep. I sure miss those fresh eggs. You sure have me beat on the scraps. I would be making scrap quilts 100% of the time for a while if I had that many. I have only been quilting a year so I guess it will take time to build my scrap pile.

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  6. I love your tulips! It's fun to see your mum is still getting parcels. Such a fun chicken story.

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  7. Love your tulips. I wonder what colour background you will use. Such a happy story about your mum's stash rebuild.

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  8. Your tulips look great. It is so fun to see how people sort their scraps. I do have mine by size and I do use them not sure I want to keep them forever like this. I was hoping to sew them all up but that will never happen! Love the chicken story too!

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  9. That’s quite an impressive scrap corner Audrey. (and I thought I had a lot of scraps!) I sort mine by colour and stuff them in plastic bags so they cant breed. It seems to work .

    Quilters are a great bunch of people arent they?

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  10. I love your tulips - I am so wanting to make some! Sorry to read about your poor mum and how brilliant that she has the chickens and all the lovely mail! Thanks for joining up to Scraptastic Tuesday

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  11. I can tell now from your paper foundations the size of your tulips. They are big and beautiful. Love hearing your scrap tales and, of course, the update on your mom's fabric collection.

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  12. I had to read back in your blog to understand the story behind all the packages for your mom. That was a brilliant move on your part, and how wonderful that the quilters have responded. I love your tulips and you approach to the scraps. Thank you for sharing all of it on Scraptastic Tuesday.

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  13. Everyone has a system for their scraps and I enjoyed reading about yours. I thought I had a lot!! Glad to hear your Mom is still getting mail.......and what a wonderful story about the chickens!!

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  14. love your scraps story ! hey working from the scrap basket is just fun sometimes, guess you need to catch the little quilt bug! your tulips look great, I happen to have an antique quilt like this and have been wanting to reproduce it for awhile, you may have just sparked me to get going on that, but first I need to refill my scrap basket :)
    loved the chicken story, warms my heart so many are still sending packages when Mom is ready she will be able to start quilting again
    Kathie

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  15. the scrap monster can not be tamed!! I love your tulip patter papers. are they newspapers or phone books?
    what is the source of the pattern?
    so happy your mom found her chicks and has gotten so much fabric!!

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  16. When you work out a good way to tame scraps, will you tell me? And preferably come and organise mine too. LOL. I used to just cut them up into squares and strips and sort them by size (works reasonably well because I often need a bunch of say 3" squares.) Then I started on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and they have a colour per month, so the previous system didn't work too well. So now I have been sorting my colour. But that hasn't worked too well because I still need to just grab a bunch of 3" squares, and never mind the colours!! And I haven't mentioned the humungous tote of scraps which are waiting to be chopped and sorted. Oh well. It'll keep me occupied til I'm 6 foot under I guess. LOL

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  17. Audrey this is my first visit to your blog and enjoyed your blog. I added myself as a GFC follower. Stop by: myplvl.blogspot.com Val:)

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  18. great post...hugs again to mom for her love of chickens...

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  19. Love your Scrap Attack Tulips!!! And thanks for sharing some of your methods for storing and using your scraps :) So glad your mom is being blessed by the quilting community - that's just what quilters do, right? At least, that's been my experience. Enjoyed rambling around on your blog this morning and seeing all your pretty projects in progress :)

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  20. I've long admired that scrappy strippy tulip block. I divide my scraps like you although I'm overdo to organize them.
    Funny story about your mom and the chickens!!

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  21. Like you, I've tried so many methods for taming/organizing those scraps, and they can be intimidating. Your method of putting like colours into individual totes sounds like a great way to deal with them. I'm certainly going to give it a try. Your tulip blocks are looking lovely and will be gorgeous when made up.

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  22. Love how your string tulips are coming along. I currently have my strings separated by light and dark but maybe I need to try your way. You certainly are successful with it.
    Fun to hear about your mom's chickens. Not surprised she is still getting goodies!

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  23. Loved these tulips so much and being a scrap hoarder --bags--bins--bags--and did I say bins--?? I had to order the book. hugs, Julierose

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  24. Oh, what a sweet chicken story :-)
    Love your scrap bins and the tulip project.

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  25. So glad that the chicken fabric I sent hit the spot with your Mum. I had picked out something else to send her, but then I saw the chicken fabric sitting in my stash, and it always makes me smile when I see those chickens....so I thought it may give your Mum a laugh too. Good to hear that your Mum has helped those chickens recover so well!

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  26. Thanks for sharing your scrap system. It's always so good to hear how other deal with all the scraps. Mine are out of control again, and I'm resisting starting another scrap quilt. I have others I want to do first! I've not tried sorting by color yet, and I think I need to do that. I'm a little tired of the "kitchen sink" approach lately.
    Loved your Mom's chicken story! So glad she found some of her hens and that they're laying for her again. Yay Mom!

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  27. Loving your tulips! This quilt is another on my to-do list!

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  28. I love these tulips! I can already tell that this one is going to be really good. Onwards!

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  29. Those tulips will be gorgeous! Love tulips, love scrappy tulips and the shape you are using is fun! Great chicken story too!

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  30. Love the tulips. Hope to see the finished quilt or the top at least. Good luck getting a handle on your scraps. They do tend to take over.

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  31. Perhaps a bit of spray starch on the tulip pieces. I find that if I heavily starch my string squares the paper is easier to remove. However, starch does make fabric shrink. Best of luck.

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