A New Little Scrappy Project

I have not been doing any quilting until other {more important} things get done. Each. Day. Ughhh... I do so hate it when duty calls and I have guilted myself into being responsible. The other day, being in a weird mood and all, I started digging through my little totes of orphan blocks. That and those random, leftover scraps from previous quilt projects that never seem quite hopeless enough to throw away. 

Challenging myself to put these scrappy bits together!

When I stumbled across the little Red Riding Hood fat eighths, my heart just sort of kicked up a notch. Oh yeah, time to do something with these because I am never in the mood to work with conversation prints. Gotta strike while the iron is hot!

Getting in the groove....

It wasn't long before there was something positive clicking into place--a lovely little late afternoon of playing. I made one little four-patch circle just to 'see' if it looked as reasonable in the light of day as it was looking in head and yes! Green light for this newly-conjured-up scrappy project!

Starting the initial work!

I finally found the time yesterday and today to cut out the extra I needed and wallah! My circles are now ready for some applique stitches. {Did I not mention the applique starting to stack up around here?} After I get the little four-patch circles stitched on, then I intend to stitch the larger circles onto some light green background blocks. Most of those fabrics are years old and it's so very much fun to find a good place for them to shine.  I just love projects like these, don't you? They make me feel frugal, creative, and just plain ol' happy. And as a side note, these sorts of projects need to be jumped into as soon as possible, no matter what's piling up around you. If you wait until there is a perfect plan? Well, there never will be. That's just fact.

Ready to hand stitch the binding...

As you can see, I am also at the point where the binding can be hand stitched onto the pinwheel quilt. My cousin is going to miss me bringing this up to her house to work on--it's so colorful, but I can always dig up another quilt to work on while I'm there. There's not an enormous amount of hand quilting in this quilt, but hopefully just enough to make it look special. I just can't bring myself to want to spend a million hours on this particular quilt!

Time to link up to Scraptastic Tuesday!

Some Choices Are Not Politically Correct

The 'Floating 4-patch' quilt is now done.  Finished and over with except for the label which doesn't really count.  Who cares about those?  I still need to come up with a better name for this quilt, but the problem is that if I haven't named it by this point in the process, it's almost pointless.  Aren't quilts supposed to almost name themselves?

It always feels good to have another finish!

I used a candy apple stripey pink fabric for the binding, which I think sets it off admirably.  I'll tell you that I'm still looking at this quilt and wondering about all of my choices along the way.  Yes, I frequently use reds, pinks, blues, browns, yellows etc. in the same quilt, but my sashing fabric is still a surprise.  Not my usual thing at all.  Honestly, I think the deciding factor was that I had a lot of it on hand as I had bought it previously for a backing fabric.  Turns out, when I was auditioning my blocks for the perfect sashing fabric, I LIKED what I was seeing and made an impulse decision to just go for it.

Sometimes I just want to admire a quilt forever....

Okay, here's where I admit that the sashing fabric is from, shhhhh..... Walmart.  (Whoa, there went all my followers in a big hurry.*wink)  I don't usually buy fabric from Walmart, like hardly EVER EVER, but this one particular fabric felt good, looked good and sheesh, I was buying it for the back of the quilt, not the front.  Hey, I'm a obsessed quilter, quilting on a big bad budget.  You do what you gotta do and worry about the politics of it all later.....

Go ahead, get a good look at the quilting.....

I'm still charmed by the old fashioned goodness in this quilt that I somehow managed to mix up with some modern looking folk stuff.  Isn't that the one of the best parts of quilting?  Trying to bring yesterday's art into today's reality?

Border Work on Pieceable Souls Project

I decided to take a little break from the Broken Pieces quilt and work on my Pieceable Souls quilt.  I worked on it off and all during the weekend and managed to get two borders pieced and sewn together.   Considering how crazy things are around here lately, I have to feel good about getting even that small amount accomplished!

Working on border pieces

2nd Border almost done

The most time consuming part is laying out the blocks and checking to see if the colors are blending well, if I'm repeating any fabrics that are immediately to the side of the border in one of the pinwheels and of course, my 'gotcha' problem--accidentally lining up two identical placement 9-patch blocks.  Umm, that would probably mean I need to shut off the lights and just go to bed?  I can see that I'm going to have quite a few 9-patch blocks leftover when I finish all four borders.   That should make for a good addition to the back of the quilt as I do get tired of the single fabric backings.  Hopefully I can start in on the cornerstone blocks here pretty soon and get them out of the way.....

Can We Please Move on to Another Color Now?

My Scrap Attack project is officially completed for the time being!  I will put the finished top on my list of quilt tops begging to be quilted and eventually I'm sure it will make it's way into my hoop.:)  Honestly, I wasn't planning on adding on a {brown!} border, but it just cried out for one.  It seemed to need a little bit of a calming influence in order to better read the pattern, which is quite busy when made this scrapified.

Just before I added the last border

 This is the first quilt top I have ever made strictly from my scrap bin (not counting border fabrics of course).  It was quite a challenge in some ways, but in other ways it was a no brainer.  Will I ever do another?  Oh yes. This has opened up my eyes to some wonderful possibilities for future 'scrappy yet frugal' quilting.  You know what they say.  Once you open the door, you may never be able to get it shut again.....

Still needs ironed, but this puppy is done.:)

 I measured each border measurement three times yet somehow still got this wrinkly looking (cut too long) inner border look.  Hopefully ironing and then the eventual quilting will smooth away all the lumpy bumps.  Honestly I'm not planning on losing any sleep over it.*wink

Just playing with the pictures a little bit....

Was this a successful project to link up to?  In my mind, yes!  Definitely.  Although I've never joined up with any on-line quilt linky party, challenge or project this one was tailor made for me.  This quilt may not be one of those gorgeous brights, solids, modern, white background type of easy-to-love quilts, but it has me written all over it.  I will adore taking naps under this quilt some day.:)

More Log Cabin Blocks

The Scrap Attack project is still progressing, albeit not as smoothly as it previously has.  I put in a good, long day on these blocks, making just enough blocks to reach my goal of 56 blocks.  They are taking longer and longer to put together because I'm running out of long strips of fabric for the longer lengths on the log cabin.

I think they are getting a little scary looking as I
get to the bottom of the scrap bins.:)

When I finally had 56 completed blocks, I laid out all of the blocks in rows and tried to place them in a pleasing arrangement.  Oh please.  Wouldn't you know it?  There are just  too many repeats of fabrics that bump up against each other no matter where I move the blocks.  Also, there was this little niggle that wouldn't leave me alone until after awhile, I realized that the quilt did not look quite 'right' at 7 blocks wide and 8 blocks deep.  (That irritating sound you hear is the sound of me whining.)  Now I am gritting my teeth and working on 7 more blocks.  Believe me, I am SO tempted to give it up and go cut nice, lovely strips from fresh, uncut fat quarters!  I had no idea how spoiled I had gotten lately.  Anyway, that would kind of defeat the original purpose: clearing out my scrap bins and challenging myself to make a quilt strictly from leftovers.  Totally gonna happen and with scraps to spare.:)

Busy Week

I must be in a green mood lately.  Once it was red, then yellow, and eventually I moved on to putting pink somewhere in every quilt.  These days I find I'm using lots and lots of greens.  I only have a few more of these little green baskets left to applique and then I will be moving on to the dark colors.  Somehow I doubt they will be as fun to work on!

More little green baskets finished up and ready to trim.

 We've had district high school basketball games this week--girls and boys which is pretty exciting since we have a varsity player on each team.  Lots of time in between games because, of course, they're never back to back at district.  I took my applique bag and worked on my worry blocks like a little 'ol lady with her knitting needles.*wink  Will I even care about that next week or next year?  I think not.

8 more scrappy log cabins done!

I even managed to squeeze in a few more Scrap Attack blocks this week.  It appears that I'm starting to run out of the wider pieces of  scrap fabric, so more and more I'm ending up with little strippy stuff going on.  There's still plenty of fabric left in the totes though, so I'm forging ahead with the 'all scraps' commitment.  I may have to start piecing various fabrics together in order to get the proper lengths before I get all my blocks done, but that doesn't alarm me in the slightest.  In fact, I think it will probably make my quilt look even better.  I do love that 'make-do' look when it doesn't look all fake and forced.:)

This Little Scrap Attack Project

I came out of my office today like a wounded bear.  My intentions were to get a serious amount of bookkeeping done before I ventured back into my quilting room, you know like the carrot and stick thing?  Hah!  I am so weak.  This little Scrap Attack project was perfect for soothing my frazzled nerves today.  No worries over getting anything wrong.  As long as the colors alternate, we're good.

Putting together the puzzle pieces.....

I love to play with the rotary cutter when I'm in this kind of mood.  Take that little blade and starting hacking away.:)  I ended up getting 7 more blocks done today before the realities of life and kids getting home from school starting infringing on my play time.  This project has been very freeing as it is basically 'no rules'.  I may have to keep one of these going on the back burner every year during paperwork season just to help keep me sane.*wink

36 blocks completed

I'm still thinking that I need at least 20 more blocks to make this quilt a decent sized throw.  We'll see.  For now I'm doing good on the scraps, slowly churning through the totes and barely making a dent.

On To The Next Phase

Well, I have been slogging through this Pieceable Souls project and finally, finally! I have proof that I am making progress.  I got the paper for the next phase and I guess we are making pinwheels with the half square triangles.  I knew it had to be a simple design because originally we had a newbie quilter that wanted to join in on this project.  She has since backed out, but I'm actually relieved that this is turning out to be such a basic design after all.  These colors and fabrics are not my 1st choice and as I've mentioned before, I'm really struggling with this.  Laugh all you like, but when the muse is absent, it's terribly hard to get excited about the busy work, no matter how much character building is involved.*wink

All the first phase sewing done.

I've noticed this before in previous projects, but it still confuses me.  I lurk on several modern quilting blogs and seriously drool over some of their quilts.  The scrapified quilts especially get to me and if they add in some hand quilting, I. Am. In. Love.  Then, when I try out some modern fabrics en mass, using clear, bright, fun stuff, I almost start to snore.  Why can I not be more versatile about this?

Just a few more....

So...., back to my comfort zone.  I have finished up a few more of my Scrap Attack blocks, making for 29 finished blocks now.  I am still not sure if I want to add in another color yet--so far I'm feeling good about this.  On another note, I like to hang up pictures and patterns for inspiration and future project ideas, but I'm getting tired of taking down patterns to hang up blocks on my design wall.  It's definitely time to get a bulletin board or something the next time I go 2nd handing.:)

The Scrap Attack Momentum

Somehow with all this Scrap Attack thinking, perusing of beautiful pics of scrap quilts, drooling over beautiful pics of scraps, and reading about individual scrap collecting habits, I managed to organize my quilting area--all without making a conscious decision to do so.  I think it's called momentum or something. It started when I pulled out my brown, green and gold scrap fabrics the other day for my own Scrap Attack project.  Then when I bought totes to further contain these scraps from the hoi polloi, it all started spiraling on me.  That tote thing looked good.  Very organized.  Which is always helpful in my little 16 1/2' by 6 3/4' quilting area.*wink

Plaids/stripes and wovens.
These managed to survive the scrap siege.

After I started this project, I stumbled onto a few ideas that have really made me think.  Why did I not know that there are quilty people out there that do not keep scrap fabric.  The fact that I keep any and all pieces of fabric down to 1 1/2" square is not the norm.  Some people actually make an effort to contain their scrap fabrics into something that looks sort of like, well, quilt room decoration?  This was a wake-up call and got me to thinking, pondering and seriously considering my quilting area in greater depth.

All cleaned up and ready for play....

 The results were of course, a quilt room siege of sorts.  I won't confess all, but I will say that I cleared out two large totes of pre-cut scrap fabric (from literally years of collecting) and then, I went even further.  I dug through my unruly scrap heap over in the corner until I was about ready to cry.  My first efforts at dumping any scrap fabric whatsoever had me staving off a panic attack, so I had to develop an impromptu plan of sorts.  First off, I decided that all plaids, stripes, and wovens could be saved regardless of color, age or pedigree.  After that, cheap, ugly or bright fabrics were fair game.  I know where to find those fabrics if I suddenly have a need for them!  With these perimeters, I actually got rid of a serious amount of what other people have always called trash.*wince

I'm sitting on my counter for this pic.:)

 As you can see, I still have plenty of scrap fabric willing to slide off the pile at any given moment.  And now, I'm seriously considering buying a couple more totes.  The problem is, I'm getting scared I'll get all ocd about it and freak myself out.  After all, this IS my hobby and I really, really need to be able to relax in my quilt area.

Wow, I can see the 7-up advertising again....

 Anyway, it's all looking good to me right about now.  I put binding remnants, bias remains and various applique shapes into small totes, organized projects into the right size totes with corresponding pattern info., got books put back on the shelves, fabric stowed away in appropriate containers and the floor even got vacuumed.  Some of this is not new to me.  I do have a small space that requires a certain amount of organization.  I just find myself amazed that I'm still learning new things and new approaches to quilting AND this time, it was all because of a little Scrap Attack Project....

Everything in it's place!

Moving From Project to Project

Getting a little bit done on a couple different projects this week.  I finally broke down and bought some small totes to help organize my scraps for this latest Scrap Attack project.  I know it does looks rather futile with the scraps looming behind, but this small defense against all the chaos does help!  I don't have what you'd call a pretty quilting room, but it's all mine and until my kids get old enough to move out, it's good enough for me.

A little better organized.  Ha!
  Watch out for the avalanche behind!

I used to cut all my scraps into 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" strips, but somewhere along the line it stopped working for me.  I do so much more applique than I used to and I rather enjoy having various chunks of fabric to randomly cut into without feeling like I'm 'wasting' any fabric.  Ahem.  By not wasting fabric, I also seem losing the corner of my quilt room.*wink

15 blocks into Scrap Attack

I'm tentatively planning to complete a minimum of 56 blocks, which I'm really, really hoping can be done using only fabric from THE scrap heap.  I'm finding that I don't have nearly as much dark brown fabric as I'd hoped to have, but if I can do something profitable with these little odds and ends, this project will be sooo worthwhile.  The log cabin pattern is very simple and I'm finding it extremely relaxing and enjoyable to sew up a few of these at a time.  At some point I will probably throw in a few small pieces of a bright blue?  Still thinking on that.

All Grayed Down project 

This is a project that I played with the fabric for several months, drew up a pattern, dithered around with and then slowly starting cutting out and sewing up a few blocks.  The fabric was divided up into four groups: Lightest, Lights, Mediums, and Medium Darks.  I have all the first two groups of fabric cut out and sewn into blocks and now I'm working on the Mediums.  This is kind of a puzzle piece pattern with blocks ranging from 3" to 10".  The patterns are all very simple patterns so as not to detract from the applique blocks I intend to do after I finish all my piecing.  I'm not sure how good an idea this was, if it will look good, or really, if it will even look anything at all like I envisioned.  Sometimes that can be a problem.*smirk  Ya think?

Worth every penny, believe me....

These are the books I've been relying on to figure out my cuts for the individual blocks in 'All Grayed Down'.  I have used these books over and over through the years (This is actually my second copy of Judy Hopkins book as I bought the previous ones before she combined them under one cover).  Some books may not be flashy, but they are worth their weight in gold.

Getting Scrappy

I was very, very brave and added the Scrap Attack button from www.stitchedincolor.com/ onto my blog.  I despise deadlines whenever it pertains to my quilting as it seems to be yet another stressor in life, but sometimes deadlines are good for me and I know this.  I have been wanting to do something with my scrap pile of doom and gloom for quite awhile, but you know how those scrap projects can end up. Endlessly cutting into little scrappy pieces for weeks on end to make a lap size project that may turn out sorta okay-ish.  Uggh!  When I saw the post about this Scrap Attack Project, my knees grew weak and I knew this could be THE project. 

My trial run scrappy hack and sew log cabin blocks

The focus piles from the scrap pile of doom.
Lets not get too crazy here, I'm trying to relax...

I probably have at least 10 quilting books that are solely about scrap quilting, and you know I always use a hundred fabrics when 20 would probably work fine--not for me.  Sure, the log cabin block is very 'yawn' to some but I knew I needed something very basic for this little project.  Forget precise measurements and think hack and sew or pasting the button to my blog is all that would ever happen around here.  Quilting is the one area in my life that I revel in breaking and/or ignoring rules and telling my inner control freak to go take a nap.  Mix that up with my frugal 'never throw anything out' side, and sisters, we are in business.*wink