Sun Mar 29 Had a great lunch with Bren and Virginia today
Mon Mar 30 An amazing sunny day with surprises around every corner. Got to connect with both my boys, worked at the quilt store, received a mega-surprise phone call (Note to self SCHEDULE a LUNCH DATE in APril), ran into someone I haven't seen in FOREVER at the grocery store (another lunch date to schedule).. and got to chat with a friend at martial arts..... and THEN an open house for a friend retiring from the library. BAM! Perfect day
Tue Mar 31 I love my days at home! I got a bit of straightening / decluttering handled in several rooms, did my ttapp dvd, and got some of the cutting done for the grandbaby & lighthouse quilts. Also some work on blog posts. I got the salad plot planted but my chest hurt so much - allergic asthma, I think - that I had to spend the afternoon napping (I know - boo-hoo) It was a good day.
Wed Apr 1 One shift at the library... planned to go to the quilt shop but they don't need me today.... chest hurting from allergies.
Thu Apr 2 So so sick today.... chest, nausea, etc.... had to skip knit-wits but did a shift at the library. Don picked me up and brought a pizza for dinner! Yay!
Fri Apr 3 Still a bit under the weather. Road trip to town with Don... I need rolls for Easter Sunday and to pick up my sewing machine from the shop.... Bless him, Don has the truck and trailer - he has a DYI agenda....
Sat Apr 4 This chest pain is so much like when I had pneumonia.... Today my neck and ears hurt too. I do not appear to be congested - just breathing trouble. I wonder if I am contagious. I worry about exposing the kids tomorrow.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
Fabric Scrap Management Phase 3 & BLUE Scraps
Okay - Phase 3 of fabric management.....
[Link for Phase 2 click here... ]
So I am saving scraps and accumulating quite a few,
What am I going to MAKE with them?
Stage 3 happened the way the other two happened... when my 3 drawer chest and bins began to fill! Rather than buy another bin....
I decided it was time to USE...
I knew that it would be smart to use typical pre-cut sizes - 2.5-in and 5-in. squares and strips. And I started searching for patchwork patterns that I wanted to make!
And I found a TON! And then had to choose what to work with..
* (1-inch) I found a book with mini-log cabin patterns for the different seasons (that I liked) that uses 1-in strips. The name of it is Holiday Happenings and it is available from Amazon (so please search using my link - thank you!) So there is where I can use tiny 1-inch pieces..
* (2-inch) I found a pattern online that made potholders from a 5X5 block of 2-in squares. ( I kind of thought I could make the blocks and on one ambitious day... turn them into gift potholders for Christmas - with the added bonus of using up the Insulbrite scraps left over from making table runners)
* (3-inch & 1.5-inch) I found a picture of a 4X4 square block with a star in the middle. It isn't a pattern so I made up my version using 3-in squares and 1.5-inch squares for star points.
and a friend turned me on to http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ What fun!! She hosts a rainbow-themed block of the month. So - I thought - COOL! I will handle colors of scraps one at a time! And January was blue - all shades of blue to aqua... so I pulled everything from my stash that was a fat quarter on down. Lots of the pieces were from sewing so I had to trim them down (I will do another post on that)
She is doing 12.5 inch star blocks with 6-inch scrap sampler center blocks.
In honesty, I didn't understand the method for the center - but decided I had 2 choices..... spend the time to figure it out - or get busy. I already knew how to do the star - just not the center. BUT I COULD do a 9-patch using 2.5 in squares as a 6-inch block.... so that is what I did so I didn't have to slow down!
This block uses 2.5-in squares for the center - and 4-inch squares for the star points.
Here are my blue potholder tops (2-in squares in a 5 X 5 block):
Here are my 3-in scrappy star blocks (using 3-in blue squares, a 3-in white square and 1.5-in white squares to make uneven star points):
..and some of my tiny log cabin blocks:
The light blue are destined for an Easter wall hanging and the dark blue for 4th of July.... which will, of course, take a year at least to finish!
and I still had a ton of 2.5" squares so I did an 8X8 block for fun:
I don't have set plans for these blocks but they are fun - and will make nice rainbow-flavored quilts later on! Kind of like having more fabric..... I like possibilities - and it doesn't bother me to create without a specific end in sight :-) Next year, I will look at all I have created and design quilts out of them.
the finished blocks have a bin of their own.... and, as you can see... I have some different size possibilities.
I started small clear boxes by color with plastic baggies of different sized strips: 1-in, 1.5-in, 2 & 2.5-in, 3 & 3.5, 4, 5, 6 and up.
I have since found a mug rug pattern for 2X6-in strips.... and a couple of other ideas as I move through the colors....
So - back to MANAGEMENT! Small box of BLUE scraps sorted into plastic baggies by size with larger rectangles folded neatly on the bottom.
As I do other projects, I am sorting the scraps by size in baggies in another bin until I specifically do that color.
and when January ended..... I went through my big pink fabric bin and pulled these so I can keep moving!
[Link for Phase 2 click here... ]
So I am saving scraps and accumulating quite a few,
What am I going to MAKE with them?
Stage 3 happened the way the other two happened... when my 3 drawer chest and bins began to fill! Rather than buy another bin....
I decided it was time to USE...
I knew that it would be smart to use typical pre-cut sizes - 2.5-in and 5-in. squares and strips. And I started searching for patchwork patterns that I wanted to make!
And I found a TON! And then had to choose what to work with..
* (1-inch) I found a book with mini-log cabin patterns for the different seasons (that I liked) that uses 1-in strips. The name of it is Holiday Happenings and it is available from Amazon (so please search using my link - thank you!) So there is where I can use tiny 1-inch pieces..
* (2-inch) I found a pattern online that made potholders from a 5X5 block of 2-in squares. ( I kind of thought I could make the blocks and on one ambitious day... turn them into gift potholders for Christmas - with the added bonus of using up the Insulbrite scraps left over from making table runners)
* (3-inch & 1.5-inch) I found a picture of a 4X4 square block with a star in the middle. It isn't a pattern so I made up my version using 3-in squares and 1.5-inch squares for star points.
and a friend turned me on to http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ What fun!! She hosts a rainbow-themed block of the month. So - I thought - COOL! I will handle colors of scraps one at a time! And January was blue - all shades of blue to aqua... so I pulled everything from my stash that was a fat quarter on down. Lots of the pieces were from sewing so I had to trim them down (I will do another post on that)
She is doing 12.5 inch star blocks with 6-inch scrap sampler center blocks.
In honesty, I didn't understand the method for the center - but decided I had 2 choices..... spend the time to figure it out - or get busy. I already knew how to do the star - just not the center. BUT I COULD do a 9-patch using 2.5 in squares as a 6-inch block.... so that is what I did so I didn't have to slow down!
This block uses 2.5-in squares for the center - and 4-inch squares for the star points.
Here are my blue potholder tops (2-in squares in a 5 X 5 block):
and I still had a ton of 2.5" squares so I did an 8X8 block for fun:
I don't have set plans for these blocks but they are fun - and will make nice rainbow-flavored quilts later on! Kind of like having more fabric..... I like possibilities - and it doesn't bother me to create without a specific end in sight :-) Next year, I will look at all I have created and design quilts out of them.
the finished blocks have a bin of their own.... and, as you can see... I have some different size possibilities.
I started small clear boxes by color with plastic baggies of different sized strips: 1-in, 1.5-in, 2 & 2.5-in, 3 & 3.5, 4, 5, 6 and up.
I have since found a mug rug pattern for 2X6-in strips.... and a couple of other ideas as I move through the colors....
So - back to MANAGEMENT! Small box of BLUE scraps sorted into plastic baggies by size with larger rectangles folded neatly on the bottom.
As I do other projects, I am sorting the scraps by size in baggies in another bin until I specifically do that color.
and when January ended..... I went through my big pink fabric bin and pulled these so I can keep moving!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)