More little bags of stuff

 I thought I had rooted out all the little bags of stuff, but it seems not.  I found a bag of little four-patches made from 1.5” squares, which would measure  2” finished!  I know they were the remains of something, but I can’t remember what!  I decided to use an idea from Cynthia Brunz of Scrap Mixology, to make squares in a square.  I joined them in fours, then cut a 6.5” square diagonally twice and bordered them. 

 

Then I squared them to 6.5” and put them into the 6.5” orphan bag ready to make into a Linus quilt.  I did the same thing with some left over flying geese. 

It’s a great way of bigging up something small.  Incidentally, I was looking at Pat Sloan’s blog and she has an interesting talk on scrap quilting, which is worth looking at.  She talks about not wanting to throw away bonus triangles, for example, because the fabric cost money, and the more you throw away, the more money you waste.  That’s true, but then she says, if you saw a bag of bonus triangles for sale, would you buy them, and if so, how much would you pay?  It’s a good point.  I suppose it’s up to each person (and each person’s mood) as to whether you can do it! 

A step too far

 I have been making good progress with sorting out the bags of stuff in my sewing room.  Some hexagon flowers have been successfully sewn onto a background square and now have joined the Linus orphans, and some Dresden Plates are ready to be used up too. 

It might not be the most perfect Dresden Plate you’ve ever seen, but it’s been ironed flat and will be an acceptable addition to a scrap quilt.  Then there were some nine-patches made from 1.5” squares, which I have bigger up into 5” blocks by framing them with triangles. 

There were ten of these altogether which went into the relevant Linus bag.  But them the next bag was some more Dresden Plate components. 

There is small, and then there is ridiculous!  There is no way I am going to spend time stitching these tiny bits together!  That is definitely a step too far!  So, cut rays go in the scraps drawer, pink squares are cut to 2.5” and the black goes in the blacks and greys box.  Done!  

Can you see the fish?

 I am determined not to leave any little bags of c**p in my sewing room when I cock my clogs!  I’m not anticipating passing away just yet, but it comes to all of us, so I think now is as good a time as ever to do some rationalisation.  I found more HSTs, and this time I made some fish! 

Another good way of using up, which doesn’t involve much matching.  Unfortunately they finish at 7.5” which isn’t a desperately useful size.  However, I’m sure I’ll find a way to use them up!  One more little bag of c**p down, lots more to go! 

More HSTs

 My lovely friend Liz has been having a sort out.  She asked me if I would accept some items for our drama group (a full net underskirt - yes please!) and some fabric plus bits for Project Linus (yes please!). We met up outside and had a great chat and put a couple of full carriers in my car boot. I have sorted it all into colours and put it all away, but left out one or two little bags of the usual part cut out, part sewn bits.  Here is the contents of one of them. 

Here is the contents of the bag.  Purple and orange - what a great combination - and lots of completed HSTs.  I’m still pretty keen on Bears Paw blocks, so went that way again. 

Here are the results!  Some pieces had to be constructed by fishing off-cuts out of the bin, but that’s not unusual.  A good result.  One 4.5” block, four triangles and two 12.5” blocks.  Thank you, Liz. 

Half square triangles

 Half square triangles, usually abbreviated to HSTs, are often donated to Linus.  They are also left over from other projects, as we sometimes get into the production line rhythm and end up with more than we intended.  I usually toss them into the crumbs drawer, but have realised a really good way of using them up which isn’t too fiddly!  

I have been using them in bear’s paw blocks, which is fine for the 2.5” HSTs, but the smaller ones make a lot of work for small blocks.  Then I thought, why not use a centre square instead of lots of squares, and voila! 

These are 2” HSTs, with a 6.5” square, making a creditable 9” finished block.  Lucky thesevHSTs we’re all the same.  

These ones weren’t all the same, but I think it’s fine. 

These two also have slightly mismatched sets of HSTs, but I’m sure they’ll be fine when finished. 

Tip:  one thing I have decided recently is that if you’re short a pink square or whatever to complete a scrappy block, you are allowed to make one!  Getting these leftovers uses up is the aim of the game! 

Actually reducing the scraps!

 How many times have there been ‘scrap-busting’ patterns published?  And how many of them have actually made any dent in the scrap piles?  (Answers are lots and none!). But I have really, honestly made a dent in the scraps, although I have made several scrap quilts recently.  

This scrappy pineapple used quite a few of the coloured scraps and lots of the neutrals.  It’s waiting to be quilted and bound. 

 This string quilt really powered through the scraps!  It used lots of longer strings but also some of the medium and smaller ones too.  I pieced it over papers to keep everything straight.  I don’t think it’s the most attractive quilt I’ve ever made, but I think an older child will like it and have fun looking at the various designs.  I often buy wacky fat quarters, especially if they’re reduced, to throw into a scrappy mix.  This one has sunglasses, bananas, tacos, paper clips, suns and dinosaurs amongst other designs! 

And to use up the small scraps, I’ve been enjoying this Fiddlesticks quilt.  The blocks are cut at 11.5” , then strips of 1”, 1.5” and 2” are added and then the whole block trimmed to 11.5”.  It will finish at 11”, making the finished quilt 44”, a good size for Linus.  Obviously this isn’t as labour intensive as it looks, as I joined the small scraps in columns and cut scrap strings from them.  Shall I arrange them like this? 

Or like this?  And here are the two scrap drawers, which were both very full. 

Good job! 

Whoops.

 I’m trying quite hard to finish stuff and get to grips with all the boxes and bags of stuff which are in my sewing room.  I thought I had a good handle on what was where, when I found this. 

I was looking for a book, when I came upon a plastic folder containing this!  (I did find the book, but not there!). It’s a block I started from Barb Adams and Alma Allen’s book ‘Home Sweet Home’.  I had made their design ‘Quilting the Garden’ and thought I’d like to try another of their designs.  I found I didn’t particularly enjoy appliqueing the regular shapes : they’d be better to be pieced, so gave up and sold the book.  Although I don’t have the pattern, I have more of the window fabric, so I think I can wing it from here.  It’ll be a good evening sewing project.