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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Taming the Scraps


Way back in January 2007, I bought a box of "tidy scraps"  I used lots and lots of those scraps but there will still lots and lots of them left, mostly batiks.  I crammed them all into a zippered bag and once in a while I would open that bag and use a few more.  Then it got "put away" not to be touched until the big sewing room clean out.


Inspiration comes from all over. The other day I was reading this blog post and knew that is what I was going to do with my batik scraps.  I had just bought myself a gift of the 1 1/2" strip die for my GO! cutter and knew I would use that to cut my strips.  I got that bag out and started pressing and sorting, pressing and sorting.  Batiks and not batiks. Pretty soon the bag was empty so I grabbed another scrap bag and continued pressing and sorting.  Will I ever get all my scraps sorted???  Maybe, but probably not.  It is fun to remember where these fabrics come from.  I have friends that save scraps for me and most of the time I remember who gave me what.


This morning my neighbor kids are here stacking firewood so I figured it was a good day to cut the batik pieces.  I can do this in the kitchen and check on the kids quite often.  I love my GO! cutter. In an hour, I had all my batik scraps cut.


There is a bit of waste here but if I used the ruler and rotary cutter, I would have had waste there too.  What am I going to do with the waste pieces???  I don't know.  My brain says to pitch them now, my heart says you could make a really cool art piece.  Sometimes I need to listen to my brain but today I think my heart is going to win.  I have a plan for an art piece.  Stay turned....

I do know that I am not going to start this project yet.  I think it will be a great retreat project.  I'll just keep pressing, sorting and cutting.  I love that I have 2 less bags of scraps in my room and some great pieces cut and ready to use.

Thank you I QUILT FOR FUN, you are now part of my village.

7 comments:

Nancy said...

Good for you! Now, you can start playing with the strips.

I saw that post, too, and thought about getting all my scraps organized. Sadly, I didn't get passed thinking.

scraphappy said...

It looks like you are well on your way to sorting those scraps! As guilty as we always feel starting something new, it is o fun to let inspiration strike and let it carry us away. What a fun quiltbitvwill be, and such a great way to use it all up!

Judy Laquidara said...

I think this post just reminded me why I send all my scraps to my aunt. Good luck getting them all tamed. Makes me confused and jittery just looking at them!

Annie said...

Ah, good for you, Judy! It will be a well loved project and a well loved quilt in the end.

Quilter Kathy said...

That is such an amazing scrappy quilt that you are starting...I just love it! Sorting stash is maybe a good retreat activity... it can be boring and it's not very satisfying until the end of the task.

I Quilt for Fun said...

So glad you liked the quilt and tickled you have scraps to start with. It goes so quickly and is way sooo much fun. Very low stress project. I've started one with some florals that weren't suited for the vision I had in my head. Seemed so clear there but not so much when it got on the design wall. I'll watch for your progress. Let me know if you have any questions.

Jan

Angela Michaud-Mourer said...

You always get so much done! Good job tackling this project.

My waste scraps and selvage edges go in a bag that I sort each spring: the selvage edges go to my garden and my friend's gardens for tying up flowers and veggies. The tiny scrap pieces go into the green wire bird suet holder that I've used all winter. In the spring, I fill it with all of those tiny scraps and the birds pick at them to feather their nests. There's been times over the years when a nest has fallen from a tree, and it is always fun to take a look at how that momma bird decided to decorate her nest. Many lovely birdie quilts have been built out of my toss aways!