Scraps ONLY

First of all, Yes---The Coffee Cup photo-to-quilt project is done.  The top---all appliqued.  I LOVE it.  Love, love, love it.  Next up for that is getting the perfect backing, and then quilting it.  So you'll have to wait a bit more.

But in the middle of 4 or 5 other things, I decided I had to make a 'Scraps Only' challenge project that an Instagram group was doing.  So I pushed things aside, and got out my scrap bags.  I have a basket where I toss scraps & I had color sorted those not too long ago, into zip lock bags.  I also have scraps cut up (a la Bonnie Hunter) into 1.5" strips, 2", 2.5", 3" strips.  Those are stored in boxes or bins.  For this project, I only went into the bags of pieces, sorted by color.

Felt a craving to make courthouse steps, was thinking pink & a baby quilt.  But the baby in question is a boy.  And the GREEN scrap bag was pretty big.  To start with.  And the bag of low volume neutrals, mostly creamy backgrounds.  PLUS--it would be OK to start something new if there was an immediate purpose for it, and a quick finish.

Swept everything aside off the cutting table, spent a couple hours cutting 1.5"strips. The next evening, I made sixteen 9" blocks.  That made a top that was 36".  I wanted it more rectangular & decided to add baby's name & year he was born.  I've been working on making some letters for another project, so I could use those.  The letters look like MY writing, which is nice.   I also made a bunch of flying geese in different size, dipped in to the purple scrap bag too.

Two days later, I started quilting it.

Big quilted spiral from the center through all the courthouse step blocks, to the edges, then some special quilting in some other parts of it.

The scary thing about the project was just how much we could actually make out of our scraps.  Not to mention the over-flowing abundance of our actual fabric shelves.  Using scraps is a fun limitation----you must use what is IN the bags, make it work.  I think just from my color sorted bags alone, I could easily make a twin quilt or a couple more baby quilts, at least.  The entire top was scraps, including binding.  I love scrappy & get bored quickly with a more limited selection of fabrics.  Plus, even as pretty as a collection is, it usually seems a little flat without mixing other fabrics in.  How could you express your personality in a quilt without doing some of your own mixing?

  Do you keep your scraps?  How do you sort & store them?