A Scrappy Finish

For some reason, the condition of my scraps have been really bothering me lately.  My bins are littered with a lot of tiny pieces and none of my drawers will close without a lot of force.

So I am finding myself focusing on making quilts that resolve some of those issues.

This is the first quilt I finished.  It is made 100% from the scrap bin.  I pulled a lot of my smaller red, orange and pink scraps to make some slab blocks.  I also pulled crumbs from my low volumes scraps.

I still have a lot of scraps in these colors but at least the small bits are cleaned out and the drawers will now close.

I am sure I will revisit this design in the future.  The blocks were pretty mindless to sew - it was just a matter of adding fabric until I had a piece large enough that I could trim to the size I needed.  In this case, the color blocks were 6.5 x 9.5" and the lights were 3.5 x 9.5".

When they are sewed together, they make a 9.5" block.

I did change thread colors on this quilt when I did the quilting.  I used the appropriate color thread in each color block - quilting in a squircle (a square design that turns into a circle in the middle).  In the light areas, I used a white thread and quilted a simple stipple.

Here is a view of the quilting from the back.

I didn't have quite enough of the striped fabric for the backing so I added a butterscotch floral to one side.  It makes for a fun little surprise.

As I was making this quilt, I started thinking about all the other layouts you could make with this same block.  Something to play with in the future!

Sunday I will be sharing a new project I started using green and brown (blech).  I don't use brown very often but scraps still slowly build up.  I finally got tired of looking at them and decided to add in some green and get them sewn into a quilt.

So stay tuned!

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Linking Up:

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

From Bolt to Beauty (Brag about your Beauties)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or not Friday)

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish it up Friday)

So Scrappy for RSC18 

Oh Scrap! : Cleaning up the Small Bits

Every once in a great while, I get to the point where I have to deal with the small bits that are floating around in my scrap bins.  

The bin that first got my attention was the big tub that holds all of my low volume scraps. I decided to sort out pretty much every piece that I could not cut a 2.5" square from.

As I was sorting all these scraps, I decided to also deal with a pile of solid grays that have been sitting on the corner of my cutting table.  They are all different shades and I decided I would somehow incorporate them into this project too.

I thought I would first sew up the low volume bits and square them up to 5".

Then I took the time to sort the various shades of grays and cut some strips to create frames around the sewn slabs.

It felt nice to know I was using up these small "crumbs" so I continued to pull these bits out of my color bins too.  I have been slowly purging and cutting pieces at 1.5" square.  While I don't have a firm plan yet, I do have a hint of an idea as to how I am going to sew all these together.  But I am going to make you wait until I get a block or two sewn before I share the next step.

For now, I will be slowly cutting up tiny scraps.....I know these aren't tiny in some people's quilting but I rarely deal with bits smaller than 2.5" squares.  So this seems a bit ridiculous to me!  :)

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This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.

• You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
• If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
• If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
• This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
• Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do! 

An InLinkz Link-up

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Linking Up:

Love Laugh Quilt (Monday Making)

Cooking Up Quilts (Main Crush Mondays)

Em's ScrapBag (Moving it Forward)

Freemotion by the River (Linky Tuesday)

So Scrappy (Rainbow Scrap Challenge)