Sunday, April 4, 2021

Tales From The Scrap Yard

On March 24 I met up for the first time with a fellow Stashbuster , Candra, who also lives in Iowa about 1.5 hours away from me. She had sent me an email asking if I wanted some scraps. Seriously?? I LOVE scraps. Candra even offered to deliver but a friend went with me and we drove west to meet her at a quilt shop and then we went to lunch. I had a delightful visit with Candra and stuffed the back of my friend's car with several bags of Candra's scraps. I couldn't wait to get home to the Scrap Yard and sort through them. I kind of analyzed all of the bags of the scraps first in order to figure out the best way to sort through them. In the past I used to sort through scraps I received and throw them into bins I stored by scrap width. But I emptied most of those scrap bins last year.  I sorted Candra's scraps into bags by color and then within those bags I sorted by fabric width. I also ended up with a bag of orphans and another of oddly shaped scraps because I think Candra made a lot of masks and surgical caps in the past year. There was also a plastic jar of bonus triangles not yet sewn together. 


When all was sorted I started with the bag of green scraps. I thought it would be fun to document what all will be made from this bag of scraps. My goal is to make donation quilts roughly of the size 40 x 60. 

First I took out the biggest piece of yardage and put it in with my camping/wildlife themed fabrics. I also took out some 1.5 inch pieces with roses and put those with my rose themed scraps. 


Then I took out the pieces that were at least five inches in width. On the right hand side are some of my own scraps that are 5 inches wide. I decided to add those so I would have enough scraps to make some large Churn Dash blocks - real scrap eaters. 

I made twelve Churn Dash variation blocks that finish at 13.5 inches. 

I added a 3 inch border to the top and bottom with my scraps and ended up with a quilt 40.5 x 60. 



The next scraps that came out of the bag were a bunch of 1.5 inch width scraps...

...some 2.5 inch width scraps and some 5 inch scraps left over from making Churn Dash blocks that I cut into 5 inch squares. 

I first framed the five inch squares with 1.5 x 5 inch  and 1.5 x 7 inch scraps...

...and then added a frame of 2.5 inch width scraps. I made 24 blocks that finished at 10.5 inches. 

In a 4 x 6 layout the quilt ended up 42 x 63 inches.



So...I made a mistake when I cut the 1.5 inch scraps for that previous quilt. I was thinking my center square was 4.5 inches instead of 5 inches so I cut some lengths at 6.5 inches instead of 7 inches. So, I decided to make another quilt to use those 6.5 inch pieces. Along with the 6.5 lengths of 1.5 inch width of scraps I found some 4.5 inch width of scraps in the green Candra scrap bag and cut those into 4.5 x 6.5 inch pieces. And in the brown bag of Candra scraps I remembered there were a whole lot of brown 1.5 inch strips. I cut those into 6.5 inch lengths. 
Then I made 32 blocks that consisted of four green strips bordered by two brown strips and I made 31 blocks that consisted of a 4.5 x 6.5 inch scrap bordered by two brown strips. 


I alternated blocks in a 7 x 9 layout and ended up with a little quilt 42 x 54. 


So, so far that makes 3 little green quilts from a grocery bag of scraps. But wait! There's still more green scraps in the bag. I'm not going to move on to another color until the green bag is empty so there will be more tales from the Scrap Yard coming soon!


 

25 comments:

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

Wow, three quilt tops already?!! Great job! Fun green quilts, too!!!

scraphappy said...

Those must have been some giant bags of scraps! Three great looking quilts so far. Looking forward to more to come.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Wonderful greens - terrific quilt tops! And you had a fun meet-up and outing as well. Win win win.

Chantal said...

Three quilt tops already made?!! Awesome job in using up the scraps. Love your green quilts and it's hard to believe there is one (two) more coming out of the same bag. Is that a Mary Poppin's bag? Lol. Looking forward to more green quilts. I'm sure Candra is very happy that her scraps are being put to good use! ;^)

The Joyful Quilter said...

Amazing, Cathy!! When I process scrap bags, I sort and add them to my storage system. That's usually as far as it goes. Not sure I've ever just busted thru the scraps right then and there. Nice work!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

You figured out lots of great projects to use those green scraps! Each one has a fun design. I'll look forward to seeing what else you come up with!

maggie fellow said...

great post and lovely quilts - scraps are so fun

darlynn said...

you have some of the best ideas!!! i love, love, love the use of a stripe in between the solid green for the top and bottom borders. i would never of thought of that. now to remember the great idea.....hmmmm, wonder what it would look like to mimic that idea in sashing.

---"Love" said...

Again you amaze me with how you take scrap fabrics that many of us would totally ignore and then you make such cute and unusual quilts from them that I could never have imagined! Good job --- again! ---"Love"

Gretchen Weaver said...

Good use of scraps. The recipients will be thrilled with the quilts, happy stitching!

Brenda said...

Wow - great job again! and it looks like you had fun. Thanks for sharing.

grammajudyb said...

I always read with great interest, your process posts! I learn something every time! I get overwhelmed and you just keep getting it done! I need to be more like Cathy! Well done! 3 quilts and more on the way!

Anorina @SameliasMum said...

You are so fast! 3 great quilt tops in the blink of an eye ;-)

Susie H said...

That was amazing to watch you come up with these three quilts. Great job with more to come.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Lucky you. All those new scraps to play with. Thanks for sharing your scrap yard creations with Oh Scrap!

Cathy said...

A scrap quilter’s paradise! Wow, that was a lot of scraps that you put to use ... and you’re not done yet?!? I love the churn dashes. Oh heck, I love all of them!

Linda said...

I would like a Candra in my life! Well worth a journey to pick up those bags of scraps. You certainly know how to process scraps, Cathy. All three quilts are great!

Candra said...

Smiling from ear to ear. I hated the thought of tossing these because no one wanted them. You, my dear, are amazing! Can't wait to see the next batch!

gayle said...

WOW!!!
(I'd say more but my brain is stuck on "WOW!!!")

Ann said...

What great quilts you’ve add fro these scraps. You and Chandra should be proud.

Nann said...

Your green quilts echo all the green popping up outdoors! (But I thought you'd used up all the rose-themed fabric. )

Jenny said...

Oh my goodness, aren't you a super charged bunny whipping up three green quilts from donated scraps! Great going.

JCH said...

That's terrific! Quilts are lovely and sure to be appreciated. It gives me apoplexy to think someone would actually throw away scraps! If I get a bag as a gift I'm happier than if I'd received a million dollar diamond! Let the fun continue!! :)

Kaja said...

When my kids were young there wasn't much I liked better than a nice bag of hand-me-downs. It looks like you got the quilting equivalent!

audrey said...

How fun is this!! Love that you're going to keep going until the bag of color is empty.:)