Tag: Summer of the Scrap

Summit Recap – Day 2

Well, as I expected, day two of the “Conquer Your Fabric Scraps” Summit has been wonderful.

I learned…..

  • how to take one block and set it SO many ways to make quilts that all look different!!
  • how to use my TINY pieces to make a fun mosaic quilt (I am currently plowing thru my “dog bed” bin to find pieces that I want to save!!)
  • how to easily choose fabric for my scrap quilts, starting with organizing and evaluating!!
  • that I can sew a few strips together and then WEAVE them for a great design. Again….WHO KNEW!!
  • that it is okay to PLAY… really?? That doesn’t sound right!!
  • how to use a Korean piecing technique to make a window wall hanging that looks like stained glass….doesn’t that sound fun!!

My favorite thing that I heard was from Jenny Grover.…..she reminded me to ask “What is the worst thing that can happen???”

This was a great reminder for me!!

So, two days are done, and there are two more to go. Please consider joining me for these FREE classes….

GET YOUR FREE TICKET HERE

Finally, I have written a pattern for the quilt that I used in my summit talk. Be sure to check it out!!

A Little Friday Quilting

I am wanting to get the quilting finished on my first scrap quilt of the “Summer of the Scrap”!!

I tried but didn’t get it finished today, but have a video that will show my plans and a bit of the quilting. It is a fun mix of FMQ and Ruler Quilting….

If you are reading on email, you can use this link to go directly to the video….. https://youtu.be/8XFpGEhLVwY

I am very happy with how the border is looking…..

…and just have to find a few hours to finish it up!!

I hope that you are finding minutes and hours to be creative too!!

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Subscribe to my mailing list and receive this free pattern for “Dancing Squares”…..

You can sign up HERE……

Scrapping & Listening

One of the things that I love about scrap quilting is that, once I have made a plan, I don’t have to do ANY thinking….just sewing.

One of the things that I HATE about scrap quilting is that I don’t have to do ANY thinking….just sewing.

YES….you read that right!

So, I use that “no-thinking” time to listen to stuff…..podcasts, music, books and old sit-coms that I have seen SO many times and don’t need to watch. I can “see” the action in my mind!

This makes for a relaxing time of sewing.

In one afternoon, I pieced over 200 two-patches, ready to be added to my four-patches…..

….and enjoyed several chapters of this book…..

I love Gretchen’s writing and enjoy that she reads the books herself. This one is about habits and gave me a few good ideas as I listened.

I recently finished “All Creatures Great & Small”

I have read this book so many times that I can quote many passages verbatim, but I relished listening as Christopher Timothy (the original actor portraying James Herriot”) intoned those much loved words.

It brought back memories of Michael and I living in Australia…..in a duplex that had virtually NO heating. We would dress as warmly as we could, scramble into bed and one of us would read to the other from the book. One night we both got tickled over a certain passage and ended up laughing uproariously. I bet the neighbor who shared our wall wondered exactly WHAT was going on.

Do you listen to something while you are scrapping? What are your favorites?

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Planning & Quilting a Border

I was ready to quilt the inner border of the first scrap quilt, but had no idea what I wanted to quilt there.

Does that EVER happen to you??

I pulled out some “Quilter’s Preview Paper” (which is unfortunately no longer available) and started scribbling ideas. You can also do this with a clear shower curtain.

Once I had my idea, it was full steam ahead with the quilting.

Here is the entire process…..

If you are reading on email, you can use this link to go directly to the video….. https://youtu.be/v6I8JvzSSAo

I am pleased with the ease of quilting the border and how it looked in the end……

Next week I will show you the process that I used to arrange 4-inch repeats onto a 54 inch border!!! Be sure to come back for that!!

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Perfect Timing….

When I have had a few minutes, I have enjoyed piecing on the 2-inch scrap quilt that I started at our guild retreat. As a reminder, this is how it looks…..

I designed the pattern to use up all of my 2-inch scraps. What I didn’t think about is that it takes almost as many WHITE scraps as it does colors!!

AND….I don’t HAVE that many white scraps!

But then fate intervened!!

I was meeting two women at our guild charity bee that meets on Wednesday mornings. We were trading quilts so that they could be dropped off for an upcoming show. We were doing this trading in the parking lot in front of the building.

While talking, a couple drove up and asked if we were quilters? We heartily answered in the affirmative.

He continued “well we have some fabric for you”!!

He proceeded to open the trunk of his car and extract several boxes of goodies that were bound for the charity bee. We thanked them profusely and carried our treasures into the room filled with quilters happily making quilts for various charities.

As you might expect, the boxes were thrown open as everyone started ooing over the stash.

Then it happened…..

Ellen (our fearless leader) pulled out this bag…..

LOOK at all of those white squares….many 4-inches!!

Ellen saw my raised eyebrows and excited expression and asked me if I wanted them..

OH MY….YES!!

As soon as I got home, I was in my studio, cutting the big squares into smaller squares.

I probably got carried away and cut too many which means that I will have WHITE 2-inch squares leftover!!

But, now I am ready to being piecing in earnest!!

Isn’t it wonderful when FATE steps in?

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