Thursday, January 22, 2015

Easing into Scrappy - Part 1



I have had trouble in the past with actually using my stash and scraps (yardage and small pieces) because I am so controlling.  No, I don’t mean I am an aggressive woman!  Just trying to be so matchy-matchy with fabrics and not knowing how to use bits of “this and that” has been my mental stumbling block.  Not that my quilts aren’t pretty, I just want to make more donation quilts (the need is so great) and maximize use of what I have.

I don’t have much of an organized system for scraps.  I have:

  •     The Box:  this is where I throw leftovers after I finish piecing a top or quilting it.

 

      The Dream:  doing away with the box and putting pieces away in the right place the first time … lol.


  •     The Bucket:  this is where I throw tail ends of bindings – all strips are 2.5 inches wide but are still ironed in half when I throw them in here.


      The Dream:  cutting these into useable 2.5 inch squares


  •    The Basket:  this is where I throw pieces that are less than 2.5 inches but more that 1 inch wide.


      The Dream:  making string quilts from these, but in actuality I usually end up donating these to true scrap quilters when this gets full.


  •   The Drawers:  this is the yardage, the fat quarters, the collections, the panels, the misc


      The Dream:  to make this ALL useful and make lots and lots of donation quilts for children and Veterans.

  •   The What-in-the-World??  yes, it’s true I have lost control over this mess.  No, I don’t really know what-all is in there.  It is the first dumping place if I don’t walk around to get to The Box that is behind the longarm (an arduous trip of at least 6 steps)


      The Dream:  this has GOT TO GO – it’s in the way (I have said this for months years)

The saga will continue tomorrow as I  s-l-o-w-l-y  ease into the scrap thing – and yes, you'll see tomorrow that there is a method to my madness!

2 comments:

Kathleen said...

you are doing great ! At least you have the courage to post photos - I am afraid I am over the point where I can show the world the mess.............. I am sewing like a maniac, and the scraps are diminishing, but oh so very slowly, like moving the Mohave desert one grain of sand each day ! Good luck to you.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, yes. That dream of organizing. I dream it too. The big stuff is. The little stuff is in two tubs and a bag. Oh, and I still have a "box." It is for the stuff I finished with and needs to be sorted and returned to the appropriate tubs. something always needs to go to the bottom of the column of three tubs, it seems. So I didn't get rid of the box.